The Hunt for the Hound of Goshen or How I Spent My Summer Vacation
By Tina R. McSwain
Like those essays you were forced to write upon returning to school after summer break, here is what I did on my summer vacation – July 4th Weekend, 2007.
I have always been intrigued by the story of The Hound of Goshen. I first heard of this "ghost story" while reading one of Nancy Roberts’ ghost books of the 60’s/70’s; the one about South Carolina Ghosts. Seems there is a ghostly large white dog that runs along a certain stretch of road near Newberry, SC and frightens all who see it. (See link to Shadowlands SC - Newberry in Links section of our Yahoo site.) I have threatened on several occasions to go down there and try to find this dog.
Well ladies and gentlemen, I and three of my good friends set out at 10 am on Saturday to do just that! Armed with snacks, drinks, bug spray, water, and clothes to change into, we were off! (I brought the Ghostbag just in case we did find the dog................lol)
First, we had to detour to Gaston County. There was an old cemetery I had heard of that was supposed to be "hard to find". Heck, I took that as a challenge, so I wanted to find that before we headed to Newberry. Now, these so-called directions called for us to count power lines and huge transfer line supports while flying down I-85. Then of course, came the patented CAPS U-Turn to get on the road we were supposed to be on. After confirming our count, and following what directions we had to the letter, we stopped and got out of the truck. We had to climb a cattle gate to get in, but off we trekked. (Now, the sight of us climbing that cattle gate was, I am sure, hilarious to say the least.)
It was about 102 degrees in the shade, never mind the blazing sun that was beating down on us...........lolol Seriously, we all had a bottle of water and had it drank before we even rounded the first curve in the road, let alone, found the cemetery. After a long 30 - 45 minutes out in the middle of nowhere, two of my friends happened upon the cemetery. Yes, it was really there. And, quite pretty too. They took a few pictures, while I waited under the biggest pine tree I could find, and let me tell you, it was not very big.
It took us twice as long to make that long walk back as it did to get in there. Several stops along the way, under any tree we could find for shade, was definitely in order as we were all out of water. Then, we had to face that damn cattle gate before we could get out. Now, after a walk such as the one we had just completed, that gate loomed large in the distance. After, pushing, pulling and tugging each other over the gate, praying all the time we wouldn’t get stuck at the top or fall off the thing, we finally made it over. After a momentary respite from hoisting our asses over that gate, we headed back to the truck. First destination was the drink cooler. Needless to say, we had to sit there a moment in the air conditioning of the truck before we dared move. With our recovery well under way, we set out for South Carolina and hopefully, The Hound of Goshen,
Now, finding this Hound of Goshen was not going to be easy. But then, we have faced and conquered challenges like this before. (3 weeks and 300 miles later to find Gregory Graveyard…………….lol)
The only information we had was from a ghost site on the web. This is what it said:
Hound of Goshen
The five-mile stretch of the old Buncombe Road, which runs between the church cemetery and Goshen Hill Plantation, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a dog. It is said that the ghost of a very white dog haunts this road and frightens anyone who comes through there. The story dates back to the late 1800's when this road was onetime a stagecoach route between Ebenezer Church in Maybinton Township and Goshen Hill in Union County.
I had already searched the internet to no avail. No mention of a Goshen Hill Plantation, no listing for an Ebenezer Church, and no town listed in the name of Maybinton Township. I even called the Union County, SC Chamber of Commerce; they were of no help. I had a feeling; this was going to be one heck of a scavenger hunt. Having to go on any bit of information or scrap of truth, was going to make for a long trip. Nevertheless, we were ready!
You would think that there couldn’t be that many Buncombe Roads, right? Wrong!! There were about 4. We started off down I-85 South. Then we turned east on I-26. There were several “Buncombe Roads” in this area. We had to check out every one that we found on MapQuest to be sure we had the right Buncombe Road. We must have hit every Convenience and Mom & Pop Store on the way. We asked every local we could find. All the while, we keep traveling east on I-26.
We finally rolled into Newberry around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We stopped at the Newberry Cemetery (of course) to walk around and take pictures. It was a really pretty cemetery near the college. After our impromptu cemetery tour, we ventured further into town and spotted an antique shop. We figured we would stop in there and strike up a conversation with the owner. We went in walked around, browsed and chatted for awhile, but sadly, he wasn’t much help. We did however, find some old maps in the store that at least gave us a direction in which to head. Being somewhat frustrated, we then got the brilliant idea to ask the Police. Surely, they would know where all the local “haunted hot spots” were. So, off we went to the Town of Newberry Police Station.
