The Fiddler's Grave, pt. 1

There's a story that I heard a few years ago that goes something like this:

There's a grave in a small cemetery in Waynesville inscribed with the name "The Fiddler." No matter the time of year or day that you visit, the grave will be swept clean, even if the rest of the cemetery is buried in fall leaves. Is this hallowed ground swept clean by the dancing of a spectral couple enjoying the fiddling of some long dead musician?

All good questions, I suppose.

I visited the site a few days ago as the initial visit in a longer research project. I had hoped to delve into the legend, find out who this mysterious 'Fiddler' was, then dip into the more supernatural side of things. I did find a little information on my brief visit, and I did notice some discrepancies with the original story.

The headstone is a little more informative than I had heard. The full inscription reads

Joe Gillian

"The Fiddler"
Died 1934

There were, in fact, a few leaves on the grave. Oddly enough though, is that there is very little grass or moss growing on the grave, which consists of the small headstone and a large (maybe 10' in diameter) semicircular depression in the bank, even though the rest of the graveyard is very lush and green.

To the right is the mossy green of the cemetery, to the left is the bare earth of The Fiddlers Grave

To add to the weirdness is the fact that the grave site is set about 20 yards or so from the rest of the cemetery. If I hadn't been looking for this specific grave, I probably would have missed it entirely. 

Beyond that, my research has been fruitless. I can't find any reference to the legend online, and almost nothing about the enigmatic Joe Gillian. So I'll put this here: Has anyone else heard this story? Does anyone  know anything about Joe "The Fiddler" Gillian? If so, please drop me a note in the comments or via email. 

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy New Year! Tune in on Friday to get a little glimpse into the local ghost light scene!
WH

Merry Christmas!

I'm taking the day off today to open gifts, eat too much food and enjoy some family time. I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday. I'll be back on Friday to talk about Boojum of the Balsams. Merry Christmas!
WH

The Great Balsam Mountains

     So far on the blog, I've written primarily about experiences and reports that are coming from within the confines of the actual town of Balsam, North Carolina. But the Balsam area is a much larger entity, covering several high mountain peaks and including parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway. This region is called the Great Balsam Mountains, and includes Cold Mountain, Black Balsam and Shining Rock. As I continue, I hope to expand the scope of this blog to include tales from these more far-flung areas. Beyond providing more area to cover, this expanded coverage also gives us a ton of additional history to look at, including some Cherokee legends. Included within the range of the Great Balsams are two incredible pieces of Native lore and history: Devil's Courthouse and Judaculla.
     In Native tradition, Judaculla (or Tsul 'Kalu, more traditionally) was a slant-eyed giant known by the Cherokee as the lord of the hunt. His home was on the boundary of three western North Carolina counties in a high mountain bald. Judaculla rock, far below the bald in a river valley, is a huge soapstone boulder covered in undeciphered markings and pictographs. This piece of prehistoric art is said to be the result of the giant leaping from his high mountain home down into the valley. His huge, six-fingered hand print impressed in the stone is a visible reminder of his presence.

     Judaculla rock can still be visited, although rain and wind have taken their toll upon the inscriptions. It's just a short drive past Western Carolina University off Caney Fork Road. Tanasee Bald, the legendary home of Judaculla, is a little harder to find. Some articles place it just down the parkway from Devil's Courthouse, while other reports seem to center on Richland Balsam, several miles further away. Judaculla rock is a fascinating artifact that helps make the legends of the past more solid and real.
     Some researchers who have studied Judaculla and his significance to the Cherokee have noted the similarities between this mythological giant and stories of Bigfoot and Sasquatch. In fact, the very name Tsul 'Kalu, when used in its plural form, refers to a race of giants that the Natives believed lived far to the west. It's also interesting that Tsul 'Kalu and Bigfoot seem to share several physical similarities. There are more modern legends of Bigfoot-type sightings in the area; a famous case revolves around the Eagles Nest Hotel, now long since burned and forgotten. This creature was referred to as Boojum, but the story is remarkably similar to tales of Tsul 'Kalu. I'm working on some reseaarch into the Boojum story; I hope to have that up in the next few weeks, so more details on that are forthcoming.
     So no real ghost story today, no tale of the paranormal. Just some history and legend that I find interesting, and maybe a reminder that this area, with it's high, dark and foggy mountains, has always been a place of mystery and mythology.

    

Ghost Hunting: The Basics

     If you want to watch ghost hunting on television, you are living in a golden age. Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Ghost Mine, the list goes on and on. There's almost always a show on where people, lit by the ghastly green light of a night vision camera, run and trip through some haunted location with all sorts of esoteric paranormal equipment blinking and beeping to let us now that something is there with them. Likewise, the amateur ghost hunter can pack a bag with meters, cameras and many more expensive electronic baubles that attempt to prove the existence of spirits. There are smartphone apps that are marketed as full-featured ghost detection units. So what's useful? What works? I think there are two answers, and my feelings about this aspect of paranormal investigation may surprise you. So here we go.

A Selection of ghost hunting tools from Amazon

    The list of equipment used in a typical television ghost hunt is staggering: K2 meters, voice recorders, EMF detectors and motion detecting cameras are the old standbys. Newer innovations include the aforementioned smartphone apps and the spirit box, which supposedly allows a spirit to select words from a digital dictionary that the spirit box can then play aloud. There are a host of other devices that show up on each television spook hunt. So what's worth using? Technically, I would argue that most of this stuff is worthless junk. Personally, I think that the chance of detecting any sort of spirit with a digital device is slim to none. K2 meters, EMF detectors and spirit boxes seem to rely on  random chance more than anything. I think that cameras and voice recorders can be a valuable tool to document the investigation and to capture the human reactions to the paranormal. The iPhone apps that I've played with have meters for things like EMF detection when the iPhone clearly does not have a sensor to detect EMF.

     So, does that make this stuff completely worthless? As a technical tool, probably. But I think that there may be a deeper value to these devices, something beyond the obvious. I think that having this equipment puts us in the proper mindset to be able to notice the paranormal.  The ritual of checking batteries, flipping switches and peering through the green-tinged eyepiece immerses us in the experience. When the voice-recorder is rolling, we are quiet and still, trying not to contaminate the sound. This allows us to actually listen to the environment.  When the camera is action, we are alert and aware of everything we can see. In this way, I think that the equipment can be a useful component for the paranormal team, as long as it's not allowed to get in the way of the human experience.

     I do want to end this with the admission that I have seen good paranormal photos, and I've heard some really chilling EVPs, so I can't completely discount these tools. But the human mind is especially good at making patterns from random noise, so everything becomes suspect. Again, these new digital toys should be used to supplement the human experience of the paranormal rather than as a substitute for it. So by all means, use a camera and a digital recorder to document the moment and maybe even catch something unexplainable. Use these other tools with caution, but don't be afraid to let yourself get into the moment and more open to the supernatural. 

Background Info

     If you haven't already, please be sure to read the link in the sidebar to the page titled "Balsam Basics." This helps explain some of the history of the area as well as my personal links to the town. I'm also working on a page explaining my personal beliefs about ghosts, the paranormal and our realtionship to it. That should appear in the sidebar in a few days as well, so keep your eyes open. Lastly, please feel free to contact me with any personal experiences, family legends or just random comments.

Happy Thanksgiving

Everyone have a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Be sure to check back tomorrow as we address some high strangeness.
WH