EDITOR’S NOTE: Strangeville explores the legends, folklore, and unexplained history of Western North Carolina. From Cherokee mythology and Appalachian ghost stories to Bigfoot sightings and UFO encounters, the Blue Ridge Mountains have long been a hotspot for the strange and mysterious. Join us as we dig into the past and uncover the truth behind the region’s most curious tales.
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ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Western North Carolina’s French Broad River is known for its sweeping mountain views and rich history. Locals and travelers alike have long claimed the river holds something far older and darker: the spirit of a siren whose beauty lures the living to a watery grave.
The story dates back at least to the 1840s, when author William Gilmore Simms published a poem titled T’zelica, A Tradition of the French Broad, inspired by what he said were Cherokee oral traditions. In 1896, folklorist Charles M. Skinner retold the tale and compared the French Broad siren to the German Lorelei, a creature who sings to weary men and draws them to their deaths in the Rhine.
In the North Carolina version, a traveler camped along the river hears a soft melody that seems to rise from the water itself. He draws closer to investigate and sees a woman with mossy hair and dark, gleaming eyes in the current. Her song is beautiful. Her form appears irresistible. Entranced, the man wades into the river. The moment he reaches for her, her embrace turns monstrous. It becomes cold, slimy and snake-like. Her face shifts from beauty to bone. The current claims him. No one hears his screams.
The location of the siren’s haunt varies. Skinner named the place “Tselica,” echoing Indigenous names for parts of the French Broad watershed. In some versions of the legend, the siren only appears to those who see her in dreams first. Other versions claim she waits in river bends where the water runs deep and slow, watching for someone tired enough to follow a voice no one else can hear.
One chilling modern account, shared anonymously on a regional folklore website, tells of a man who vanished into the river after walking into the water around 3 a.m. A witness said he never resurfaced. Days later, that same witness dreamed of a woman standing in the river in place of his reflection. He described waking with a fear of deep water that never left him.
Interest in the French Broad siren has grown in recent years. The Arcane Carolinas podcast featured the story in 2023. Artists have reimagined the spirit in visual form, always with haunting beauty and eyes that seem to pull you under.
The story lives on in poems, podcasts and quiet retellings, carried by the current of a river that has long kept its secrets.