We wheeled into the parking lot, got out of the car, and decided who would go in and ask. Two of my friends went in. Now, I do believe this Police Department had all of 3 officers on its entire force. And, wouldn’t you know it, the one who may know the answer to our questions wasn’t there. However, fate was on our side and he entered the parking lot some minutes later. We spoke to him in the parking lot, asking where the church was in order to locate an ancestor’s grave. He could at least tell us where Maybinton was and how to get there. He also warned us about the paranormal places out there, and said there were supposedly some haunted areas. Hmmmm…………..I told him I hadn’t heard anything about that, I was just looking for the church (as one of my friends slid over to partially obscure the GOSTHNTR tag on my truck………lol) He was writing directions when all of a sudden his radio blared that there was a stabbing downtown. He hastily scribbled and tossed the paper to me, saying he had to go. Soon after, the other 2 officers that were in the building ran out and jumped in their cars and sped off in the direction our helpful officer had gone. We all looked at each other because we knew there were only 2 other people in the building and they had just left. The entire Police Department had cleared out. A wild Saturday night in Newberry, I guess. Such is life in a small town.
Armed with written directions, we left the deserted parking lot and Police Station and headed in the direction of Maybinton. We had gotten a recommendation for dinner from the Antique Shop owner and found it on our way out of town. We stopped there for dinner. As our luck would have it (we were actually on a roll this day), we met a gentleman in his 90’s. He told us all about this plantation out toward Maybinton. (Yea! Yea!) (Through internet searches, I had already determined that Goshen Hill Plantation did not exist.) He then proceeded to tell us a story about a fountain on the plantation property that was carved by a recovering civil war soldier. He also gave us a better idea of where the church might be. (He even knew where West End Cemetery was and was familiar with the Ghost, The Bride of West End) However, we decided to file that information away for a later date and another trip. While dining, darn if we didn’t meet and strike up a conversation with a couple who knew more about the haunted locations in the area. They were going to show us, but had an emergency come up and had to leave quickly. So, again, we were on our own. We finished our meal and headed out toward Maybinton.
Following our policeman’s directions, we eventually found ourselves in some kind of preservation deeply forested area. We rode and rode for what seemed like an eternity. We finally came upon a Historical Marker sign that said something about an old plantation and a fountain. Eureka! Eureka! We had found it (or so we thought). However, after several miles or riding, there was no sign of a church anywhere. No sign of Buncombe Road either. We were disappointed. We were also running low on gas, very low. A slight twinge of panic set in as we realized we could be walking in this creepy forest. After several anxious minutes, we reached the end of this long and desolate road, when lo and behold; a gas station appeared in the distance. And, bless my soul, it was OPEN! We refueled the truck and ourselves.
We seem to have some luck at striking up conversations with the locals. We decided to ask at the gas station if anyone had heard of the Hound of Goshen. Well, to our delight, not only had some heard of him, some had actually seen him. We were ecstatic!! We begin to question folks, interview witnesses, and wrote down the directions they gave us to the church and corresponding Buncombe Road that the dog runs along. We then interviewed the 2 people who claimed to have seen the apparition. They both gave separate but similar stories. Hmmm…….maybe we were on our way to finding this thing!
One man said he had seen it several times. The time was always late, around 1am or later. He described it as “a big dog, pure white, that floated above the ground, but moved very fast”. He said it had one big red bloodshot eye. Said his mother had seen it, but she was dead now. The lady told us her mother had seen it too and was so frightened, that she would no longer drive down that road at night. This lady also told us she had been chased by the dog when she was a little girl, but really did not want to talk about the experience. She did however, tell us how to get to the church and road. She told us to go ahead, if we were brave enough to go hunting for it.
After fending off the local drunk, and kindly refusing assistance from those who were willing to come with us, we set out to find the church. Following our directions, it did not take long to find the church cemetery that the dog comes out of to begin his run. It was one creepy cemetery. It was one creepy area in general. One stayed in the truck, while three of us got out and proceeded to walk around and take pictures. We got some good shots. One of my best follows>>>
This is Ebenezer Church Cemetery…Home of the Hound of Goshen.
This is a series taken one right after the other. The light is in the first, but not in the second. Pictures were taken in rapid succession within seconds.
We experienced a smell of cologne here also, and none of us were wearing any perfume. Besides, after the long day we had had, I am sure none of us smelled anything close to sweet.
After an hour or so of walking, searching, and picture taking, we decided to return to the truck and make our way back to Charlotte. We left, aided by a map, and surprisingly found our way to I-77. At last, something familiar! Amazingly, we were not that far from Charlotte. If we ever decide to go back for an investigation, we will know to go down I-77. It is much closer.
We continued driving home and reflecting on the day’s events and adventures. These three friends of mine who had so faithfully followed, and sometimes lead me on this adventure, were Kathy, Kimberly, and Nancy. I just wish Nikki had been with us too. (We are all well aware of what can come “out of the mouth of babes”, and become something extremely hilarious that will be talked about for years to come……lol) We had so much fun, in normal CAPS girls fashion, we thought it would be great to do it again sometime.
And so it began, the Annual Ghost Grrls July 4th Weekend Road Trip to parts unknown and as yet, undiscovered.
Copywrite 2007
Tina R. McSwain
Founder & President,
CAPS – Charlotte Area Paranormal Society
Wednesday July 30 at 9:00 PM on the History Channel
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