Welcome back to the Basecamp Bulletin. I’m Megan, your Mistress of Spook and Master of Macabre.
I’m going to introduce you to some of the spooky places in NC, and give you some podcast recommendations from some locals and transplants alike. Plus, I made you a spooky playlist!
1. The first place we're traveling to today is the Omni Grove in Asheville! Did you know the hotel has a GHOST?! We’re talking about the Pink Lady, reputed to be a young woman who fell to her death in the 1920’s. She’s a friendly ghost who likes children and seems more willing to show herself to kids. She also apparently likes playing pranks on guests. The lady is reportedly attached to room 545. So if you want to commune with the Pink Lady, you can reserve that room. Fair warning - if you want to go during spooky season aka leaf-peeping time, the rates are over $500 a night. So buyer beware.
2. The next stop on our tour is the Devil’s Tramping Ground, located in Bear Creek,NC. You can rent this place out on their website https://www.theoriginaldevilstrampingground.com/. The lore is that the devil goes there to walk in circles to think up more ways to cause trouble for humanity. There are tales of things left overnight disappearing, strange events happening to people who spend the night, and nothing growing within 100 feet for centuries. SPOOKY! Could also just be raccoons, but that’s for you to decide.
3. The Brown Mountain Lights are our next stop and the home to purported ghost lights! Plus, they’re located in the Linville Gorge area. This is a great place to camp. There are lovely sites off Old NC 105. I suggest you go out there, grab a first-come-first-served site, and get set up. Once you're settled in, go up to Wiseman’s View and see what you find. The lights are most active in the fall, so October is a great time to go. You will need 4X4, AWD, or a car with good ground clearance to get up to Wiseman’s and the campsites. There are no bathrooms or power and cell service is limited. If that sounds like a lot of work, you can also view the lights from the Brown Mountain Overlook on NC-181 or the Lost Cove Overlook off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Now there are plenty of “explanations” about the lights, but as someone who’s seen them with their own eyes on several occasions, I still believe they’re a little spooky.
4. USS North Carolina is our final stop. This is a World War II battleship that served in the Pacific theater. It is considered one of the most haunted military ships in the United States. Having done an investigation, I would recommend visiting!. It's probably not great for anyone who is claustrophobic or afraid of the dark. The below decks areas can be stuffy, dark and HOT. So be prepared. However, it was a lot of fun to poke around on a decommissioned ship in the wee hours of the night. The USS North Carolina organization does not run these tours, but there are private companies that do so.
Now that we’ve primed the spooky pump, I’ve got some podcast recommendations by North Carolina locals and transplants. I’ll drop links at the end of the post, but they are available in any podcast app.
1. Astonishing Legends is a podcast hosted by Scott Philbrook and Forrest Burgess. Scott is an LA native, but met and married his lovely wife at UNC Greensboro and has been an honorary native son ever since. Forrest is located in a cave somewhere in the PNW, probably close to Bigfoot if I had to guess. The episodes I'd recommend for an NC Local Spooky are EP 209: THE PHANTOM HORSE OF GREENSBORO and EP 297: THE GHOST SHIP CARROLL A. DEERING.
2. The Micah Hanks Program is a locally produced podcast mostly focusing on UFO/UAP stories and news. Micah is a true local son living somewhere outside of Asheville. He tends more to the skeptic views, but is open to other explanations. The two episodes I recommend from Micah are 02.22.21. THE BROWN MOUNTAIN LIGHTS: A HISTORICAL INQUIRY and 08.20.25. PHANTOM VESSELS: ‘GHOST SHIPS’, MISSING CREWS AND ODDITIES OF SEA AND SKY.
3. Next on our list is Ghosts In The Mountains, hosted by Caleb Hanks, who you may have noticed by the name is the brother of Micah Hanks. You should try the episodes #70 MOON EYED PEOPLE and #3 CHIMNEY ROCK.
4. Last on our list is Ex V Planis. Hosted by Flood who hails from the sweaty Mississippi swamps but has lived in the Triangle area for close to a decade, so we have adopted him. I’d recommend THE SPIRITS OF WAKE FOREST and THE USS NORTH CAROLINA episodes.
Also because I just love spooky campfires I've made you a lovely playlist of music to listen to while you stare into the flames and tell ghost stories. I’ve linked the YouTube playlist here. I hope you enjoy it, but if you don’t, remember I'm a bin goblin and not a DJ.
Happy Haunting!