Case file · High strangeness
Chimney Rock apparitions
In summer 1806 six members of the Reaves family and a neighbour near Chimney Rock said they saw crowds of shining figures dressed in white rise off the mountain and drift through the air.
1806 CE · 35.43, -82.25 · status: account
The account
Sworn statements were sent to the Raleigh Register, which printed them in September 1806; the story was reprinted widely. Later writers added a phantom cavalry battle in 1811.
The sceptical view
The witnesses were one family and a neighbour; mist, cloud shadows or a mirage on the cliffs are possible causes. The 1811 battle story cannot be traced to a contemporary source.