The Shiloh Forestry Compound

Posted: 05.07.2025 | Updated: 05.07.2025

If you spend enough time in Asheville, especially near Halloween, you’ll likely hear ghostly tales of the Shiloh Forestry Compound, an abandoned site reportedly located deep in the woods near the Biltmore Estate. According to online sources, the crumbling remains, now overgrown with vines and desecrated with graffiti, hold the original site of the Biltmore School of Forestry.

Some accounts tell of curiously walking the ruins, or even venturing inside. In contrast, others say they encountered a wave of energy so dark and unsettling that they backed away. Instead stumbling through the forest until they reached the safety of streetlights and civilization.

Below, we’ll reveal the forgotten history and spooky stories surrounding the Shiloh Forestry Compound, once known as the Biltmore School of Forestry.

The Asheville area is well known for its ghostly activity. If you’re interested in seeing the spectral sights, consider booking an Asheville Ghost tour to hear the haunted history of “The Land of the Sky.”

What is the History of the Shiloh Forestry Compound?

The Shiloh Forestry Compound is thought to be a local name for the original site of the Biltmore School of Forestry (now The Cradle of Forestry in America). Built in 1898, it was the nation’s first forestry school. Carl Schenck ran it, and George Washington Vanderbilt II funded it. The school focused on forestry practices and sustainable land management.

A reconstruction of this building is located in the Pisgah National Forest within the Cradle of Forestry and is open to the public.

After the School of Forestry expanded and relocated, the original building is said to have fallen into a state of disrepair, attracting use by unsavory individuals for nefarious activities best left shielded from the public eye.

After Schenck died in 1955, reports began to surface as nearby residents noticed something strange about the abandoned site. Claims of flickering lights and strange noises started to circulate, laying the foundation for the haunted reputation of Shiloh Forestry Compound we see today.

Echoes of Fury

Though many ghost stories swirling around the ruins focus on unexplained lights and phantom voices, some locals have a different take – that it may be Carl Schenck who haunts the grounds.

Considered a brilliant man, Schenck was also infamous for his temper. His final years at Biltmore were marked by bitter rivalries and explosive confrontations. One such feud with estate manager C.D. Beadle boiled over in 1909.

Enraged by Beadle’s accusations of dishonesty, Schenck stormed into Beadle’s office and boxed the man’s ears in front of his staff, earning a charge of assault and battery. Though he was fined only a dollar in court, the outburst shattered what little goodwill remained with Schenck’s patron, George Vanderbilt.

Schenck was forced to resign as head of the Biltmore School of Forestry and later sued Vanderbilt for back pay. Some sources say he then vowed his revenge.

The Hauntings Begin

After Carl Schenck was replaced, the school began transitioning to a new location in Pisgah National Forest, under new leadership. It later changed its name to the Cradle of Forestry in America.

As the years fell away, the abandoned former site near Biltmore began attracting urban explorers, amateur ghost hunters, and curious locals. The whispered tales of unexplained phenomena drew them all.

Blood-Filled Toilet

The most gruesome spooky tale of the Shiloh Forestry Compound includes a bathroom on the lower level of the compound’s main building, containing a toilet whose bowl is brimming with blood. Several reports corroborate this story, leaving many to wonder if an ominous presence resides within the ruins.

The Murdered Prostitute

A legend that may have an origin in truth states that the rundown site of the Shiloh Forestry Compound had been dubbed “the whorehouse” by locals, aligning with the tales of illicit activity that plagued the ruins. The name insinuates that sex workers had used the rundown building as a place to meet their clients.

This story maintains that a prostitute was murdered in an upstairs room, and her spirit refuses to leave. Visitors have reported hearing a woman’s voice singing and an insidious cold that settles over the room, perhaps indicating spectral activity.

No records have surfaced to prove this tale, but it remains a persistent legend.

Hangings

According to some reports online, in decades past, the abandoned building was used for vigilante justice, deep within the woods, far from the protection of the law.

Hangings are explicitly mentioned, though no official reports corroborate this.

However, a chilling story circulating online involves explorers of the property finding “an expertly tied noose” hanging from a rafter in one of the rooms. Whether this was intended for murder or suicide is unclear, but this unsettling tale adds to the ominous atmosphere of the Shiloh Forestry Compound.

Haunted Shiloh Forestry Compound

Today, the crumbling remains of the Shiloh Forestry Compound lie somewhere in the woods near Asheville, their once hallowed halls rudely desecrated by graffiti. As the earth slowly swallows the remains, many ponder the events that led to the spectral activity reported in this location.

Did unreported acts of horrendous violence occur deep within these woods, the perpetrators never brought to justice? Or does the unrest lie deeper, to a time when a proud visionary raged against his fall from grace, vowing revenge?

Whether the site is haunted by later tragedies or by echoes from its proudest days, one thing is certain: something still stirs in those woods.

The story of Shiloh Forestry Compound is only one of the many ghostly legends in the great state of North Carolina. If you love hearing tales of otherworldly terror, consider booking an Asheville Ghost tour to discover more stories of the spooky underbelly and harrowing history of Haunted Asheville.

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Sources

• https://wnctimes.com/travel/2181-haunted-in-asheville-shiloh-abandonded-forestry-compound
• https://theinfiltrators.blogspot.com/2009/05/host-hunters-of-boone-nc-haunted.html
• https://www.ashevilleparanormalsociety.com/ashevillestories2.html
• https://www.uncorkedasheville.com/haunted-houses-in-asheville-nc/
• https://gofindoutdoors.org/about/our-story/
• https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/14258/Crossing%20the%20Atlantic.pdf
• https://wncmagazine.com/feature/woods