Editor’s Note: Western North Carolina is rich with untold stories—many resting quietly in local cemeteries. In this Tombstone Tales series, we explore the lives of people from our region’s past whose legacies, whether widely known or nearly forgotten, helped shape the place we call home.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Students at Clyde A. Erwin High School know the usual sounds of a campus: sneakers squeaking down hallways, lockers slamming, doors swinging shut. Local lore insists that when the building is empty, those noises continue.
Stories of unexplained footsteps, doors opening and closing on their own, and classroom televisions flickering to life after hours have circulated for decades. The reputation has grown enough that Erwin High School is among Asheville’s most haunted landmarks…