If you are interested in reading about folk lore that is intertwine with factual history in North Carolina. Then this is a perfect read for you.
Writer: Frances H. Casstevens
Type: Short story collection
Genre: Folk Lore/ History
Publisher: Haunted America
Author Frances H. Casstevens gives readers a collection of folk lore and short stories based in or originated from from the Piedmont area of North Carolina. There many stories from this book that I am familiar with such as the story of the ‘The Little Red Man’ that tales the story of a shoe maker named Andreas Kresmer. Who lived in The Single Brothers House in the 1700’s.
The Single Brothers House was a building that was used to housed unmarried men and help them find work, it is said that the men had a strong bond of friendship with one another, and that friendship was extended to Andreas Kresmer. Who was a play full and cheerful man, his friends of The Singles Brothers House mourn for him after his deadly accident, that happen while he was helping with renovation at the establishment.
Days later the people who lived in The Single Brothers House would then hear strange noises moving through the hall ways, these would be the sounds of shoes stepping on hard floor or a hammer beating on the wall. They soon discovered it to be the ghost of Andreas Kresmer, who they would see wearing a red hat, while playing tricks on the residents.
Most people who encountered the Little Red Man, seemed to had positive things to say about him. Little Betsy was young girl who had a playful friendship with the Little Red Man. However The Little Red Man’s days as a ghost of Winston-Salem came to an end when a priest was called to perform an exorcism on the building that the ghost resided in, and The little Red Man was no more.
There is also other stories that caught my interest as well, in this terrific collection of folk lore. One is titled ‘The ghost of Glenwood’ that gives different accounts ghost that was seen at the Glenwood house of Yadkin County. The house was founded in the 1800’s by Tyre Glen, who became rich through slave trading.
There has been ghost sites of a woman standing in the window, ghost playing the old piano, and many other creepy sites at this old house that is now an historical landmark. There are other ghost stories based on Yadkin County as well in this book.
Another story that I love, is one that is haunting and also very sad, is the story of ‘Bringing Mary Home.’ This story tells of a young man who was driving home one night and saw a young girl on the side of the road. He stop to pick her up and took her home to High Point NC. Only when he got to the girls house she suddenly disappeared, frighten by her vanishing, he knock on the door of the house that the girl said she lived in. It wasn’t until the girls mother had came to the door and when he told her that he had picked up a girl from side of a highway who directed him to the woman’s house, it’s when the woman explain that the young girl was her daughter, had died in another town years ago and what he saw was the ghost of her daughter, Mary.
He found out that Mary the young girl was still trying to find her way home to her mother, each night on the anniversary of her death she would hitchhike a ride home, only to disappear once she arrive. It is legends and folk lore such as Bringing Mary Home, The Little Red Man, and so many other folk lore tales is the reason I recommend this book for those who interested in folk lore and urban legends of North Carolina.
The book also gives great historical facts about many of the locations and people who’s stories intertwine with myths. For that reason, this is also a history book as well especially for the individual figures that appear from the 1700’s and 1800’s.
You can buy ‘Ghost of the Carolina Piedmont’ at:
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