photo of lunar eclipse taken from the Discovery Place parking deck, credit: Justin Ruckman

I’ve been looking around for some good ghost stories this week and this one is from the book Ghost Stories of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County by Stephanie Burt Williams. I’m not saying these are facts, but this book is really fun and interesting.  You can check it out at your local library (unless of course you go to UNCC).

Elizabeth is, by far, the most haunted neighborhood in Charlotte; even the main green space — Independence Park — is teeming with activity. An old female ghost haunts the Cajun Queen on Seventh Avenue, one of the area’s oldest houses converted into a restaurant. Talking to some of the wait staff, I heard conflicting reports on the reason why she haunts it. A bar was built in the old owner’s bedroom, and one waitress says she’s hosted the old woman’s relatives, who say the old maid, a proper Southern woman, is ticked off that such debauchery is occurring in her bedroom.

Another restaurant in Elizabeth hired an exorcist to rid its establishment of poltergeist. But just before telling CL the specific tales from beyond the grave, the proprietor had a sudden change of heart, fearing the publicity would drive away business.

Sandy Pawlowski, a former resident of an apartment complex called The Mayflower on Oakland Avenue, frequently saw a shadow ghost hanging out in the stairwell of the building. The apartment, built between 1915 and 1920, was ordered from a Sears catalogue, says Pawlowski. Like the description of the shadow ghost given in the main story, the dark spirit was wearing a top hat…On another occasion, Sandy saw a little girl ghost with a bluish hue walk through the wall.

Pawlowski wasn’t the only one to see the shadow ghost; her neighbor at the Mayflower asked Sandy one day if she had ever seen a ghost with a funny little hat on.

If you want to be a part of the various ghost hunts around Charlotte, you could check out The Charlotte Paranormal Society or The Charlotte Paranormal Meetup Group. Which may or may not be the same group.

Matt Tyndall and I got to interview Andrew Disney, creator of the short film Franks Last Shot, which happened to be one of my favorite films there.

You can view Andrew’s work on Vimeo or on his website.

Overall the festival was a great amount of fun and I’m surprised it doesn’t get more attention.