*Ghost Stories from Albemarle, collected & written by Jonathan Underwood & Christopher Lambert

Huneycutt’s Furniture Store, the Opera House, and Hall’s Pharmacy

It is interesting that Hall’s Pharmacy, the Opera House, and the Huneycutt Furniture Store all experience what can probably be considered the highest level of supernatural activity in Albemarle. But, these three buildings, too, were all locally central to the greatest flu pandemic of the twentieth century.

Between their construction in 1907 and the influenza pandemic of 1917, Huneycutt’s, Starnes’, the Opera House, and Hall’s were four of the most popular and prosperous businesses in town. Like the Groves and Efird Building, Huneycutt’s Furniture Store also operated a mortuary and funeral parlor on its second floor. The Albemarle Opera House was the first and grandest theatre in Albemarle, hosting traveling shows such as plays, magic shows, and some comedic operas until it closed in 1917. It is believed that during its early days Thomas Edison came here and gave a music concert with his phonograph. Besides proving medicine and basic home needs to its patrons, Hall’s Pharmacy’s soda jerks served up sodas, ice-cream, and other treats around its long, oak counter.

However, between the autumn of 1917 and the early spring of 1918 between 50 and 100 million people across the world died from Spanish Influenza. Albemarle, like many other communities across North Carolina, was severely affected. The flu killed so many that local funeral homes, like Huneycutt’s, ran out of coffins and room to store the deceased. In an effort to relieve the limited amount of space, the Opera House was closed and a door cut through the wall from the mortuary. The theatre was turned into a morgue. Here, coffins were stacked and stockpiled. Eventually, those awaiting burial were stored in the cool theatre, just off the stage. At Hall’s Pharmacy, few medicines were available to counter the pain and suffering of the afflicted; and no medicine could cure the disease.

Huneycutt’s Furniture Store
All three buildings have, for the last ninety years, been witness to several strange occurrences and hauntings. Shortly after the flu pandemic ended, strange sounds began emanating from the second floor of Huneycutt’s. At times, ghostly and hollow voices could be heard conversing, and furniture seemed to move of its own accord. Of course, as with most hauntings, one constantly feels as though one is not alone in the building, and many employees of past businesses refused to work there at night alone.

Starnes Jewelry Store
Next door, just on the other side of the access cut for bodies and coffins to be passed through for storage, Starnes Jewelry Store and the remnants of the theatre play host to a number of spirits. Employees of the Jewelry Store have reported their computers, and other electrical appliances, being cut on and off suddenly. Clocks chime simultaneous—off the hour and without being set. And store merchandise and personal effects are often found missing or moved, only to be discovered in other parts of the store or in some far recess of the building.

Opera House
Upstairs in the old theatre, weird footsteps echo off the stairway to the balcony. Other footsteps seem to traipse around the theatre, crunching fallen plaster on the floor. Recently, a group of people witnessed a gray figure step out of the shadows in the balcony. It stared at them momentarily, then turned and re-entered the blackness. A search of the balcony turned up nothing. Probably the most persistent phenomenon of the theatre, other then the disembodied footsteps, is the ghostly band that strikes up every autumn. For more than eighty years, passersby have reported that they distinctly hear the faint rhythm of a band playing popular Ragtime tunes or musical overtures. The regularity of this occurrence is looked forward to by many Albemarle citizens. Without fail, the band begins to play every October and, interestingly, ends by March—a typical season for theatrical or musical performances.

Hall’s Pharmacy
In recent years Hall’s Pharmacy has been renovated and turned into a restaurant. Like its neighbors, the Boardroom has been host to several hauntings and strange events. The restaurant’s staff has reported numerous times seeing glimpses of what they thought were people, wandering through the upstairs halls and rooms. Waiters and waitresses have spoken and even carried on conversations with beings they believed to be customers, only to witness the being dematerialize in front of their eyes. Staffers have also witnessed lit candles across the restaurants tables extinguish themselves simultaneously.
The most persistent apparition in the Boardroom seems to be a man of medium build dressed in a turn-of-the-century brown suit with a high collar. Most recently, a bus boy stated that this man, dressed in his old brown suit, brushed passed him on his way to a back stairwell to the second floor. The bus boy turned and followed the man up the stairs intending to tell him that he was not supposed to be upstairs. But, when the young man arrived into the upstairs dining room, it was empty. The young man searched the building, but could find no trace of the man in the old brown suit.

Follow-up to the Opera House section: Upon further study it was determined that the Opera House was closed because the Alameda Theatre opened in 1916/1917.  However, because of its location, it was a convenient place to store the coffins next to Huneycutt’s Funeral Home during the flu epidemic.