A Great American Haunting: Dark Hollow Cemetery

This is a little piece of East Tennessee folklore. No one can say whether or not these events happened, but every legend starts with a piece of truth.

Located in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, just west of Asheville, NC, lies the Dark Hollow Cemetery. For years many people have reported seeing, hearing, and feeling a presence late at night. Could it be the ghost of Delinda trying to evade an angry mob or is it something else?

Legend states that in the early 1900s a woman by the name of Delinda had several affairs with married men across the area. She wasn't really an attractive woman, but that didn't stop the men from coming around. Delinda fell very ill, as did her gentlemen callers, and a local pastor told the wives of these men that this had to stop. The wives took matters into their own hands and formed a mob and were heading to Delinda's home to possibly hurt her, if not worse, but Delinda escaped without harm while the angry wives felt that they had scared her enough to cause her to not come around again. Oddly enough that was the last time anyone seen her alive. Another odd piece of the legend is that her favorite lover, a married man named Janken's, was murdered with a gun shot wound to the chest.

Was this an angry wife taking her aggression out on her husband, suicide, or possibly Delinda sending a message to the wives that it was a mistake to show up at her home? No one will never really know as there are holes that cannot be filled without anyone from the area really willing to open up about the stories that they heard growing up.

It is said that Delinda's home was tore down and became what is Dark Hollow Cemetary today. This would make sense considering many people have reported seeing someone running through the cemetery in a hurry and disappearing before they reach the wooded area behind the cemetery. Is this Delinda making her escape? Perhaps. One young couple was walking home one night after their car broke down on Dark Hollow Road. As they walked past the cemetary they both heard fast and heavy footsteps and the woman felt something brush against her shoulder as the footsteps faded into the night.

This is the most common story and most consistent that I've heard. Although I've heard many variations of the story over the last decade, one almost being along the lines of Bloody Mary. Which story could possibly be true? I guess nobody will ever know. This story is on my list to further investigate and I will post updates once I find something.