Ghosts of the Triad

In honor of our upcoming production of our vicious and haunting World Premiere The Passion of Teresa Rae King (April 29 – May 20, 2018), we’ll be sharing some of our favorite ghost stories and true crime tales from across the Triad. Our marketing intern Caroline put together this collection of chillers for our first installment!

Lydia’s Bridge

(photo credit: Strange Carolinas)

An abandoned bridge in Jamestown, North Carolina is said to be the home to the ghost of a young woman named Lydia. This particular bridge is no longer part of the roadway, but is just out of sight of the road. The story goes that Lydia was a young woman in the 1920s, heading home from a dance with her date. Her date tragically crashed the car, dying on impact. Lydia, injured, waited by the roadside for someone to come along, but no one did and she died right there. Rumor says that if a man alone in the car drives under the bridge, a young woman in white will wave him down and ask for a ride home. If he obliges, he will find that when he reaches her destination, he is alone in the car.

The real “Lydia” is in fact a woman named Annie L. Jackson, who was in a car with three others on the night of June 20th, 1920. The car crashed right by the bridge, and she was thrown from the vehicle and died upon hitting her head. The ghost sightings began soon afterward.
Annie L. Jackson was found to be the real person behind the Lydia legend late last year, when ghost hunter Michael Renegar was contacted by a woman named Robin Mitchell Taylor, the great niece of “Lydia”. They hope that now that her true story has been published, her spirit can be at rest.

Körner’s Folly

(photo credit: www.kornersfolly.org)

Körner’s Folly, located on Main Street in Kernersville, North Carolina was once the home to Jule Körner, a furniture maker. When he started building the peculiar house in 1878, he planned to make it a sort of three dimensional portfolio of his work. The 22 rooms display different ceiling heights, not a single matching doorway, and windows designed to maximize airflow. He renovated the house constantly until his death, which leads us into the supernatural factors behind Jule Körner’s abode. Many visitors of the house have witnessed moving furniture, flickering lights, voices, and two even claimed to have received three brief taps on the head. Have no fear, however, because experts say that the spirits are friendly! Many even speculate that Jule Körner himself is culprit, keeping the guests in his home entertained just as he did while he was alive.

The good news about Körner’s Folly is that you can go there too! For just $10 for adults, take a self-guided tour through one of the most peculiar houses in America. And maybe if you’re lucky, Jule will pay you a visit!

The Biltmore Hotel

(photo credit: Greensboro Daily Photo)

Just around the corner from our beloved Triad Stage, the Biltmore Greensboro Hotel sits pretty at 111 W. Washington Street. The building did not begin as a hotel, but as an office space for denim manufacturers the Cone Brothers, the namesake for the Cone Denim Factory downtown, and later for the Cone Health Medical System. As the story goes, an accountant named Philip who worked for the Cone Brothers was found in the alley next to the building one morning with a piece of piano wire wrapped around his neck. The wire had been cut from the piano in the lobby, and then Philip had been pushed out the window that is now attached to room 332 of the hotel.

Some say that Philip committed suicide, but another popular theory is that he had found out about something he shouldn’t have known and was “taken care of.” People now say that they can hear his footsteps, as well as loud noises coming from room 332. Guests who stayed in Philip’s room have also reported seeing him standing next to the window through which he was thrown.

Philip’s is not the only ghost story in the historic Biltmore Greensboro Hotel. The Cone Brothers sold the building in 1926, and in 1929 the city of Greensboro lists it as an annex to the post office, creating the new address of 111 ½ W. Washington Street. This address was purchased by a lady by the name of Mrs. Ava B. Taylor, who turned it into an apartment and boarding establishment. She took over the rest of the building in 1934, and it was rumored that she was running a brothel, since her tenants were exclusively women. They say that the young woman by the name of Lydia (no relation to Jamestown Lydia) who lived in room 223 was thrown to her death by one of her clients. They say that if you are to stay in her room, you should be respectful and bring her something pink. Women who stay in the room find their purses tipped over and anything pink separated from the rest of their items, and the hotel staff has ensured that there are pink items hidden throughout the room to keep her happy. Staff even say that the door to her room is the only one that will not remain open, no matter what they do.

A young boy staying in room 223 back in 2010 reported seeing a pretty woman with long, red hair. Housekeeping has also reported finding strands of long red hair in the sink of room 223 before, as if someone was standing in the bathroom brushing her hair. The boy is currently the only person to have ever reported seeing Lydia, but many hotel guests have reported smelling a strong floral perfume when walking down the hallway by her room.

If those stories didn’t have you shaking, then join us for a free evening of live Ghost Stories on Friday, April 13, 7:30 p.m. at Triad Stage! Bring a flashlight, bring a buddy, and prepare to be scared! You can listen to our storytellers, or tell a ghost story of your own – if you dare!

Find more details on the Facebook event page.

And don’t forget to get your tickets to The Passion of Teresa Rae King!
http://triadstage.org/performance/249/the-passion-of-teresa-rae-king