ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — First in Fright Paranormal, a team of paranormal investigators who explore rumored haunted locations across the United States, will make a stop in Asheville this November. The crew will shoot a short documentary featuring the ghost stories of Pack’s Tavern.
Pack’s Tavern Marketing Manager Joseph Griner said that the First in Fright visit will feature a heavy emphasis on the history of the restaurant.
“I mean, that really resonates with people, especially when they’re touching on local stories, because they’ll realize how many people who are still around who have anecdotes, or they’ve had personal experiences and it just goes back generations,” said Griner. “So, the interviews are a really big part of it. We’re gonna be sitting down with a few of our staff and going over encounters that we’ve had, so to speak, and talk about the history of the building and maybe what has led us to this point.”
Griner said that there were two different spooky tales that attracted the First in Fright crew to the restaurant.
“Pack’s is one. This building’s been around since 1907, and the second half of that is the other building that’s attached to this property, which was once the old county jail,” Griner said.
Legend has it that Pack’s Tavern was an access point for moonshine distribution throughout Buncombe County, Griner explained. The rumor has been accentuated by the discovery of a mysterious metal door in the basement, which leads to what appears to be a filled-in tunnel.
Over the years, several people have reported sightings of a mysterious woman in the Pack’s Tavern basement, adorned in the white colors of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, a staunchly pro-Prohibition organization.
“That’s sort of where we figured out how to name the recurring encounter that people have had, which is our Lady in White,” Griner said. “It happens most commonly down in Room 10. People have seen somebody crossing the hallway late at night, or somebody peeking around the corner.”
As for the second story, Griner said that Pack’s Tavern purchased what used to be an annex of the Buncombe County jail. Bars from the jail are still stored in the room across from Room 10.
While records are unclear, it is possible that the former jail yard, where two men were executed in 1902, was adjoined to the property. When Pack’s Tavern leased the space to a bail bondsman, he broke the contract shortly thereafter.
“They asked him why, and he was like, ‘Well, you know, at first I kind of thought someone else was still coming in here from the restaurant,’ and he was like, ‘Doors are being left open, I’m hearing footsteps and somebody’s rattling keys in the front door, and then I just realized, no, nobody else has come in here,'” Griner recounted. “He was talking to people in the alley and they’re like, ‘No, no, we don’t go in there at all.'”
Griner said that Pack’s Tavern has never leased out the building since. The running theory is that the bondsman was haunted by apparitions of the two executed men.
The First in Fright crew will be conducting a late night investigation into the paranormal stories, staying at Pack’s Tavern through the night.
“They’ll actually be sleeping overnight inside of the old county jail, which I urged them not to, but, you know, they’re adventurous, so we’re gonna let them see what happens,” Griner said.
The team will document any paranormal experiences they have with their gear.
“They have their recording equipment, so they’ll go and listen up to the sound waves and everything, and do the whole night,” Griner said. “ I don’t know if they have vacuums or anything, if they do catch a pesky spirit. But they have the right equipment, I think, for sure.”
While the First in Fright investigation is closed to the public, those who wish to have their own firsthand experience with Pack’s Tavern’s phantoms can hop onboard a local trolley.
“If anybody’s interested in hearing the history, we are partnered with the Gray Line Asheville Ghost Tour, and their first stop is at Pack’s,” Griner said. “Those guys can give you a lot of great information on the history of the building, all the stories I talked about and just the surrounding history of this part of downtown.”
The First in Fright documentary about the team’s experiences in Pack’s Tavern is projected for release between December 2026 and January 2027.
For more information about First in Fright Paranormal, visit their Facebook page.