By Madison Edwards
When you think of North Carolina, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe you think of the state’s beautiful beaches on the Outer Banks, or the scenic mountain views in cities like Asheville and Boone. What you may not think of is the many haunted and supernatural sites there are all around the state of North Carolina. Stories of the supernatural have called to me from a young age, and I could often be found tucked away reading about strange occurrences. This interest in the supernatural is what led me to create a StoryMap on various haunted locations in North Carolina, and to connect those locations to literature on the North Carolina Literary Map.
When I began working on a StoryMap about haunted locations in North Carolina, my mind first went to places I had visited before, such as the Biltmore Estate and Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and I knew I wanted to include these places. However, as someone who loves learning about haunted happenings, I also wanted to include places I had never heard of or experienced before. I started by completing searches through Google and the UNCG library to find literature about haunted locations in North Carolina. I made lists of places that would be promising additions to my StoryMap, and then checked the NC Literary Map to see which places had books relevant to them. This helped me to finalize which locations I wanted to research.
I decided to complete the StoryMap one region at a time, starting with the mountain region, moving into the piedmont region, and ending with the coastal plain region. The first location I researched was the Omni Grove Park Inn, located in Asheville, North Carolina. As I began my research, I realized that I did not want to simply research the hauntings and supernatural phenomena at each location. A lot of the activity at each site can be traced back to tragic events that took place there, making it important to understand the history of these locations. For each site on my StoryMap, there is a paragraph about its history, including any major deaths or tragedies that occurred there, followed by a summary of the paranormal activity that has been reported. This strategy resulted in a heavily researched project that dives into the unique history and qualities of each location.
Completing this StoryMap project was a wonderful experience that was both entertaining and challenging. It allowed me to research a topic that was of interest to me while also giving me the opportunity to learn about the StoryMap technology tool, which was new to me. One thing I know for sure is that I learned about new locations I’d love to visit. And who knows? Maybe someday I’ll have my own supernatural stories to tell.
