On a ridge overlooking the town of Blowing Rock, NC, is the estate once called Flat Top Manor, now known as the Cone Manor.
The Colonial-revivalist structure was built in the late 1800’s, and has been uninhabited for about a half a century. However, there are those who say that the manor has never been completely devoid of human activity-- or perhaps, inhuman activity.
Moses Cone made a fortune as an industrialist in the North Carolina Piedmont, married Bertha, and later visited the mountain area and fell in love with it. He began buying up land around what is now the Blue Ridge Parkway outside Blowing Rock. Cone built the manor as a summer retreat, often employing the very people whose land he had bought.
Cone didn’t get to enjoy the manor for very long, as he died at a relatively young age. Bertha lived on for several decades, and willed the land to Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, NC, which then deeded it to the National Parks Service. The manor is now operated as a crafts center, but some say that the previous owners haven’t entirely given up their claim.
According to one story, Moses Cone’s body was disinterred by a would-be thief. Rumor had it that Cone was buried with some jewelry, and that may have been what the thief was after. One version of the story is that Bertha herself found the body at the gravesite on the hill beyond the manor. The body was said to be propped up against the large tombstone by thieves angered by not finding any jewelry.
There’s even a hinted legend that Cone was moved to a different gravesite. The official line is that Cone still sleeps in eternal slumber at the marked site, but others say he lies elsewhere.
For a long time, separate portraits of husband and wife hung face-to-face on opposite walls. One industrious decorator moved the portrait of Bertha to an adjoining wall. The next morning, the portraits were found to have fallen off the wall. The strange part was they had fallen so they were leaning against each other.
In 2000, the portraits were moved again. So far, no mystery movements have been recorded. All of the existing furniture was willed out to various relatives after Bertha’s death. In the early days of the craft center, craftmakers would stay overnight in the manor due to the poor condition of the roads. Some of the guests reported the sound of furniture moving around on the floor above them in the middle of night, even though the upstairs was empty.
One craftmaker supposedly stayed in the master bedroom that belonged to Moses and Bertha. He heard the door open, so he got out of bed, and closed it, assuming the house was out of level. The door opened again, and he repeated the process. The third time, he propped a chair against the door. He awoke in the morning to find the door open and the chair on the other side of the room.
One woman who didn’t believe in ghosts pooh-poohed the stories and dared to stay overnight by herself. When she got out of a hot shower, she saw a hand print in the steam on the mirror. That was her last day in the manor.
The Cones were fond of piano music, and the soft sounds of piano notes are sometimes heard wafting in the stillness of night.
The kitchen door was traditionally kept closed at Bertha’s insistence. Some crafters showed up early one morning and were moving some heavy items inside via the back way. They heard the heavy door slide closed behind them. They tried to discover who had played the trick on them, but the house was empty.
A park ranger was staying in a nearby house about a decade ago, and the newly-installed alarm system at Cone Manor went off. The ranger circled the house to investigate. He saw no signings of breaking and entering. When he turned around after unlocking the door, he saw a young girl standing on the stairs.
The girl turned around and looked at him, then ran up the stairs. The ranger chased her, and couldn’t figure out how she outran him. She went into the left room at the top of the stairs and slammed the door.
After a long struggle, the ranger finally got the door open. The room was empty.
Whether the Cones still walk the halls of the manor that bears their name, or whether the legends are due to overactive imaginations, the stories linger. And so, perhaps, do the spirits of the Cones.
Haunted location: Moses Cone Manor- Blowing Rock
Abandoned School House located on Deck Hill rd, Boone NC....
I have heard from several sources that located on Deck Hill Rd in Boone, NC that there is an abandoned school house. I have attempted to find the building but I haven't been successful. If anyone has any details about this and the location please let us know.
Haunted Location: Perkinsville Dr Boone, NC
Is anyone familiar with an abandoned haunted house located on Perkensville Dr. in Boone? I have seen posts all over the internet and I am curious if anyone had any experience with it. Apparently it burnt down in 2003 so we are out of luck now. It would be interesting to hear your about any experiences there.
This is what I have been able to dig up about this location:
"You will have to look hard for the house as is it hidden by treesand has grown over. It is said that this house is so haunted, you`re guaranteed to experience something every time you go no matter what time of the day or night.the owner died from an undetermined cause and he is the one that haunts this house.Footsteps are what has been reported, as well as an angry banging on the upper floor. It is an angry and forboding house, so use caution!"
Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital Revisit 6
This was our final visit to the abandoned Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital located in Banner Elk, NC.
Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital Revisit 1
I hope you guys enjoy this video. If you are curious about the abandoned Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital then you will enjoy this. Our group of Ghost Hunters have investigated this location several times.
Please post your thoughts about our investigation here.
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC Haunted location: Horn in the West
I have personally investigated this location once before. I left with no audio or video evidence at all. I am eager to return. If you have investigated this location please contact us.
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Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC Haunted location: Saint John's Episcopal Church
Location: Valle Crucis, NC
Saint John's Episcopal Church
Valle Crusis is Latin for "Vale of the Cross," and is a reference to the three streams in the town that seem to form the shape of a cross. In the 1840s, the Episcopal missionary, William West Skiles came to the area and started the Church of the St. John the Baptist in 1926; he also founded a Missionary School.
Local legend says the priest hung himself on a rafter right in front of the alter. Not long after, the church closed down for many years. Upon reopening in the 1990s, people believe that the scores on the rafter in the front of the church are from the rope the priest used to hang himself and that the seemingly shipped away area underneath is where his bowels had let loose when he hanged himself.
The Church protests, saying he died of cancer in December 8th, 1862.
On July 1, 2001, his original headstone was moved.
Anyone who has investigated this location please contact us. We are interested in your experiences.
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC Haunted location: Old Abandoned Forestry Compound
"There is a building in the compound which has all the windows boarded up. The downstairs consists of a long dark hallway with doors alternating on either side. In one downstairs bathroom there is a toilet filled with blood. Upstairs there is a room used by a now dead prostitute. This building is nicknamed the "Whorehouse" for that reason. Even when the temperature outside is 70 degrees, it barely reaches 40 degrees inside. Strange noises are heard by people who live in the Shiloh neighborhood, and lights have been seen as well. There are other buildings in the compound, and their doors are open and closed at random. There is a length of rope hanging from the rafters in one building." -virtualblueridge
One of the places you need to check out is Shiloh, the old abandoned forestry compound. This compound is located near the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and was once home to the Biltmore Forestry School. Dr. Schenck ran the forestry school but due to his nasty temper he was fired and the school dissolved in 1913. Dr. Schenck blamed George Biltmore for firing him and closing the school and until his death vowed to get his revenge. After Dr. Schenck's death in 1955 the locals began noticing unusual happenings at the compound, lights in the compound late at night with no one being found upon investigation by the local sheriff. A curious local decided he would solve the mystery. When he entered the compound he found a dark shadow and ominous presence which followed him as he fled in terror. The curious gentleman never returned to the compound and actually later sold his own property and disappeared.
Legend has it that this old, abandoned, boarded-up building was also the site of a murder of a prostitute by one of her johns. Reports say you can still hear a woman singing softly if you listen closely. Some say one of the bathrooms downstairs has a toilet lined with dried blood and yet others say the toilet is filled with blood. Legend also says that no matter how hot it gets outside, the temperature in the compound itself never reaches above 40 degrees. One of the buildings in the compound has an expertly tied noose hanging from the rafters, legend says a man from the late 1950's was hung there and to this day still searches for his executioners in order to exact his revenge.
Anyone with experience here please contact us. We would love to speak with you.
Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital information
I cam across this article concerning the Charles A. Cannon Memorial hospital and I thought it might be of some interest.
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC Haunted location: Banner Elk abandoned Hospital
I am referring to the Cannon Memorial Hospital. Located about 30 minutes outside of Boone, NC. People claim to have seen ghosts and other paranormal oddities. Our Ghost Hunting group have been several times to this location and we would like for you post here your experiences. We would like to see if your experiences align with ours.
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC Haunted location: Appalachian State University Boone, NC
Located in Boone, NC this has been a topic of conversation for years. Our ghost hunting group hasn't had a chance to investigate this yet but if anyone is interested in investigating this please contact us. We would love the opportunity.
Here is what we know:
Appalachian State University
Rivers Street
Boone, Nc 28607
County: Watauga
WebSite: None
Location Description:
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East Hall is one of the dormitories for the college and is said to be haunted. Student assistants have reported being followed by unknown footsteps when on their rounds after midnight. People have also claimed that the lights will suddenly turn off in halls and you can feel someone brush against you. You can also hear whispering voices in the hallway. The third floor new bathroom is haunted by a male ghost, though it is a girls` bathroom. Also assorted residents have reported seeing a girl dressed in white in their rooms and others have had small items in their rooms rearranged daily.
Cannon Memorial Hospital audio for review part 2
This is part 2 of 2 audio recordings from our investigation of the Cannon Memorial Hospital located in Banner Elk, NC. This hospital has been abandoned and is currently up for sale. This investigation was conducted by the Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC. We invite everyone who is interested to listen to the audio and email us with your findings.
