Author Michael Renegar at an event along with copies of his ghost story books.
EAST BEND — Local author Michael Renegar passed away on Oct. 11 at the age of 51. Renegar was known for his tales of the supernatural and had a passion for researching the history behind local legends and ghost stories, said his longtime friend Amy Greer.
Renegar authored “Roadside Revenants” and “Tarheel Terrors” as well as coauthored, along with Greer, “Ghosts of the Triad” and “Looking for Lydia.”
Greer said, like herself, Renegar came to a love of ghost stories through family gatherings at the fireside telling spooky stories. In Renegar’s case that was often at a chicken stew where those stories were shared.
“When I was small we used to sit around and listen to the older folks tell ghost stories,” Renegar told The Yadkin Ripple in a 2015 interview. He said as a child he heard many stories about the Great Depression and World War II from elders in his family and community, but it was the stories of the supernatural that he most enjoyed.
“The ghost stories always held a special fascination for me and I always believed in them,” he said.
Upon leaving Yadkin County to attend college at Appalachian State University, Renegar again found himself caught up with the spirit of things unseen. Renegar worked and resided in East Residence Hall, which he called a “very haunted place.”
After collecting ghost stories for a number of years, Renegar decided to write a book on the topic. His first book, “Roadside Revenants” was published in 2005.
“He absolutely loved what he did,” said Greer. More than just being a remarkable story teller, Renegar was dedicated to ferreting out the facts surrounding local legends.
“He loved the research,” said Greer, describing days she and Renegar would spend hours at a library trying to find dates related to a certain story.
Greer met Renegar 14 years ago and developed a close relationship with him, calling him her brother. She met Renegar through his photography work but connected on a deeper level with him after reading his book.
“It wasn’t like any book I’d ever read before,” she said. “It really kept me on the edge of my seat and very entertained in the way he wrote. You had this history there. It wasn’t like a lot of the older ghost stories. It really felt like you were pulled into that story as it was being told to you.”
Renegar’s passion was to tell a true story, Greer said.
“We didn’t want to give you some sort of urban legend. We wanted to tell you, in our eyes, maybe how that event took place,” she said.
The legend of Lydia of Jamestown was one story that captivated Renegar and he was determined to find the truth behind the roadside death of the mysterious woman who some claim returns as a ghostly hitchhiker trying to get back home.
Renegar was featured on an episode of Discovery Channel’s Monsters and Mysteries in America in 2015 about the tale of Lydia.
The stories associated with the Dalton-Hunt house was one of Renegar’s favorite Yadkin County stories, said Greer.
“He was so excited the first time he took me to see it,” she recalled. “There’s such a sad history with it,” Greer continued, adding that Renegar had a great sense of compassion in the way he recounted these stories.
Greer said the last 14 years with her brother Michael Renegar was the best of her life. She said Yadkin County and the Triad has lost a true treasure.
Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-258-4035 or on Twitter and Instagram @RippleReporterK.