EDITOR’S NOTE: Strangeville explores the curious and unexplained stories that have long defined Asheville and Western North Carolina. The region is full of unanswered questions, from old folklore and local legends to eerie encounters, unsolved moments in history, and the true-crime mysteries that still leave people wondering. Each week, we look back with an open mind and a sense of curiosity, trying to understand why some stories take hold and why some can never be explained.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW.com) – When Cornelia Vanderbilt left Asheville in 1934, she didn’t slip quietly into the background of European life. She stepped into something stranger, a reinvention so dramatic that it unsettled the polite expectations of the era.
The heiress to Biltmore Estate walked away from the place where she was born and raised. She carried her fortune overseas and recast herself in ways that baffled the family and friends she left behind in Asheville…