In a castle dark, or a fortress strong…
– Gordon Lightfoot (If You Could Read My Mind) –

On the heels of Halloween, I’m taking you off the beaten path for a My World Tuesday post about local superstition and legends. From the Atlantic beaches to the peaks of the Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina history is rich with folklore and eerie tales of ghostly happenings. Hickory – which is home to the Hickory Paranormal Society and annual conference – and the surrounding areas are no exception. (Sorry, I tried, but I couldn’t come up with any pictures of ghosts.) Here are a few of the places where paranormal events are said to occur:

Hickory:

• The 1859 Cafe downtown is haunted by a unknown fair-haired woman wearing a long white dress who appears in the dining room after the guests have left for the evening. The cleaning staff claims to have seen the woman’s reflection in the bathroom mirror.
• The Alice M. Raeford Memorial Center has doorways that seem to disappear after you walk through. There are also reports of whispers, shadows, mists and people being pushed by unseen hands.
• The Crown Cinema VI was torn down over a year ago but there were many accounts of shadows, ghosts and film projectors running on their own after it was closed to the public.

Blowing Rock:

• The Green Park Inn claims to have many ghosts. The innkeepers have a ghost register at the front desk so guests can record their supernatural experiences. Room 318 on the 3rd floor of the hotel is haunted by a woman who died there years ago. Legend has it that she committed suicide after being jilted by her lover, who later went back to look for her. Some claim he is the source of the smell of pipe tobacco in the room. There is also a voice that warns to beware of the evil in rooms 332 and 333. One person actually died in 226 but there are no records of paranormal activity in the room. Frankly, I thought the bar looked like a great place for spirits… (I hear you groaning!) The photo above is “doctored” because I wanted it to look more like an old newspaper clipping.

Boone:

• Appalachian State University – The East Hall dormitory reports footsteps, malfunctioning lights, whispering voices in the hallway, a male ghost in the 3rd floor girls’ bathroom and a girl dressed in white who appears in different rooms.
• Tijuana Fats’ restaurant partially burnt down resulting in the death of a little girl. That section was rebuilt and rumor has it the little girl’s voice has been heard by clients. Click here to read the stories.
• There was also a house on Perkinsville Drive that was reported to be haunted by the previous owner. The house burned down in 2003.

Burke County:

• Burke County is home to the famous Brown Mountain Lights which appear along the mountain ridge – a strange phenomenon drawing thousands of tourists each year. According to Cherokee legend, there was a war in 1200 between the Cherokee and Catawba indians. The women would go out at night with torches to look for the bodies of the warriors and were killed by members of the Catawba tribe. Ever since, their ghosts have wandered the mountainside, searching in vain. There are other stories but this is the one I learned from my grandmother. The lights really do exist (I’ve seen them myself). Scientists have been studying the lights since the early 1900′s and are unable to find natural causes.

If you get a chance, please stop and visit my new blog, Foothills Focus. As the title suggests, it will concentrate on life in the foothills and contain photos of the area with minimal text. All memes will remain on Piedmont Perspective.

My World Tuesday is brought to you by the Skywatch Friday team. For a virtual tour of home towns around the world, please visit That’s My World!

Let me root, root, root for the home team…
Jack Norworth

In honor of the World Series, I decided to post these photos of L. P. Frans Stadium. L.P. Frans is home to the Hickory Crawdads (affectionately known to the locals as the ‘Dads) minor league baseball team. After ten years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, they became an affiliate of the Texas Rangers in September. For a description, please hover over the photos. (If you scroll down two posts, the second photo was also taken at the stadium.)

My World Tuesday is a new meme brought to you by the Skywatch Friday team. For a virtual tour of home towns around the world, please visit That’s My World!

I can breathe in a small town
– John Mellencamp (Small Town)–

Welcome to my home in Hickory, North Carolina! Nestled between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont regions, Hickory is a sister city of Altenburg, Germany.

Union Square (downtown) reflected on the windows of the old train depot.

My World Tuesday is a new meme brought to you by the Skywatch Friday team. For a virtual tour of cities around the world, please visit That’s My World!

Oh… people will come Ray.
People will most definitely come.
– Terence Mann (Field of Dreams) –

Another from my stash of Canada photos. This is a bird’s eye view (from the CN Tower) of Rogers Centre – home of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Take me back to old Ontario where the sun
does ever shine, where the tall and stately
maples rear their branches to the sky.
– Frank E. Balson (Take me Back to Old Ontario) –

For this Skywatch Friday, we’re revisiting my last trip to Canada. Specifically, the beautiful skies over the Robinson-Bray House in Streetsville – the original ‘Village in the City of Mississauga’.

I am in the process of refinishing (by hand) the wood floor in my living room. So, please forgive me if I’m a little slow checking the other Skywatch photos.

Sit in reverie and watch the changing color
of the waves that break upon the
idle seashore of the mind.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow –

The weather in the western foothills is blah and the lack of gasoline (not to mention the long lines) on the this side of the state is keeping me at home. So, for today’s Skywatch Friday, we’re off to Tampa Bay (Florida) for a virtual vacation. These pictures were taken in St. Pete near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (the bridge in the second photo), when I went to visit in May.

I think the tree is an element of regeneration
which, in itself, is a concept of time.
– Joseph Beuys –

Clouds and fog over the Blue Ridge in North Carolina.