Sherman Carmichael - Mysterious Tales of the North Carolina Piedmont

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2019 by Sherman Carmichael

All rights reserved

E-Book year 2019

All illustrations by Josh Adams

First published 2019

ISBN 978.1.43966.767.5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019939738

Print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.406.3

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is dedicated to Beverly Carmichael, who spent many hours correcting my mistakes; Ric Carmichael; Tamara Carmichael; Blake Mahaffey; Sean Mahaffey; my attorney, Greg Askins; Cindy James; and Lynette Goodwin.

Contents

Just a Thought

Lets examine a few things. First lets ask the question, what are ghosts? Are they really the spirits of the dearly departed that didnt cross over for some reason? Are they hanging around to watch over their loved ones or their property? Are the spirits trapped somewhere in between here and there?

There is a confusing mixture of tabloid television, poorly researched sightings and, worst of all, hoax videotapes and pictures trying to convince us that they have caught a spirit on film. Our minds have been polluted by the unprofessional distortion of the data.

First, some ghosts can be explained as the result of an overly active imagination. For instance, if you have been preconditioned that a house, a graveyard or any other place is haunted, you will imagine that you hear and see or actually hear and see things and assume that its a ghost, when in reality, it is nothing out of the ordinary.

Lets examine a few things that ghost hunters like to contribute to ghostly activity, the first being flickering lights. If you had a power meter on the power line to the light thats flickering, you would probably find that there is a slight power fluctuation, which will cause lights to flicker. Ghost orbs are popular with ghost hunters. Are orbs or floating spherical lights that are sometimes referred to as ghost orbs that are captured on film really ghosts? These have never been proven to have any connection with ghosts. They could be anything, including lens flare, bugs or dust particles reflecting light back into the lens. While you cant see it in person, it can be caught on film. Ive been a photographer for thirty years and have had many pictures come out with so-called ghost orbs. None of my photos was taken in haunted places.

At locations of an alleged haunting, when you pick up a cold spot or get a variation of the electromagnetic field or you think you see a shadow out of the corner of your eye, how do you know its a ghost? With all the electronic equipment and cameras you can haul into a place, you still cant prove theres a ghost there. If we look at the recent history of the way we look and think, were going up and down, back and forthnever forward. Many rely on machines and electronic items that have no scientific proof that they work.

Since nobody knows what kind of energy, if any, a ghost produces, how do we know that an unproven instrument is picking up a ghost? It might be picking up some form of energy not related to ghosts but from millions of miles away. Is a ghost simply an energy imprint of the person that has passed away?

Lets screen out the obvious misidentifications and see what is left. Lets replace obsolete thoughts and methods of finding ghosts with new ideas and methods. The old ones are not working. All these years and we still havent proven there are ghosts. Theres no way to scientifically study ghosts, so how do you prove their existence?

Now heres some food for thought. How do we explain hearing noises and then, when you check it out, finding that theres nothing there? An example of this is hearing dishes falling and breaking in the kitchen. When you get there, nothing has happened. Another example is the sound of gunfire on an empty battlefield. Where does the sound come from?

What are the images that we see that suddenly or gradually materialize over a period of seconds? How do people see a battle being fought on a battlefield that hasnt had a battle fought there for over a hundred years? Are these things ghostly images, or are you seeing a glimpse from the past? Why do these images and sounds keep appearing from the dim corridors of the past for no apparent reason? Do the souls of the dearly departed endlessly relive their former lives or certain events? Do the historical scenes that appear to some people coexist with us in our time? Could it be a time loop where a person relives the same event throughout eternity, and only a person at the right time and place can see it happening? Is death the final frontier?

Ghost stories have been around for as long as mankind has been telling tales. For stories to last that long, there must be a modicum of truth to them. Ghosts, spirits or whatever you want to call them are out there. Too many people have seen something. There is only one road that leads to the truth, and we havent found it yet. Where theres an inquiring mind, there will always be a new frontier.

Did the Devil Visit North Carolina?

Did the devil take up temporary residence in North Carolina or just drop in for a visit? Why did Indians and early explorers give the names that they did to certain locations? Why were so many locations linked to the devil? Does the devil have a favorite place, or does he just pick a place and drop in for a visit? Are the names of these places just coincidence? Lets examine a few of the locations in North Carolina named after the devil himself.

DEVILS TRAMPING GROUND

Western North Carolina is home to one of North Carolinas most baffling places, the Devils Tramping Ground. It is located in a wooded area about ten miles from Siler City near Harpers Crossroads, and it is one of the strangest places on the Eastern Seaboard. It is on private property that has been in Bob Dowds family for over one hundred years. In recent years, campers have visited the place, leaving behind beer bottles, cigarette butts and other trash, along with graffiti and campfire remains. Therefore, permission must be granted before you can visit the site.

The Devils Tramping Ground is not a recent addition to North Carolina. The site was discovered by settlers who came to the area before the 1800s and gave it the name. The legend goes that the devil himself visited this spot, calling up his demons to do his evil deeds while he paced around and around. The devils pacing left a well-worn path in almost a perfect circle about forty feet in diameter. No plants will grow within the forty-foot circle. The surrounding vegetation grows up to the edge and then stops. The outside vegetation is perfectly healthy. Was the devil using this spot to plot some evil deed for mankind?