Cannon Memorial Hospital Audio 2 - Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC
Cannon Memorial Hospital audio for review part 1
This is part 1 of 2 audio recordings from our investigation of the Cannon Memorial Hospital located in Banner Elk, NC. This hospital has been abandoned and is currently up for sale. This investigation was conducted by the Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC. We invite everyone who is interested to listen to the audio and email us with your findings.
Cannon Memorial Hospital Audio - Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC
Investigation from the Royal Cemetery part 2
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC investigates The Royal Cemetery.
Here is part 2 of 2 from our investigation of the Royal Cemetery. During this half of the video we had some odd happenings. During the recording of this video you will hear Luke ask Josh (who is applying to become a member of the BNCGHA) to shine his light in a certain direction. Luke thought that he saw a shadow of a person. We all kind of ignored it until we listened to the audio from the digital recorder. We caught a EVP saying "I just want to see you." This was recorded moments after Luke said that he saw something.
Again, I encourage you to listen to the audio from the digital recorder and to watch/listen to the audio from the video recorder. Headphones are also encouraged. Listen to all of the audio from the video. At the end of our investigation we caught an EVP while driving from the cemetery. Very odd indeed. Email us your findings and we'll post what you find on our site.
Investigation from the Royal Cemetery...
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC investigates The Royal Cemetery.
Here is video 1 of 2 from the Royal Cemetery. From the get go we didn't feel anything, sense anything, or hear anything. The entire investigation went on without a hitch. And that is the interesting part. We caught some very interesting EVPs. If you are interested please view these videos with headphones. You will hear several EVPs starting at 6:30 seconds. I am going to include the entire investigations audio from our recorder. One interesting aspect is that our video recorder and the digital recorder caught different EVPs.
I originally thought that I would release the times when we caught the EVPs. We have decided not to so that you can review the evidence and then tell us what you thought was said. Please email us with your findings.
Here is the link to our digital recorders audio: http://rapidshare.com/files/156011921/DW_A0041.wav.html
Investigation from the Historic Harmon School...
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC investigates The Historic Harmon School.
Last Saturday everyone here at Boone NC Ghost Hunters Association investigated two locations. One was the Royal Cemetery and the Historic Harmon School. Both are located in the mountains near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here is the video of our investigation of the Harmon School. Our personal experiences here are pretty much nonexistent. We never did have any feelings. We never heard anything at all. I encourage anyone that is interested to watch and listen to this video with headphones. The audio quality on the video recorder is very good and hopefully nothing was lost while uploading to the internet. We didn't catch anything here but perhaps you might be able to pick up on something we missed.
Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital during the day...
Here are some pictures of the abandoned hospital during the day.
Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital Visit
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC investigates The Cannon Memorial Hospital.
Here are pictures from our first visit the the abandoned hospital. We thought it would be interesting to compare the pictures from the first visit to the pictures of the last. Notice the damage...
Cannon Memorial Hospital Visit...
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC investigates The Cannon Memorial Hospital.
Here are pictures from our Ghost Hunting trip to the Cannon A. Memorial Hospital. We have never caught anything from the images we have taken from there. They are interesting to say the least. Let me know what you think.
Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC investigation review: Gravity Hill Investigation....
Gravity Hill Investigation.... Ghost Hunters of Boone, NC
We had great hopes for this investigation. The locals around Wilkesboro, NC and Boone have amazing stories about what occurs on Gravity Hill. Their stories claim that if you park your vehicle at the bottom of Gravity Hill and place it in nuetral your vehicle roll up the hill. Some say that you can put baby powder on the bumper of your vehicle and there will be hand prints. As if someone was pushing your vehicle up hill. You can imagine what was going through our minds. We didn't really know what to expect but it wasn't good. Unfortunately, we were right.
Our trip began one evening on July 12th. A Ford Explorer filled with 4 worthy investigators ventured off to find the unknown. After driving around for hours and hours in the known vicinity of a Gravity Hill (there are many sited in NC, not to mention the ones known around the world) located just out side of Sparta North Carolina, our investigation ended before it even started.
We followed the directions given to us by those who have ventured to this location and even turned to the directions found on the internet. One of the investigators with us that night identified our location as Gravity Hill. If it wasn't for his knowledge of the area we wouldn't have known we were even there. There is nothing to it. It is basically someone's drive way. I was blown away at how this was made out to be. "A monster hill" that defies gravity. I want to tell you guys right now that you shouldn't waste your time with this gravity hill. It is a driveway. It is flat and pointless. This is one of those cases were over the course of years stories are imbelished.
Gravity Hill is located just outside of Sparta. It is a very measly looking dirt road that is surrounded by homes. We feel that this is such a bogus story that we would be doing our readers a big injustice by posting the directions.
As always, we would love to hear your thoughts and if you have any suggestions, please let us know!