Spanning over 147 square miles and presiding as the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, is Fayetteville.  Fayetteville was settled in 1762 and maintains a current population of about two hundred thousand people.  While the town has a rich history, one of the biggest claims to fame for Fayetteville is Fort Bragg, a major United States Army installation.

(images:army_arch/flickr)

Fayetteville was originally inhabited for about twelve thousand years by the Siouan Native American people, comprised of Eno, Shakori, Waccamaw, Keyauwee, and Cape Fear peoples.  The eighteenth century brought English settlement and the town of Fayetteville was established to secure trade with frontier country and prevent residents from trading with other nearby towns.

In 1783, Fayetteville was named after Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero who significantly helped American forces during the war.  Unfortunately, the town had a reputation for lawlessness, only somewhat saved by the great moments in history that would come.

1789 made Fayetteville known for being the site of the State Convention where the United States Constitution was ratified.  It was also the home of the General Assembly which chartered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  It’s popularity continued to grow as the population exploded post World War II.   There was over a forty three percent increase into the sixties.

(images:atotten/flickr)

Unfortunately, even with the many great things that came to positively influence the reputation of the small city, the dark past still lingered.  One especially dark place is the Sandford House.  Visitors have reported over one hundred years of a woman, dressed in all black, who haunts the stairway of the home.  She is known to disappear, usually right through the unlucky victim standing at one end.

People have a similar experience at the Subway near the train depot.  A man in an orange shit seems to appear out of nowhere, but when asked if he is next in line, he disappears, usually followed by an antique phone ringing five or six times.  Others hear whispering or whistling.

The noises at the depot are nothing compared to the experiences with noise at the Radisson Prince Charles Hotel.  In the 1900s, a young woman, Charlotte, leapt to her death from an eighth floor window on her wedding day.  She had just found her soon to be husband in bed with a bridesmaid on the eighth floor of the hotel.  Unable to bear her pain she found the first open window and leapt.  Housekeepers often see the woman running on the floor and have been victim to her tricks.  She locks doors and often rides the elevator up to the eighth floor where it sometimes malfunctions, even though no one can be seen onboard.

More tricks are played at Fort Bragg where one of the barracks is said to be haunted.  Doors open and shut by themselves.  Windows slam shut without warning or wind to push them.  Toilets flush on their own and stall doors will go wildly swinging at any given time.  Even more alarmingly, black shadows are known to take residence at certain parts of the barracks.