Haunted Roanoke?

[seanpecor]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and opine that VA is slim on ghost stories because my sense is that Baptists tend to frown on that sort of stuff? Up in New England where Catholics are more prevalent there are alot more ghost stories. I mean, alot more. Same goes for places like Louisiana. Catholics put more mojo into relics and what-not, attributing ghostly powers to objects and statues. The three people that I know down here that go off the deep end when discussing ghosts also happen to be the only three Catholics that I know personally

Maybe if we recruit more cooky old Catholic ladies into Virginia - like my mom, who swears she has a piece of plywood with the face of Jesus on it - we could get us some more ghost stories and haunted houses

Sean

[breeze823]

Originally Posted by seanpecor

I'm going to go out on a limb here and opine that VA is slim on ghost stories because my sense is that Baptists tend to frown on that sort of stuff? Up in New England where Catholics are more prevalent there are alot more ghost stories. I mean, alot more. Same goes for places like Louisiana. Catholics put more mojo into relics and what-not, attributing ghostly powers to objects and statues. The three people that I know down here that go off the deep end when discussing ghosts also happen to be the only three Catholics that I know personally

Maybe if we recruit more cooky old Catholic ladies into Virginia - like my mom, who swears she has a piece of plywood with the face of Jesus on it - we could get us some more ghost stories and haunted houses

Sean

I know it's a touchy subject with some people There's alot of Baptists here too of course but there's also alot of great ghost stories! My grandma was a Baptist from Kentucky and she had the best ghost stories and superstitions

[Diamond Dave]

I'm not sure I care for Sean's blatant anti-Baptist tone.





Ha! I kid. That's as good an explanation as any, Sean. It could very well be with all of our colonial and Civil War history, and conservative religious culture, there has never been a need or desire to develop or foster a ghost history. I suspect it exists in pockets, but it's telling that none of us can cite any good tales.

I know a prominent local historian and will ask him this week, and will get back to you all.

[breeze823]

Originally Posted by Diamond Dave

I'm not sure I care for Sean's blatant anti-Baptist tone.





Ha! I kid. That's as good an explanation as any, Sean. It could very well be with all of our colonial and Civil War history, and conservative religious culture, there has never been a need or desire to develop or foster a ghost history. I suspect it exists in pockets, but it's telling that none of us can cite any good tales.

I know a prominent local historian and will ask him this week, and will get back to you all.

LOL, you had me for a second! I was thinking he came across perfectly nice!
Looking forward to your report back

[cheerbear]

Roanoke does hav ea few ghost stories in various pockets. For instance, there are ghost stories surrounding Hollins University. For more information, I reccomend visiting the special collections section of the university library. You could also PM me, as I know some interesting stories. You might be able to learn just as much through anecdotes by asking older Roanokers to share their stories.

If you're willing to branch out of the Roanoke area, the Shawsville/Elliston area and Radford have a few ghost stories.

BTW, I think Sean may be right about faith-based reasons behind the dearth of ghost stories. Obviously, not all Baptists are anti-paranormal phenomena, but many fundamentalist Christians believe that ghosts should not be sought out. The story of King Saul's consultation with a medium provides more insight into the origin of this belief.

[PaperTrail]

Very much by accident, this site came up on an unrelated Google search I did. FWIW:
Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - virginia

[benjharrisons#1fan]

j1n you just gotta know where to look, there are tons of ghostly stuff there.