13 Terrifying Tales: From the North Carolina Piedmont - Tapa dura

Here are 13 tales of haunted roads, mysterious lights, strange sightings, and a lingering curse--stories about places we know (Queen City's South Blvd., Lake Norman, Cornelius, and Wilson Creek to name a few) from storytellers that hail from North Carolina's Piedmont: from Charlotte and Concord, to Mooresville and Winston-Salem.

Surprisingly, not all these stories take place in the dead of night. Two writers share stories about Uncle Ed, whose ghost makes his presence felt at all hours of the day. Robert Troutman Brawley writes of the gentle spirit of Old Ben who appears at the crack of dawn. There are also youthful memories from Larry Douglas Starnes and Jeff L. Shook, and mid-life musings from poet and author Joyce Marie Sheldon. For animal lovers, there are a couple of dogs (one frisky and one savage), a fateful cat that lures lost drivers off the road, and a flock of vultures.

A writer and designer originally from the Chicago area, Leslie Rindoks holds an MFA from Purdue University and studied at Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is the executive editor at Lorimer Press and has written five books including A Town By Any Other Name.