Haunts n' Eats ~ Joyce Lavene

Photo by eric chappelle

Haunts n’ Eats


Midland, North Carolina

http://www.townofmidland.us/




Haunts

It’s a surprise to some people when they find a haunted site in a very small town. But let’s face it, people die everywhere. It doesn’t matter how small the town is!

Midland, NC is about 3,500 people. People have been recorded living here since the early 1800s but the town only incorporated (became a town) in 2000. It’s kind of a crossroads town that was started with a post office and a church as a result of the railroad coming through.

The people who live here have deep roots in the community. They have always been tough farmers who are used to doing without – and have been known to take justice into their own hands more than one time.

There is a penchant for hanging in this area. A sheriff once came looking for a whiskey still found a little more than he bargained for. He was found hanged from a tree when his deputies came to look for him. The town became known as Hell’s Half Acre for this and other dark deeds.

Two black teenagers were hanged here as well, supposedly for talking to a white girl.

So there have been plenty of events that could have caused a ghostly presence in this staid community. The ghost story that persists, however, is the one about the black teenager who was buried alive in a tiny cemetery. The boy was chased by the Knights of the White Camellia, a precursor of the KKK, supposedly because he raped one of their daughters.

The chances are it was consensual sex but there was no such thing between black and white in the late 1800s after the Civil War until as late as the 1950s. It would have been unusual for the boy not to be hanged, but so the story goes. Perhaps they were out of rope that dark night.

Hanging would certainly have been kinder and faster than suffocating in the orange clay. The ultra secret White Camellias were known for their swift and sure methods of ‘justice’.

It is said that on March 8, the date of the boy’s death, anyone near the cemetery on Garmon Mill Road, just after Rocky River Bridge, can still hear his muffled calls for help. There’s no way for us to know why his restless spirit remains while the others are quiet. Maybe the horror of his death keeps him tethered to this spot, going through the agonies of dying this way over and over.

What else is there?

Reed Gold Mine, where the first gold was found in the U.S., is located here as well. You can tour the spooky old mine located on Reed Mine Road. But the story about the mine being haunted by a mad miner was made up for their annual fall festival. It was a lot of fun but as far as anyone knows, the mine is not really haunted. It’s an interesting place to visit anyway.
www.nchistoricsites.org/reed/reed.htm

Where to eat?

Pizza and Beyond is good with a wide menu from pizza and pasta to ice cream. It is located on Hwy. 24/27 to the west of town. The owners are local and still work here making pizza. Good place to take the kids after they’ve been cooped up in the car too since they have a game room.
http://pizzaandbeyond.blogspot.com/


There is also a small lunch place on Cabarrus Station Road, The Cabarrus Station Grill, which is set up like an old train stop café. Not open on the weekends.
Cabarrus Station