Asheville	Battery Park Hotel	D. A. recommends a visit to this infamous site: "Now a highrise apartment complex in downtown Asheville, it was originally constructed as a luxury hotel in the 1920's. In the 1930's, 1934, I believe, it was the site of the murder of Helen Clevenger. Clevenger was a New York University student visiting the resort city of Asheville with her uncle. Because of the brutality of the murder -- she was shot and her face was mutilated with what was thought to be a can opener -- the murder made headlines across the country, and was of special interest to the New York papers. Supposedly, Miss Clevenger haunts the hotel still. Also, the Battery Park has been a popular site for suicides over the years, including one, in the 1970's, of a mental patient who had been released for the day to attend mass at the nearby Basilica of St. Lawrence. He rose the elevator to the roof, used a chair to climb over the railing, and plunged to his death. One of the ghosts of the Battery Park is his falling body -- people have actually called the Asheville PD to report a man falling from the roof."
	Clyde A. Erwin High School	D. A. recommends a visit to this infamous site: "Built in the 1970's, Buncombe County government opted to use a plot of land already owned by the county to build this school. It was thought the land only contained a handful of graves from a small family cemetery, but to their horror, the county commissioners and the contractors discovered well over a thousand graves under the soil. It turned out that the land had been the county pauper's cemetery for well over a century, and the records had been lost in a fire. Though most bodies were removed, it's estimated that between 100 and 200 bodies are still buried under the school and its grounds."
	Jackson Building	D. A. recommends a visit to this infamous site: "This elegant, slender skyscraper was Asheville's first skyscraper, and was one of the few convenient places for financiers despondent over the loss of their fortunes in the 1929 stock market crash to commit suicide. People often report seeing a man in old fashioned clothes gloomily peering out over the city at night from the uppermost parapet."
Hatteras	Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum	"The pounding breakers relentlessly beat against weary ships as sea-faring souls search in vain for salvation from the angry sea... The waters off North Carolina's Outer Banks entomb thousands of vessels and countless mariners who lost a desperate struggle against the forces of war, piracy and nature. The Graveyard of the Atlantic, with one of the highest densities of shipwrecks in the world, holds some of America's most important maritime history. More than just a collection of artifacts, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is a premier cultural attraction for the Atlantic Seaboard and one of the finest, most innovative maritime facilities in the nation." Recommended by the Dickeys.
High Point	J H Adams Inn	Recommended by Frank: "The thing is that this house was for several decades one of the busiest local funeral homes and served as a overflow morgue (so I was told) until the local hospital expanded. They just converted this into a Hotel/Restaurant a few years ago and every time I drove by the construction site I had to think of you and that this would be the hotel for you to die in, or not? Notice on their 'history' section the gap between about 1930 and 2000. :-) Only the locals know and the death-elevator to the basement is now hidden and from what I heard used to transport equipment and wine since it ends in the main dining room . I can't wait to have a rare steak there - if it tastes like chicken I know...." I found this additional juicy snippet (completely unsubstantiated, I admit) on a blog: "Notes of interest: wondering where they kept the bodies? (The funeral home, silly, not the Adams.) The embalming room was located where the current restrooms are. Don't believe me? Check out the size of the drains in the floor." Oh, I'd love to!

Wicked Words...