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My family recently took the Asheville Terrors: Ghosts Of The Blue Ridge and I wanted to share our experience with you.
We met our guide in downtown Asheville at 8 pm. It was the end of of July and the sun was still shining . But it was descending and the shadows were lengthening. By the second stop, darkness was falling and it was a better fit with the stories we were hearing.
The Grove Arcade story is a puzzle, wrapped in an enigma, covered by a very intriguing mystery.
You’ll see the beautiful two story Grove Arcade. It is a downtown indoor mall that was completed in 1929.
In 1942, the Federal government took over the building to house the General Accounting Office during World War II. People became suspicious when the glass windows were bricked in. The beautiful building covering one entire city block was transformed into a concrete fortress with no way to see inside. After the war ended, the Federal government kept using the building. In 1951, the government said it needed to keep the building to store weather records. The government finally gave it back to the city of Asheville in 1994.
They first wanted to restore the windows but when they were taking down the barrier, they found a body in the wall. It was the badly decomposed body of a man and the back of his head had been crushed. They were trying to identify the body when Federal agents took over the investigation and the body.
Since that time, the Grove Arcade has been restored to its former beauty. There have also been repeated sightings of a blond man in an old fashioned suit walking slowly through the arcade. When he turns and drifts away, you see a gaping wound in the back of his head and the back of his suit is soaked in blood.
Why did the government need a two story block long building in Asheville for accounting in World War II? Why turn it into a fortress? Who was the man in the wall? Was he a German spy?
You’ll hear about 19 year old Helen Clevenger’s murder in the luxurious Battery Park Hotel in 1936. A number of people reported seeing a 5’6” white man running through the lobby and out the front door the night of the murder.
The press jumped on this story and the public was fascinated by the murder of a lovely teenager. The Sheriff was under a lot of pressure to solve the case. But locals were surprised when he arrested a hotel employee, a 6 foot tall black man.
The Sheriff said the employee had confessed. The employee said he confessed only after several beatings. He was tried, convicted and executed.
Many locals believed the real murderer got away with it. And many wonder if that’s why Helen never left the hotel. You’ll hear about the sightings and the paranormal activity in the hotel since the murder. It is now an assisted living home for Seniors.
While we were standing in front of the building, my daughter saw a light flashing on and off quickly. It stopped abruptly when she said something about it. Our guide, Dan, saw it too and he said he’d never seen that before at this location. So what was that?
You’ll hear stories of people jumping to their deaths after the 1929 stock market crash. Hear about the church where people get pinched when they’re alone.
During the Civil War, Asheville was a Confederate stronghold that was occupied by Union forces. The Union troops looted and burned the city. So if you’re walking around downtown at night, don’t be too surprised if you see a spirit wearing a Confederate uniform. You won’t be the first.
I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. The next day during breakfast we were talking about it. To me, that’s the sign of a great experience.
I’d also like to add that our tour guide, Dan, was great. He was really knowledgable, interesting, and very nice. He was one of the best parts of the tour.
Coupon
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Visiting Asheville
I enjoyed our visit to Asheville. If you’d like to visit Asheville, you should consider these hotels. You can book them for under $100 a night which can save you money on your stay.