Christmount offers ghost tours of haunted buildings on property

Christmount Christian Assembly has begun offering ghost tours of the campus, and staff at the retreat center say their spooky experiences have been all too real. 

"Every camp and conference center has a good ghost story," said Rev. Rob Morris, the executive director at Christmount. 

Morris originally wanted to create a ghost tour of sorts around the Black Mountain area, but after consulting with a ghost hunter group in Asheville, he decided to hold tours on the Christmount grounds. He said the hunters set up their equipment for a night spent in the haunted halls and took pictures, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit soon after, and the tours were postponed.

Christmount sits on the former Guastavino estate, the land of Rafael Guastavino, a Spanish building engineer from the 1800s. Guastavino worked on the Biltmore House and also was one of the creators of the St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville. Morris said the tour discusses the possibility of the Spaniard's ghost haunting the area.

In addition to the Guastavino estate, two buildings on the Christmount campus, Davis Hall and Fellowship Hall, both used to be a part of Moore General Hospital. 

"They've got lots of ... energy," Morris said. "We've got camp staff that stay in Davis Hall, and they swear up and down that there's stuff going on." 

Morris himself said when he first came to Christmount, before he worked at the retreat center, he stayed in Davis Hall with two close friends and had a spooky experience. 

In the middle of the night, Morris said he was awoken by a pounding on his door. His friends said they also heard the pounding but admitted it wasn't them. 

"It shot me up out of bed," Morris said. "I opened the door, nobody there." 

Longtime friends of his, Morris said to this day, nobody has fessed up to the pounding being them.

Three primary ghosts reside in Davis Hall, according to Morris. In addition to his experience, he said guests have reported the "caretaker ghost" opening the door to the outside in the middle of the night and stomping through the halls without ever finding trace of a person. 

Guests have reported the final ghost, the "nurse," to be felt pulling sleeping campers sheets up to their chins. 

"It's kind of fun," Morris said. "Who doesn't want to stay in a creepy old building?"

Christmount, at 222 Fern Way in Black Mountain, offers walking tours, one night and two night stays ranging from $50 to $400. Tickets are available online.