So remote and so hidden are the cave and the racetrack that they are almost impossible to find. Maybe that is as it should be. Most folks in Anson County agree that it is best to leave both the ghosts of the Catawbas, who guard hidden gold, and the devil, who amuses himself at his stone race course, to their supernatural devices at this place called Indian Rock.
CABARRUS COUNTY
A Man’s Treasure, A Woman’s Grave
Evil flourishes far more in the shadows than in the light of day.
Jawaharlal Nehru
Throughout recorded history, gold has consistently remained one of the most valuable commodities in the world. Because of its enduring value, the precious metal has been associated with crime, mystery, intrigue, and greed down through the ages. It is not surprising, then, that at the beginning of the nineteenth century, in the wake of the opening of the first gold mine in North Carolina, one of its shafts was the setting of a mysterious crime. Even today, the cries of the ghost of the unfortunate murder victim can be heard and its presence felt in the famous Reed Gold Mine.
Cabarrus County emerged as the site of the first gold rush in the United States not long after twelve-year-old Conrad Reed pulled a seventeen-pound nugget from Meadow Creek on his father’s farm on a Sunday morning in 1799. When the lad displayed his find to his parents, they didn’t know what it was. For a time, Conrad’s father, John Reed, used it for a doorstop. It was in 1802 that he finally learned it was gold. John Reed sold the entire piece in Fayetteville for what he termed “a big price”—three dollars and fifty cents.
When he returned home, John was delighted to find numerous pieces of gold—some even larger than the first chunk—scattered in the creek. Cognizant that his farm was literally resting atop a gold mine, the former Hessian soldier of the American Revolution associated himself with several local businessmen. Together, they opened the mine that continues to bear Reed’s name. From the time the Reed Gold Mine commenced operation until the California gold rush of the mid-nineteenth century, Cabarrus County and the surrounding area led the nation in gold production.
Extensive manpower was required to bring forth the copious quantities of gold from the mine on the Reed farm. Every day, large numbers of men descended the deep, dark shafts to harvest the treasure. In order to ensure that the laborers did not steal any of the precious metal, mine bosses monitored activities below the surface. One such overseer at the Reed Gold Mine was a coarse, hard-drinking man known to the miners and most other people in the community simply as “Boss.”
Despite his callous nature, Boss somehow convinced a lovely blond Englishwoman to marry him. From the beginning, however, the marriage was beset with problems. Boss did little to endear himself to his strikingly beautiful bride. She quickly soured on the relationship and developed a strong desire to return to England.
One night, after hours of ceaseless squabbling, Boss agreed to allow his wife to make the transatlantic voyage to visit her family and friends. The greatly relieved woman promptly packed her belongings into trunks and made preparations for the trip, which would take her to Charlotte by horse and buggy, to New York City by train, and then to England by ship. The joyous news was sent ahead to her family across the sea.
Early one Tuesday morning, after his wife exchanged farewells with her friends, Boss took the reins of the fully loaded horse-drawn buggy. Off they went on the eight-hour journey to Charlotte. No one ever again saw the woman alive.
Boss reported for work at the “lower hill” at the regular time on Wednesday morning. Weeks passed without incident, until his wife’s family reported that their loved one had not arrived as expected. Boss was somewhat defensive about the matter. He insisted that he had put his wife on the train in Charlotte.
A subsequent investigation yielded no leads to the disappearance. It was as if the woman had vanished from the face of the earth. Given Boss’s reputation as a ruffian, gossip spread throughout the mining community that he had done away with his wife.
One morning, a miner informed Boss that he had detected a strong, foul smell at the entrance to an unworked tunnel. Accompanied by three workers, Boss made his way to the site and was quick to volunteer to lead the way into the shaft to determine the source of the odor. Several other men, holding candles high to provide illumination, followed their foreman at a distance.
As the little expedition made its way into the bowels of the earth, the tunnel narrowed to the point that there was room for only one person. Boss forged onward while the others remained behind, holding their candles in such a way as to provide light for him. From their vantage point, they could see only the shadow of Boss dragging something deeper into the shaft. Finally, when he was near the end of the tunnel, Boss pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and ordered everyone to run for the entrance.
After the explosion, Boss informed the miners that the terrible odor had come from a dead animal, perhaps a stray pack horse. He explained that, to remedy the situation, he had pulled the carcass to where the blast would cover the decaying body. Boss was taken at his word, and no one gave any further thought to the incident.
As the years passed, the mysterious disappearance of the Englishwoman remained unsolved. Then, one day, a group of mine explorers worked their way to the end of the shaft that Boss had dynamited. There, they found a variety of intriguing items: a woman’s slipper, a plait of blond hair, a flat gold nugget, and a locket. Eyewitnesses said that the nugget was in the shape of the profile of a woman with long, golden hair. Old-timers in the community claimed that the profile was the likeness of Boss’s wife. Furthermore, they confirmed that the locket, the slipper, and the hair belonged to the missing woman. But no one was ever able to conclusively prove that Boss had killed his wife and disposed of her body in the Reed Gold Mine.
Soon after the items were discovered, weird, frightening cries were heard in the shaft. Miners suddenly began to experience the feeling that an invisible presence was moving about them in the tunnel where they were working.
Today, Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site, located approximately twenty-eight miles north of Charlotte, preserves the place where John Reed and North Carolina struck it rich in 1802. If you are brave enough to venture into the haunted shaft on a tour, listen carefully for the ghostly screams of a murdered bride. And don’t be shocked if you feel a sudden swish of air, as if someone has just rushed past you. Remember, it’s only the ghost of a beautiful, homesick woman who is still trying to make her way to her beloved England.
CASWELL COUNTY
In Search of Justice
Vex not his ghost: O! Let him pass; he hates him That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer.
William Shakespeare
Ghosts are often associated with people who have met violent deaths either as a result of crimes or accidents. And so it is with the ghost that haunts the courthouse in Caswell County. Since State Senator John Walker Stephens was murdered in 1870 in a room below the main courtroom, his ghost has inhabited the halls of justice.
Located in the heart of Yanceyville, the Caswell County Courthouse was erected in 1861. It survives today as a magnificent piece of nineteenth-century architecture. Fire caused serious damage to the structure in 1953, but an extensive restoration project in 1968 resulted in its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places six years later.
A state historical marker on the street adjacent to the court-house calls attention to the murder of John Walker Stephens, which occurred in the building a decade after it was constructed. Though he was elected