The Pink Lady of the Grove Park Inn

Our family was in Asheville this past weekend for a lacrosse tournament, and though we didn't actually stay there, we visited the Grove Park Inn on Saturday night just to walk around a bit. The kids had never really been to it, so they just enjoyed the ambiance of the place. It is a majestic place; it feels like how the Titanic must have felt before, well, you know.

As we walked around and marveled at the giant fireplaces and stonework, I mentioned to the kids about infamous "Pink Lady," the ghost who is said to "live" in one of the rooms of the Grove Park Inn. Needless to say, they were intrigued --  and a little spooked.

Fast forward to Monday, when a fairly innocuous tweet about it led to a conversation with Jen (aka @Hattiechicken). Turns out, she was at the Grove Park last week ... and even stayed in room 545!  Here were her comments about her, uh, experiences in the room:

We had 3 weird things happen. I was alone the 1st 2 nights. Talking to @MBERaleigh on the phone, opened the very heavy blinds opened the windows. Walked around the room getting ready for my conference. Turn back to the windows. Blinds are completely closed. 

...

@MBERaleigh arrives Friday. Closes the windows. ... Locks them -- they have these thumb screws u have to turn to get them to stay open. We go out. Come back & windows are wide open. Thumb screws turned. Asked staff, they didn't do it.

...

The staff has all kinds of stories. I was told the window being open was a compliment bc I wanted them open, so she opened them.

Jen also said that at one point her room key went missing, they searched all over, and five minutes later it was sitting on the desk.

Discussing the Pink Lady reminded Charity and me about the time we stayed at the Lake Lure Inn about 14 or 15 years ago. It was off-season, so it was very quiet and desolate. At one point during the night, I woke up to see what looked like a small boy tip-toeing around the food of our bed. Then he was gone.

Now, to be completely honest, it could have had something to do with the news clippings at the hotel's front desk that chronicled the haunted inn that played with my minds. In addition, both the Grove Park and the Lake Lure Inn are from an era that makes them, well, "Shining-esque."

As mentioned before, I've long been intrigued by N.C.'s plethora of ghost stories. Just as varied the state is geographically, so is the variety in supernatural ... things. From the mountains to the coast and everywhere in between, there are creepies and spooks and things that go bump in the night. But, I gotta say that, to me, at least, the mountains have the best ghost stories. (Heck, according to this site, 5 of the 7 top haunted hotels in the state are in the mountains.) The Pink Lady and the Brown Mountain Lights alone may take the cake. (And not far from the Grove Park Inn is Biltmore Estate -- one can imagine that place has some stories, too!)  But there is also Helen's Bridge in Asheville, several spots at WCU, the demon dog of Vale Crucis, and many more.


And though not a ghost story per se, it's hard to be the mystery and intrigue of the Ferry Crosses of western N.C.

What are your favorite N.C. ghost stories?