Published by Haunted America
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net
Copyright 2013 by L.B. Taylor Jr.
All rights reserved
First published 2013
e-book edition 2013
Manufactured in the United States
ISBN 978.1.61423.974.1
Library of Congress CIP data applied for.
print edition ISBN 978.1.60949.943.3
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INTRODUCTION
ROANOKE AND ITS GHOSTS
Roanoke today is a bustling center of commercial and cultural activity located in the southwest heart of Virginia. With a metropolitan area population of more than 300,000, the city is widely known as the Capital of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Its history dates to the 1740s, when the first settlers arrived, attracted by large salt marshes, or licks, that had drawn buffalo, elk, deer and Indians to the region for centuries. Consequently, the name given to the first settlement here was Big Lick.
In the 1880s, the coming of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad triggered booming growth, and the town was renamed Roanoke, an Algonquin Indian word for shell or shell beads. The city has evolved into a center for transportation, distribution, trade, manufacturing, healthcare, entertainment, attractions and conventions. Two of these major attractions are a historic downtown marketplace where everything from fresh vegetables to fine art is sold and a one-hundred-foot-high steel, concrete and neon star atop Mill Mountain that has served as a homecoming beacon to generations of residents.
Roanoke may also be one of the most haunted cities in Virginia, if not the entire southeastern United States. Disembodied entities seem to abound here: in old mansions; on the grounds of long-abandoned plantations; in hotels, restaurants and bed-and-breakfast inns; in vintage theaters and ancient cemeteries; and even on local college campuses, where some buildings predate the Civil War.
This abundance of haunts has triggered a cottage industry. Each year, annual ghost walks are conducted in Roanoke, its sister city, Salem, and several surrounding communities. If the possibility of being scared by real spirits isnt enough, there is an assortment of haunted house attractions standing by, including the Fear Factory, Dark Forest and Dr. Pains Nightmare, among others. Additionally, the high level of suspected paranormal activity in and around the city has led, in recent years, to the creation of a number of amateur ghost hunting groups. Their members are in general agreement: Roanoke is indeed a spooky place.
The iconic one-hundred-foot star atop Mill Mountain has served as a beacon for Roanokers and visitors for generations. Photo by C.J. Goens Jr.
The downtown historic Roanoke City Market has been a popular meeting place for Roanokers and visitors for more than a century. Photo by Ruth Genter.
ROANOKES PHANTOM WOMAN IN BLACK
She appeared out of nowhere. One witness victim described the unnerving experience like this: It was as if she had arisen out of the earth. Her voice sounded real. Her touch felt real. She appeared to be real, although quite a few of the gentlemen involved had great difficulty looking her in the eye. A peripheral glance was the best some of them could manage in their fright. She never caused any physical harm, or at least none was reported. It seemed obvious at the time that for every man who summoned up enough courage to report her presence, there probably were three or four others who, for a variety of reasons, kept the mysterious meetings quiet.
Those who did look at her, and did come forward, were unanimous in at least one phase of her description: she was breathtakingly beautiful. One man said she was tall and handsome, with dancing eyes. Another said she was about five feet, nine or ten inches tall, dressed entirely in black, with something like a black turban on her head. It was, he added, fixed in such a manner so that it was drawn around her face just below her eyes, forming a perfect mask. She also wore a long black raglan cloak. Her eyes, the man said, were huge and her brows and lashes heavy, and if her forehead and eyes are proper index of that portion of her face concealed, she was very beautiful.
And then, in a flash, she would be gone. She would simply disappear, evaporate, vanish, leaving the men she escorted stunned and speechless. This was the legendary Woman in Black, who, for a brief period in March 1902, struck terror into the hearts of the citizenry of Roanoke. The Roanoke Times reported, Her name was on every lip; strong men trembled when her name was spoke; children cried and clung to their mothers dresses; terror reigned supreme!
Roanokes phantom Woman in Black terrorized the city for a brief period in 1902. Illustration by Brenda E. Goens.
Who was this woman of dark intrigue, and what was her mission? Why was she so feared? As the newspaper pointed out, Just why the Woman in Black should be so terrible has never been known. She made no attack on anyone. It was probably due to the unexpected appearance in places unthought of, and at hours when the last person of the city is expected about should be a woman.
She apparently had gone north from the city of Bristol, which, the Times reported, is just recovering from the effects of the scare produced amongst the citizens of the town by what was known as the Woman in Black. Hardly a day passed for weeks that the press of the town failed to have a long account of the antics and performance of the Woman in Black on the night before. On March 18, 1902, the Times noted that
for the last ten days she has been unheard of; has completely disappeared from the city of Bristol; and expectation has been rife as to where she would make her next manifestation.
More or less anxiety has been felt by a few people of Roanoke, who through necessity or otherwise are kept up until a late hour at night, lest she make her appearance before them; and true to the presentiment, to Roanoke she has come and in a quiet way is beginning to stir up some uneasiness and not a little excitement. Just what her mission here can be, what her object is in waylaying certain parties, has not exactly been figured out, but of one thing there seems to be a unanimity of opinion, and that is, she has a proclivity for attacking the married men, if attack is the proper word.
The Times reported that there had been several recent encounters with the mystery woman. Here was one:
