Name:	Payne Road
City, State:	Stokes County, NC
Type:	Tunnel / Bridge / Road (Haunted)
Added By:	jevans66
Added Since:	6 years ago

The story of Payne Road begins with the story of a family murdered Christmas Day 1929. Charlie Lawson was a real person and the story of his family is very real. He murdered his wife and 6 out of 7 living children Christmas Day 1929. charlie then committed suicide. He, along with his family are buried in a mass grave in Walnut Cove, NC. The original house was dismanteled and a bridge was built using the floorboards of this house, and the story goes that if you drive down this road at night a set of headlights will appear and follow you to the bridge. Once on the bridge, your car will stall and you cannot crank it back. Some have said that if you push you car off the bridge you will then be able to crank it.

Here is what I have personally experienced when I have been to this location. There were three times I went down the road and had no experience at all, but one Friday night in December I was out with a friend to see what we could see about the legend of Payne Road.

I was on a 1986 Ford Bronco II that had just been rebuilt from the wheels to the top, and this vehicle was in top running condition.

We were approaching the old house (This was before it was dismantled), and a light fog misted the road, becoming more dense as we got closer. The road itself is very curvy, and I was driving slower than usual so we could watch. headlights did appear, and seemed to run right up on us, following us closley. As we approached the house, I rolled the window down and noticed I did not hear any road noise or hear any indication of a vehicle following that close, but the lights were there. As we pulled in front of the house, we both noticed a glow eminating from the house and as we stared, it seemed the house began to "breath". Needless to say, we left, immediatley, and at a high rate of speed.

The really strange thing was the headlights disappeared (there were no turnoffs on this section of the road) but two dogs were wandering towards the road, one smaller than the other. The large dog seemed to lead the small dog right out in front of us. As frightened as we were, I was able to stop the Bronco before we hit the dogs. As we started to move again, thinking the dogs were clear, we both felt a big thump, like we had run over somthing. Stopping again, I got out of the Bronco and checked. There were no dogs to be seen, but there was hair caught in the fender well of the Bronco. I got back in the Bronce, started it up and as I was putting it in gear, my friend screamed. When I looked at her, There at Passenger window of the Bronco was the bigger dog looking in, and it would have had to be standing on a large crate or somthing to stand level with that window! The smaller dog was standing in the middle of the road in front of the Bronco! I threw the Bronco into reverse, made a hastey retreat by doing a reverse "y" turn, and went back out the way I came in!

When recounting our story to one of the older men in the area, he asked us what night we had ventured down the road. We told him it was the Friday before, and he just smiled. He told us that particular Friday was a full moon, and the ONLY time you saw happenings on Payne road was on a full moon Friday night. He told us that very few people had reported seeing the house breathing and glowing, and even fewer had talked about the dogs, but it had been known in the community that if you saw the dogs, no matter what you did you would hit them, then see them again as you drove off, apparently unhurt.

Now that the house has been dimantled, and houses have been built on the road, I am sure that there are fewer curious people that venture down there. At one point it was said to have been an area that Satan Worshipers frequented, and that a biker gang took up resdience in the old house, but I am not sure of the truth in those stories. I know my experience, and even though the activity is now said to be around the bridge, I will not go back!!!!!!