Spooky season brings out paranormal hunters, historians and (maybe) ghosts in Charlotte
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Spooky Season
Halloween is fast approaching. From haunted houses to insights from paranormal experts, we have you covered.
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Spooky season brings out paranormal hunters, historians and (maybe) ghosts in Charlotte
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As a kid growing up in Charlotte, Tina McSwain loved to read the books of Nancy Roberts that chronicled the haunted history of the region she called home, checking them out from the library “week after week after week.”
But it wasn’t until she was an adult, in 1989, that she had her own paranormal experience. It happened in the Myers Park home of a friend she was picking up for dinner. The friend invited McSwain to wait inside while they finished getting ready in another room, and McSwain noticed movement on the other side of the house.
“From the back of the house I see this little lady who comes bebopping up to me and gets about 6 feet from me, actually waves her hand in a semicircle and smiles — I could see her teeth. And then she turns around and starts back to where she came, then, poof, disappears,” she recalled. “That was a shock.”
After “running around” to find the lady, McSwain rushed to ask her friend about the situation. The friend calmly explained that it was her grandmother who “from time to time walks around the house.”
“After I got over the initial shock, I thought, ‘That was cool.’ … That hooked me. I wanted to repeat that experience,” McSwain said.
From there, she committed to learning more about the paranormal. She talked to psychics and tarot card readers and religious leaders. She sought out groups in Charlotte that investigated ghosts.
And when none of those groups stuck, she started her own, founding the Charlotte Area Paranormal Society in 2005.
CAPS has grown into a sizable organization that conducts paranormal investigations rooted in a “scientific approach” throughout Charlotte and much of the South.
For CAPS member Megan Hettinger, who has been “investigating the paranormal for at least 13 years,” connecting with the group through its meet-up events when she moved to Charlotte about four years ago helped her continue her work. Bryan Myers joked that he “stalked” the group at their public events and meet-ups until they admitted him as a member about six years ago. And Valerie Baker “was really happy to find a group” that shared her interests more than a decade ago.
Some in Charlotte’s paranormal community have even found love through their efforts.
Jason Tapp’s organization Spooky CLT is known for sharing haunted tales on its popular Instagram page and hosting community events, but at its heart, he says, it’s a “passion project” between husband and wife.
Having “always” had a casual interest in the paranormal, Tapp started trying to learn more about Charlotte’s haunted history when he moved to town.
“It wasn’t like a huge part of my personality or anything, but honestly, when my now-wife and I first started dating, it was one of our very strong shared interests,” he said. “So I think that if she and I didn’t get together and kind of geek out together on this stuff, then the account would not have happened.”
At first, Tapp explained, “the account was about trying to make an easily accessible place to learn about these things year-round, because that’s what I was looking for.” But as it grew in popularity, the Tapps started to grow the venture with in-person events. The Instagram account now has nearly 5,000 followers.
“I’m not the type of person to throw events or anything like that, but when a lot of people started getting passionate about it, a lot of people were saying like, ‘Oh, I wish we did meetups and stuff,’” he said. “Then when COVID came around, and people were really looking for community, once that started happening again, I was like, ‘This is the time to do it.’”
From meetups at breweries to watch parties for scary movies at local video stores, Tapp said he’s enjoyed making connections with others and learning their thoughts and beliefs on the paranormal.
“It’s such a broad topic. You never know where these conversations will go,” said Tapp, who also co-hosts the “Old North State” podcast with his wife on North Carolina history.
Hettinger said she also enjoys talking about ghosts with people with different opinions on the subject, such as folks who come out to paranormal investigations that CAPS opens up to the public.
“We have people who say, ‘I’m just out here because my boyfriend or my girlfriend is dragging me to come.’ We have people who say, ‘Well, I’m not sure. But I’m here because I’m curious,’” she said. “And then we also have people who have seen things before in their lifetime, they perhaps have some sort of ability that they encounter things from the other side on a regular basis and they’re just drawn to it.”
McSwain told the Observer at a recent CAPS event at the Historic Rosedale property on North Tryon Street that she’s always happy to see “skeptical” people come check out the group’s work.
“We are skeptical ourselves,” she said. “It’s always good to have a healthy dose of skepticism. We question what we get, and we try to come up with other explanations.”
Even members who’ve “always” believed in ghosts don’t have all the answers, Hettinger noted.
“I have not yet seen something that 110% validates my belief that (ghosts) are real,” she said. “I’m still searching.”
Some CAPS members say they have encountered ghosts in their work, including at the Rosedale home. Built in 1815, the estate once extended from NoDa to Plaza Midwood and was home to wealthy families as well as enslaved and free African Americans. It’s now a historical site open for tours and events, and a frequent site for CAPS-sponsored events.
It was at one of those events, they told the Observer, that Baker and Myers spotted Louise Hagey Davidson, who lived at the home in the early 20th Century, sitting on a bench in the home’s expansive garden that she helped cultivate in life.
CAPS member Cheralyn Lambeth, who also works at Rosedale and is writing a book on the home, told attendees at the group’s recent event that the ghost of the property’s longtime caretaker once tipped his cap to her.
“For whatever reason, the ghost just doesn’t move on,” McSwain said of why some spirits linger after death.
When a home or business owner calls in CAPS, the group does sometimes bring “a specialized team” that aims to help a ghost move on from what they’re haunting.
McSwain is part of that team, which includes Catholic and Protestant Christians, a Pagan priestess and a Native American shaman. Herself a Presbyterian, she said her approach to the process includes prayer and trying to communicate with the ghost to help them progress to a happier afterlife.
“We try to get a resolution between the living and the dead. We want a happy medium,” she said. “I believe that there is a better place to go, and it shouldn’t be in someone’s kitchen that you’re banished to for the rest of your life.”
And for believers like McSwain, that resolution is part of the sense of connection that comes with their work, between the living and the dead.
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
