Some of these historic Hendersonville hotels may be haunted, owners say
By BPR News
July 10, 2025 at 2:03 PM EDT
Editor's note: This story was co-reported and written by Pherson Jordan and Libby Owenby, students at West Henderson High School, in collaboration with Blue Ridge Public Radio reporter Gerard Albert III as part of a Report For America fellowship service project.
Drawers being pulled out overnight. A woman in a white dress standing on the staircase. Children are giggling in the halls.
These aren’t just elements of a classic horror movie, they are things visitors of certain Hendersonville hotels have experienced over the years.
The Charleston is a historic inn that has been home to thousands of guests during the last 140 years. Before becoming a boarding house, the inn was originally home to a single family.
Some guests report the haunted activity, which hotel staff believe to be the original family who lived there.
“[Guests] have heard, drawers, move, handles pulled out. They've seen the lady in the white dress walking down the steps. They have also heard and seen things in the mirror like when they've gotten out of the shower with written messages and things like that on there,” said Alicia Harbison, who operates the hotel.
Harbison has also witnessed some of this paranormal activity.
“I've heard running back and forth of a little child and some giggling in some of the rooms. Lights flickering,” she said.
Still, Harbison, who has worked at the inn for many years, said there is nothing for guests to fear.
“It's like good spirits, just family, even with me and my parents, when they owned this place, they've seen ghosts coming through the camera, like a little figure, just kind of go by,” said Harbison.
The Henderson Inn is another historic inn where guests have reported similar activities. Michael Gilligan, who owns the hotel, has a theory about the possible paranormal activity.
“They were maybe annoyed that we've come into their home and we've started changing things and stuff,” he said. “We'd be lying in bed in the middle of the night, and you'd see the door handle open and the door would open.”
Gilligan and his family took ownership of the Henderson in 2017. Before them, only one family had lived in the home before it became a boarding house.
“And one of our old bartenders, they seen, what they described as a man dressed almost like Colonel Sanders, wearing a white suit with that sort of tie,” Gilligan said, recalling other paranormal happenings.
“Sometimes you smell this really strong cigar smoke. And obviously this is an old building. There's no smoking in here, but you can smell this cigar smoke.”
Gilligan said at one point he met with the family who owned the house before him.
“We started asking them about this, and like, ‘Did you have any experiences when you lived here?’”
They hadn’t. But when Gilligan started describing the man who's been seen at the inn, “dressed in this beige-white suit with the tie and the cigar smoke,” the family said he sounded familiar.
“That's our father,” they replied, according to Gilligan. “That's Ira Johnson.”
Drawers being pulled out overnight. A woman in a white dress standing on the staircase. Children are giggling in the halls.
These aren’t just elements of a classic horror movie, they are things visitors of certain Hendersonville hotels have experienced over the years.
The Charleston is a historic inn that has been home to thousands of guests during the last 140 years. Before becoming a boarding house, the inn was originally home to a single family.
Some guests report the haunted activity, which hotel staff believe to be the original family who lived there.
“[Guests] have heard, drawers, move, handles pulled out. They've seen the lady in the white dress walking down the steps. They have also heard and seen things in the mirror like when they've gotten out of the shower with written messages and things like that on there,” said Alicia Harbison, who operates the hotel.
Harbison has also witnessed some of this paranormal activity.
“I've heard running back and forth of a little child and some giggling in some of the rooms. Lights flickering,” she said.
Still, Harbison, who has worked at the inn for many years, said there is nothing for guests to fear.
“It's like good spirits, just family, even with me and my parents, when they owned this place, they've seen ghosts coming through the camera, like a little figure, just kind of go by,” said Harbison.
The Henderson Inn is another historic inn where guests have reported similar activities. Michael Gilligan, who owns the hotel, has a theory about the possible paranormal activity.
“They were maybe annoyed that we've come into their home and we've started changing things and stuff,” he said. “We'd be lying in bed in the middle of the night, and you'd see the door handle open and the door would open.”
Gilligan and his family took ownership of the Henderson in 2017. Before them, only one family had lived in the home before it became a boarding house.
“And one of our old bartenders, they seen, what they described as a man dressed almost like Colonel Sanders, wearing a white suit with that sort of tie,” Gilligan said, recalling other paranormal happenings.
“Sometimes you smell this really strong cigar smoke. And obviously this is an old building. There's no smoking in here, but you can smell this cigar smoke.”
Gilligan said at one point he met with the family who owned the house before him.
“We started asking them about this, and like, ‘Did you have any experiences when you lived here?’”
They hadn’t. But when Gilligan started describing the man who's been seen at the inn, “dressed in this beige-white suit with the tie and the cigar smoke,” the family said he sounded familiar.
“That's our father,” they replied, according to Gilligan. “That's Ira Johnson.”