by Diana Castro-Vazquez

On February 14, 2023, the Horror Literature & Film class went on Greensboro’s Carolina History & Haunts Tour.

Horror Literature & Film is taught by Dr. Wayne Johns every Monday and Wednesday. As the name suggests, this course is about horror; we read many different works by authors including Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, Shirley Jackson and many more. This course is a great way to expand your knowledge and horizons. Dr. Johns explains that his goal for Horror Lit. is for “students to see that horror is not just a form of low-brow entertainment with nothing to teach us, but an important genre explored by Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning writers. What we fear, what haunts us, reveals a lot about us both individually and as a society.”

I, personally, do not enjoy horror movies. I was very worried about taking this course, thinking that there was a possibility that I would not be able to learn from the genre. We are almost at midsemester, and I can confidently say that I have enjoyed this course. It has been very informative; not only are we reading horror literature, but we are also learning about the history of horror and different techniques in films and literature.

Personally, I do not have a favorite literary work, but I do have favorite authors, Shirley Jackson and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Jemya Lucas, another student taking this course, explains that her favorite story so far is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. She enjoys the horror genre, so she finds the class very interesting.         

On Valentine’s Day, the class and a couple of invitees met up at 300 W. Washington Street Greensboro, NC 27401, to start the tour. It was $15 per ticket for one hour and 30 minutes. This is a family-friendly, history-based tour around Downtown Greensboro. There were approximately seven stops and with every stop, the tour guide would give us the ghost stories and the history behind the location we were at.

Dr. Johns includes this tour in his course, “[because] the horror tour is just a good way to get out of the classroom and tour downtown Greensboro. It is also a fun way to learn some history of Greensboro, as well as hear some local legends and ghost stories; there is a way in which the ghosts could be seen as echoes of events that happened in the past. And as Faulkner said, ‘The past is never dead. It is not even past.’”

One of my favorite stops was in front of the Carolina Theatre of Greensboro at the parking lot in front of the building. The parking lot has many stories of ghosts, and the parking lot is built on top of an old cemetery. This cemetery got moved, but unfortunately, many deceased were left in their graves because they had no gravestones to mark their graves, resulting in no one knowing where the graves were. Decades ago, the theater was set on fire, and the woman who set it passed during the fire. Since then, there have been stories where people have seen her ghost. At every stop, there was history behind the stories, and that is something I like about this particular tour. Regardless of whether you believe in ghosts or not, you cannot deny that something tragic happened.

Briella Thomas enjoyed the tour, her favorite stop being the Biltmore Greensboro Hotel. “I think my favorite story was about the hotel. I like haunted buildings that you can stay in and experience firsthand, and I particularly enjoy when the haunting is caused by something insanely horrific like those murders. It is more fun to hear when it is a little violent.”

Overall, the tour was a great way to hear about Greensboro’s violent and creepy history while having fun. I would definitely recommend everyone to experience it, and if you would like to sign up here is the link: https://www.carolinahistoryandhaunts.com/