Paranormal Encounters

Paranormal Encounters
October 21, 2010
By Rachel Sutherland
Lake Norman Magazine



n the center of the Davidson College campus, you can hear whispers of a salacious tale involving grave-robbers, dishonest students and a massive fire. Certainly not what you’d expect from the elite university and town we know today.

But back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, stately Chambers Building was the site of some pretty spooky stuff, says local history buff Ginny Henderson Grzech (pronounced ger-jek).

Grzech is the founder and sole guide for Ghost Walk of Davidson, which combines the rich history of the Lake Norman area with tales of otherworldly interaction. The tours, which Grzech starts nightly near the Soda Shop on Main Street, began in July and have been steadily gaining momentum. She has led more than 200 people through the historic downtown.

“The response has exceeded my expectations,” says Grzech, a native North Carolinian and Davidson resident. “I have the same good time if I have two people on a tour as when I have 17 people on a tour.”

Grzech is a paranormal enthusiast; she’s not psychic and she’ll admit that she’s not seen a ghost – yet. But she says family members, including her grandmother, father and daughter, have had encounters with those from the other side. A longtime history and genealogy buff (she’s traced her family line back to 1721), Grzech spent two years researching Lake Norman history with a special focus on Davidson.

She’s turned the best of those stories and facts into a leisurely 1½-mile walking tour. Along the way, Grzech shares stories and tidbits about a variety of locations and topics, including the mystery surrounding the Davidson College seal, ghostly happenings at Hopewell Presbyterian Church, Latta Plantation and Oliphant’s Mill, which was flooded in 1963 as part of Lake Norman and has been underwater ever since.

And don’t forget the body-snatching college students and Davidson’s Chambers Building. The tale Grzech shares goes a little something like this: The building was constructed in 1858, and at the time was considered to be one of the most impressive academic buildings in the South. The most distinctive architectural feature was a series of columns across the front that each stood 45 feet high and six feet across.

Students from the N.C. Medical School (part of Davidson College during the early 1900s) lived at Chambers. Times were different then, Grzech says, and nothing illustrates that more than those medical students receiving discounted tuition if they provided their own cadaver for surgery practice and medical testing.

With the cost of medical education weighing on their mind, two students traveled to Salisbury for a night of entertainment – dinner, drinks and socializing. But at some point, the fun took a turn. The pair recalled hearing about a young woman from Salisbury who died unexpectedly and was recently laid to rest.

The enterprising (and likely inebriated) lads set out to the cemetery, dug up her body and carted it back to Davidson, driven by the prospect of reduced college tuition. But when police showed up on campus a few days later, the students panicked and hid the body in one of the iconic pillars in front of Chambers.

They were never caught and the body was never recovered, Grzech says. When the Chambers Building burnt to the ground in 1921, it supposedly took the young woman’s body with it. The structure was rebuilt in 1929.

Some say you can see the outline of the old building on campus when the ground is dry, she says. Many also say at night if the conditions are just right, you can see the specter of a lone young woman walking near the building.

SPOOK-TACULAR FUN?

What: Ghost Walk of Davidson is a history-packed, family-friendly 1½-mile walking tour of Davidson, led by Ginny Henderson Grzech.

When: 7 p.m. nightly

Where: Departing from Main Street in Davidson (near the Soda Shop, 104 S. Main St.)

Admission: $10 for adults; $5 for children ages 8-12; children ages 7 and younger are free.

More info: 704-928-5452. www.ghostwalknc.com.


Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/21/1777794/paranormal-encounters.html#ixzz136rKc4VY
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