Ghosthunting North Carolina. Kala Ambrose

holding a ghosthunting event in the future for other paranormal researchers and interested people who wish to explore North Carolina. She also confirmed for me the history of what I had found in my research about the Lost Colony. She then shared that she had experienced some supernatural experiences in some of the other places I was writing about, including the Mordecai House in Raleigh. While Anne and her daughter were there, her daughter had a ghost touch her and blow in her ear while they were in Mary Turk’s room on the Mordecai House tour.

      There’s so much still to uncover about the Lost Colony of Roanoke. One thing is for sure: when you visit the Lost Colony area, it feels eerie and isolated. It looks open and unprotected, and the woods surrounding you feel dangerous. The area remains much the same as it was when the settlers arrived, and you’ll get a good idea of what it was like to live at that time.

      I enjoyed the natural beauty and scenic views of the area. At the same time, I tried to imagine what it was like to be Eleanor Dare, pregnant in a new world and facing starvation, exposure to the elements, and the constant threat of being attacked and killed by natives. I also wondered how John White had been given the position and responsibility of being governor, as research shows that he was an artist by trade.

      As I tuned in to the energy around the area, I thought I would sense fear, but it felt more like nervous tension, like anxiety. The daily struggle of waiting, hoping, and wondering if help would come or if an attack by the natives would occur each night would be so much to bear on a daily basis. The area has a haunted, lonely feeling that still remains today. With that much anxiety, fear, and death, it’s not surprising that ghost stories continue to be reported in the local area.

      The Roanoke Island Historical Association presents an outdoor drama each summer portraying what happened to the settlers of the lost colony. The scene is striking, set outdoors on the area where the settlement once stood, using the Atlantic Ocean as the backdrop.

      In my conversation with Anne Poole about the surrounding area, she shared with me another haunted story, which she has personally experienced on Roanoke Island. It began on Mother Vineyard Road, where the oldest grapevine in the United States is reported to exist. When the colonists first arrived at Roanoke, they reported that the island was covered with wild grapes, which may have been scuppernong vines. Mother’s Vineyard is a private location that has continued to produce grapes from this vine for more than 400 years, surviving explorers, colonists, the elements, and the Civil War. Over the years, locals and visitors have reported seeing a ghost man with an eerie glow riding a bike on this road. When the man appears, many report also hearing a cat scream and the ringing of a bike bell. They also describe some of the activity as “hoodoos.” Hoodoos are small, dark creatures that appear as shadowy figures and are sometimes mischievous. Many locals believe that the ghost riding the bicycle is a hoodoo. All of the people who encounter this hoodoo energy describe it as feeling ancient and intensely overpowering.

      Anne was called in to investigate the hoodoo with her paranormal research group, and she interviewed several witnesses who personally attest to seeing the ghostly man, including two college students. During her investigation, Anne sensed the presence of a woman in the area who she describes as a granny type character. The woman appeared to be a caretaker, watching over the land and the Mother Vineyard. While she didn’t experience the hoodoo while investigating, she did come away with the impression that the area is haunted by several beings.

      When you plan your visit to the Lost Colony of Roanoke, remember that the actual area is quite bare. The Lost Colony is open to visit, but there is not much here at the site. Mother’s Vineyard is private property and not open to visitors, but you can drive down the road to see if a hoodoo appears to you one night. The nearby town of Manteo offers accommodations and restaurants. While you’re this far out on the Outer Banks, you might also enjoy driving another half hour to Rodanthe, where the movie Nights in Rodanthe was filmed, starring Richard Gere. The movie was based on the book of the same title by Nicholas Sparks.

      Beautiful Nell Cropsey Still Waits in Elizabeth City

      Elizabeth City’s most famous ghost is the beautiful 19-year-old Nell Cropsey, who mysteriously disappeared from her home along the Pasquotank River in 1901. Nell had moved to Elizabeth City in 1898 with her family from Brooklyn, New York. She was reported to be very attractive and had a long line of male suitors in town openly desiring to court her. During this time, she was dating Jim Wilcox, the son of the local county sheriff. For months Nell had been waiting for Jim to ask her to marry him, but he appeared to being making no move toward asking for her hand. In an attempt to provoke Jim into popping the question, Nell began flirting with other men in order to make Jim jealous.

      One evening Jim stopped by to see Nell at the Cropsey family home. Nell’s sister reported that Nell and Jim began arguing about Nell spending time with another man. As the argument grew more heated, Jim asked Nell to step outside of the house onto the front porch, where they continued arguing into the late evening. Before heading off to bed, the sister went to check on them on the front porch, only to find no sight of Nell or Jim. A few moments later, a neighbor came running up to the house shouting that someone had been in the backyard trying to steal the Cropsey’s family pig.

      The hunt began for Nell. Police searched the city and throughout the county for a month, and even dragged the river behind the Cropsey home to look for her body, all to no avail. During this time, her father received a strange letter postmarked Utica, New York, which said that Nell had seen a man trying to steal the family’s pig and that when she had tried to stop him, he had hit her on the head with a stick and carried her off in a rowboat. The letter also marked an area in the river where Nell’s body would be found.