North Carolina Governor still haunts Executive Mansion

RALEIGH: In April of 1891, Gov. Daniel G. Fowle complained of sudden indigestion, a fierce malady that sent the stout and mustachioed statesman to his custom-made bed.

He rested there until shortly before midnight, when he frantically pressed the electric button to summon his family – once, twice and then a third time.

“I feel faint,” he gasped, head dropping fatally to his pillow.

News of the governor’s death spread quickly across Raleigh, reaching the Capital Club at 1 a.m., where it cast a gloom over the merriment of the Domino Ball. “The notes of the music were hushed,” the N&O reported, “and the revelers with awe-stricken faces stopped their gayeties.”

But Fowle’s spirit never truly shook free of Raleigh, nor the Executive Mansion he was the first to occupy, nor the ornate wooden bed he had specially fashioned for his stockinged feet. His
ghost has menaced at least two governors since he expired in that place of power, a political haunt who died with his work unfinished.

“There’s a knock at the mansion and it isn’t at the front door,” wrote Gov. Bob Scott in 1970. “It’s not the water pipes, either. While I don’t believe in ghosts, someone speculated that it just might be Governor Fowle on the prowl.”

Read Full Story: The News & Observer

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/josh-shaffer/article38755170.html#storylink=cpy