Is This Eerie Old Salem Tavern Known for Just Their Liquid Spirits?

The Old Salem Tavern in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was open to the public in 1772. If you were to visit the tavern today, it sits at 736 South Main Street. The Moravian Church founded Salem in 1766 to provide accommodations and hospitality to those traveling through the North Carolina backcountry. George Washington himself visited the tavern in 1791, but leading up to the Revolutionary War, things would become increasingly heated as visitors and locals would argue about politics. As a result, the Salem Tavern was restricted to visitors only.

The Old Salem TavernPhoto byDowntown Winston Salem

But there is another side to the tavern that the Winston-Salem locals of the present day know about. In the past, an ill stranger once visited it. A mysterious man had a gray face, looking as if he were already dead. The tavern keeper at the time had assumed the visitor was a drunk man from the sounds he made outside the front door. Once he saw who was before him, he quickly turned to his servants, asking one to get the doctor “with all possible haste” and the other to help the sick man to his room. The keeper failed to register their new visitor due to having trouble speaking. The man could barely walk as it was.

In the morning, the doctor arrived with his medicine bag. After examining the sickly man and administering some medicine, he pulled the tavern keeper to the side. The doctor said to him, “This man is gravely ill. If he is not much improved by morning, you must call me.” Before the following morning had come, the patient fell into a coma and died.

The tavern keeper checked the mysterious dead man’s saddlebags in hopes of acquiring identification. However, he was unsuccessful. After the community buried the man in the Parish Graveyard, the keeper brought his belongings in the office wardrobe in hopes of someone coming by and picking them up. But nobody came. Several days later, the tavern carried an ominous atmosphere about it. Something was off. 

The servants began muttering to one another about strange things bumping about in the dark corridors of the tavern. The tavern keeper attempted to calm the staff, including the hostler and the barmaid. Nothing seemed to work. After the barmaid barged into his office screaming about something following her in the hallway, he finally had enough. 

As the keeper made his way through the hall, he began hearing what sounded like scraping sounds. Just then, a dark, faceless entity stood before him. Everything in the keeper told him to flee, but for the sake of his staff, he fought the urge to run. Staying, he listened to the ghost. In a hollow tone, it told him to notify “my brother and my death.” The keeper continued listening as the ghost gave him the name of the dead man, the dead man’s brother, and requested to contact the brother it said lived in Texas. And then, the ghost faded away.

Shaking, the tavern keeper returned to his office and wrote down everything the ghost told him. The information included the address, so he decided to write a detailed letter, hoping he could have this horrifying situation behind him. Surprisingly, there was a response. A letter came back confirming the dead man’s identity and wanted the saddlebags forwarded to the Texas address. Afterward, the ghost of the mysterious dead man never returned. The tavern returned to its original state, and the staff were incredibly relieved.

So remember, if you find yourself in the backcountry of North Carolina and a ghost confronts you, be sure to stick around. You might solve a case in the afterlife. Either that or you could have a haunting on your hands until Judgement Day.

**Disclaimer: The Old Salem Tavern is no longer open to the public.**

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Carolinas-Nancy-Roberts/dp/0872495876?asin=0872495876&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1 

https://www.ncpedia.org/salem-tavern