Mountain spooks

I'm off to the Highlands/Cashiers area this coming weekend for some book signings, and I am glad to once again be able to see the fall colors so beautiful on winding Highway 64. I'll get to pass one of my favorite waterfalls too -- a little grotto fall just off the highway between Cashiers and Highlands. It's shaded by rhododendron, so it's easy to miss, but it is especially beautiful in the deep summer when covered in moss.

But this time of year, it's all about ghosts, not waterfalls, and the mountains have their share of stories. One of my favorites that I got to research for Haunted Hills surrounds the High Hampton Inn in Cashiers, a lovely historic structure with beautiful rolling scenery. The tale is far from beautiful:

Louisa Heaton was by all accounts an eccentric Southern lady, and when her husband wanted to sell some of the land connected to High Hampton, she became distraught. She said, "If you sell my family's land, I'll commit suicide." Well, being the "man of the house," he decided to sell anyway, only to come home to find her lifeless body swinging from a barn rafter a while a white-face barn owl screeched above. The story goes he was so overcome at the funeral he tried to commit suicide (unsuccessfully) over her open grave by slashing both sides of his neck with a hunting knife.

This sordid account is still connected with the Inn, for many people over the years have reported seeing a white owl on the property. Ahh, what a great cheery bedtime story. And yes, I do usually sleep well at night, despite my ghoulish research!