Is Latta Plantation haunted?

Local historical reenactors swear they’ve seen them: shadow people, human-like forms that lurk around the 52-acre Historic Latta Plantation in Huntersville.

It would be easy to imagine them, rising from the abundance of shadows cast across stretches of grass and dirt by tall trees in the yard of the old Latta house, by the thicket of woods on the former cotton plantation, by the 11 outbuildings clustered around the manor home.

Especially since, standing near the Latta house that was built in 1800, you’re fully aware of the fact that you’re 1.5 miles from the nearest main road.

It gets quiet out here.

Last year, when I spoke with Site Director Matthew Waisner, he said he hadn’t had any encounters with spirits — or shadow people — during his time working on the property (over a decade), but he admitted that the house can be creepy.

“I’ve never witnessed anything here and it’s fine by me,” he said. “If they’re here they can stay anonymous. But you know, we’ve had docents and volunteers here in the past, and board members in the past, swear up and down they’ve heard things in the house. Furniture moving about.”

Some people recall hearing children excitedly running around the third floor of the Latta home. But there’s no way that could happen. The third story doesn’t have completed flooring.

If spirits are here, it would be hard to know who they were. Many people lived in the Latta home over the years.

Scots-Irish immigrant and traveling merchant James Latta constructed the house, where he and his family lived until the late 1830s. A family by the name of Sample bought the home in 1853 and lived there until 1922. The home fell into the hands of people living here to work the farm while it was owned by Southern Power Company and Duke Power Company until 1960.

Today, 80 percent of the interior is true to the original form.

Light streams through the windows on the first floor, into the parlor where the wakes of Ezekiel and James Latta were held.

This is also where the mirror fell.

One day, a Latta Plantation staff member was adjusting the thermometer at the house around close of business when a huge crash reverberated inside.

“There was a mirror in the former parlor,” Waisner said. “It was out in the middle of the floor, it was face down, and the glass not broken.”

As a historical reenactor himself, Waisner believes some sort of energy is out here.

But, he said, “I don’t feel anything ominous in that house. I know I’ve never felt unsafe in that house.”

Most people who have had any type of encounter at the Latta Plantation say it’s never evil.

“Is there something here, or is it something that keeps playing over and over?” he said. “I don’t know.”

Want to investigate this possibly spirit-filled place yourself?

Latta Plantation hosts regular house tours Tuesday through Sunday, with self-guided tours of the property available as well. Admission is $9 for adults and $8 for students.

Last year, there was even the hair-raising Ghost Walk Haunted Trail with a Sleepy Hollow theme Oct. 27-28. It was described as having an18th-century colonial feel with a sick twist, featuring a quarter-mile walk through the woods, the Latta house and a number of the outbuildings with scares that play on all the senses.

Historic Latta Plantation: 5225 Sample Road, Huntersville

Photos: Katie Toussaint

This story was originally published October 9, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Is Latta Plantation haunted?."