Mingus Cemetery

Location

Mingus cemetery is located in Cherokee, NC.  In order to get to the cemetery, you must hike along the Mingus Creek Trail for about 2.5 miles.  There are a couple of trail marks along the way that will let you know if you are still headed in the right direction. The trailhead is located about three quarters of a mile north of the Oconaluftee Visitors Center.

 

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The Mingus Cemetery is also known as the Mingus (Watson) Cemetery. Based own what is known about the cemetery, there are 29 marked graves in total.  The graves are believed to be from early pioneers from the area. The cemetery appears to have started sometime in the early to middle 1800s The graves are only marked by fieldstones, and of these stones only one grave is marked with a name.  Most of the graves belong to the Mingus and Watson families.  Many members of the Mingus family worked at the mill which is located at the start of the trail.  The mill, which opened in 1886, provided much needed cornmeal to the area. In that time period, cornmeal was a well sought after commodity, as it was part of most families’ main diet.

 

Known Graves

The only headstone in the entire cemetery with a name marked on it belongs to Mrs. Polly Mathis.  From what we where able to find there are only six graves that have been identified.

Polly Mathis                        b. 1888  d.193416934095_10208605053744740_527046014_n

Sarah Elizabeth Harris     b. 1847  d. 1919

Ephraim Mingus                b. 1794  d. 1847

Henry Adolphus Smith    b. 1848  d. 1916

Thomas Willard Watson  b. 1917  d. 1917

William Henry Watson     b.1834  d. 1904

EVP Sessions

While we were there, we conducted a few EVP sessions at different parts of the cemetery.  We started by asking general questions to any spirit that could have been around.  We then turned our questions to Mrs. Polly Mathis.  Finally, we conducted a session on the far right side of the cemetery near the smaller graves.  Believing that these graves may belong to children, we asked  a variety of questions to the children.  We reviewed the sessions but nothing audible was captured.

At Peace

We believe that most of the people that where laid to rest in the Mingus Cemetery are at peace.  The location of these cemetery is simply beautiful and very peaceful.  If there are any spirts still wandering around the cemetery, we were unable to communicate with them and hope that they may some day find peace.

 

 

 

Asheville Trip – Travel Blog

Hey, everyone! It’s been a long time since we posted an update, so I wanted to start off with an explanation…

For the past year, we’ve been researching several places throughout Tennessee. There are so many potentially haunted locations out there to explore, and we have reached out to a great many of them, trying to get a feel for where to investigate next. What we’ve come across in the vast majority of the cases has been that each site comes down to one of three things: the location wants us to carry some type of insurance policy so their business is protected (understandable), they want monetary compensation, or they’ve had bad experiences with paranormal teams in the past that have set them against the idea of any other groups coming in.

A couple of these leave us in a position to simply not be able to pursue them at this time, so we’re trying to prioritize the locations that require payment up front to come investigate. That’s part of what this trip to Asheville this past Sunday was about. We’re starting to also look outside the state of Tennessee for more ideas.

Zealandia (Asheville, NC)

Our first destination of the day was to a castle nestled in the hills above the city of Asheville known as Zealandia. Unfortunately, we arrived only to find the property hidden behind a gated driveway. We attempted to visit the Asheville Mystery Museum to gather more info on the place, but unfortunately they were closed at the time. The video below shows a local group investigating the inside of the castle. Looks like a very cool place, but we’ll need to find a better point of contact for obtaining more info on how to get in before this lead is going anywhere.

Helen’s Bridge (Asheville, NC)

 

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Not far from Zealandia, you can find the somewhat famous Helen’s Bridge. It is said that a woman named Helen, who lived in Zealandia, lost her daughter in a fire on the property, and was so distraught that she hung herself from the bridge. Now she haunts the bridge to this day. We performed a couple of EVP sessions that yielded no results. However, we do intend to return for a follow-up investigation with more equipment at some point.

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Lewis Memorial Park (Asheville, NC)

We visited this park briefly after reading claims of apparitions of a Confederate soldier appearing in the park on horseback. Honestly, it was simply a peaceful graveyard.

Grove Park Inn (Asheville, NC)

13054391_10206191289162134_208248189_oThis place… well, it’s awesome. Grove Park Inn is an absolutely beautiful resort overlooking the mountains. The grand architecture and sheer size of the complex is awe-inspiring, and to top it off, turns out there’s a great ghost story with a lengthy history here. Apparitions of the “Pink Lady” have been reported since the 1950’s. Dozens of people have had first-hand experiences with this ghost, and while she has been seen in multiple spots all over the Main Inn, there is something extra appealing about room 545 to this particular ghost. I think it’s safe to say we will attempt to investigate these claims further in the near future. (Also, this Peet’s Coffee place inside the resort is legit.)

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The Covered Bridge (Elizabethton, TN)

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On our way back home, we stopped at this historic bridge. Though I’m skeptical to say it’s haunted, there was a murder of a young couple that took place on this bridge. Regardless of whether their ghosts still linger around the landmark, there is an ominous feeling one gets while standing in it’s presence. Perhaps it is just an overwhelming sense of the history you’re standing amidst, with colonial era homes right across the street, or maybe it is something supernatural. Either way, it is a spot worth checking out sometime if it isn’t too far out of the way for you.

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