Ghost stories that haunt Southeastern NC

COTTON EXCHANGE — WILMINGTON

FOSCUE PLANTATION — POLLOCKSVILLE

Just south of New Bern in rural Jones County one of the most famously haunted houses in the southeastern part of the state lies by the Trent River. Many who have visited Pollocksville’s Foscue Plantation report a feeling of uneasiness and the sensation of being watched while at the house.

Te Foscue Plantation House was built in 1824 by Simon Foscue, Jr., on land first settled by his father. Troughout most of the 1800s, the sprawling estate was home to the Foscue family and their prospering cotton and corn farm. Over a 30-year period, Foscue, his son, John Edward and John Edward’s wife, Caroline Foy Foscue, owned an estimated 90 slaves, which was a high number, by eastern North Carolina standards.

Legend goes that some of the slaves would be chained in the attic as punishment. Today, visitors to the plantation house have reported hearing cries and moans coming from the attic. Perhaps the most disturbing tales involve the staircase leading to the attic. Reportedly, the slaves’ blood appears on the stairs, and doesn’t disappear, even when paint is used to cover it up.

Tere are so many ghost stories and legends in the Port City that downtown Wilmington hosts not only a year-round Ghost Walk, but also a Haunted Pub Crawl. From the New Hanover County Library branch downtown, which you can’t deny feels a little spooky when you walk in, to sightings of ghostly Confederate soldiers at Fort Fisher in Kure Beach, the Wilmington area has ghosts galore.

A set of plaques in the Cotton Exchange downtown retell many of the shopping center’s most famous paranormal experiences. Te Cotton Exchange was the marketplace for the burgeoning cotton industry in the state in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Te eight buildings that make up the Exchange are connected by brick walkways and courtyards, preserving both the architecture of the time and the scores of pines that give the complex its unique—albeit sometimes creepy—feel.

One of the most common apparitions at the Cotton Exchange is the Lady in the White Dress. She is often seen at top of the steps leading to the upper dining room in the German Café, and at the top of the stairs leading to the Fidler’s Gallery.

A story is often retold that a little girl returned from a visit to the rest room and asked her mother if the Cotton Exchange had ghosts. When her mother asked why she would ask such a question, the girl replied, “Because there was a lady in a long white dress in the bathroom … and then she wasn’t there.”

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THE MACO LIGHT—RURAL BRUNSWICK COUNTY

Tere is perhaps no more famous North Carolina ghost story than the Maco Light. For decades, a ghostly light was reported along the railroad tracks in an unincorporated community called Maco Station.

Whether it was a real phenomenon or the product of “marsh gas” from nearby swamps, the story was tied back to the tale of Joe Baldwin, a train conductor who was reportedly beheaded in a collision between a Wilmington-bound locomotive and a runaway caboose.

On this rainy night, Baldwin reportedly went to the rear platform and frantically tried to signal a following train with his lantern. Despite his efforts, the legend goes that the engineer of the other train failed to see him in time, and Baldwin was decapitated in the collision. As a result, hundreds of people saw a ghostly light that resembled a lantern swinging back and forth.

Sightings of the light ended when the railroad removed the track in 1977 and a nearby trestle bridge was destroyed.

Even if sightings have ceased, the legend lives on and has been adapted to countless communities other than Maco Station.

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POPLAR GROVE PLANTATION—SCOTTS HILL

Poplar Grove Plantation, located about eight miles north of Wilmington in the Pender County community of Scotts Hill, also has its own famous ghost from a bygone era.

Te spirit occupying this historic home is known as “Aunt Nora” Frazier Foy, who lived in the house from the time of her wedding to Joseph Foy in 1871 until her death in 1923. She’s described as a playful spirit, and she particularly likes to haunt the kitchen of the restaurant on-site.

Employees have reported phantom footsteps, slamming doors, flushing toilets and music when no one else was present. One employee was “terrified when the pages of a notepad on her desk slowly began to riffle,” according to one book.

Te restaurant manager has also assured that the business was locked and that all stoves and lights were turned off at closing, only to return the next morning to find lights burning and stoves still hot.

In another part of the plantation, reports include a wooden cradle suddenly rocking without being touched or moving from an errant breeze. Te cradle stopped rocking as suddenly as it had started.

ISAAC TAYLOR HOUSE—NEW BERN

If there’s any town in Southeastern N.C. that could take Wilmingotn’s title as “most haunted,” it would likely be New Bern. Te first capital of North Carolina, there have been plenty of opportunities for legends to build over the past 200-plus years.

One of the most famous ghosts is Miss Fanny Taylor. Her father Isaac Taylor’s house was built in 1792, making it one of the oldest structures in town. An ancestor of popular musician James Taylor, Fanny was engaged to be married.

According to the long-told story, a week before the wedding, her fiancé went for a walk and collapsed on the street, dying on the spot. Heartbroken, Fanny swore that she would never leave the house again. She locked herself inside the home and indeed, stayed there until her death.

Sightings of Fanny sitting in the front window continue to this day. According to the website for the house, which is now a garden, visitor’s center and home to the Greater Good Art Gallery, “It is said that if you walk by the house, you can see her sitting in the first-level front window, waiting for her fiancé to come home.” SE

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