Not long ago I wrote about the Boylan wye, and described what remains of that former downtown train switchyard and industrial district. Today the most prominent relic there can be easily seen from the Boylan Ave bridge — a rusted cement plant gravel hopper towering over the site. But virtually invisible to most observers today is the weed-choked and debris-strewn sunken area that is the footprint of the former Smith Coal and Oil Co. coal yard.

This is a view of a portion of the Boylan wye from the bridge in 1970. The concrete plant is on the left and the coal yard is just right of center, below the two box cars. The present-day photo at the top shows the tracks the boxcars were parked on in 1970. The remnants of the coal yard are just to the right of these tracks.

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Look at the figure below the window on the lower level far left

Back in April of this year, I posted the photos included here in an article titled The Ghost of the Capitol Building. I more or less gave the details of how I got the image, that there were no people around, and that I didn’t necessarily think it was a ghost.

Close-up version of the unidentified terrestial object

At the time, M. Lail, (of the Raleigh Philosophical Society) commented that the place was known to be haunted. Until reading his comment, I had no idea that the place has been rumored to have paranormal activity. Earlier this week, he again mentions the haunted nature of the Capitol Building.

As I briefly alluded to in that post, I do not believe in the paranormal.  Having said that, this photo leaves me scratching my head without explanation.

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It’s fairly common for universities and government agencies to have a network of steam pipes (such as the ones that feed the state government buildings), and NCSU is no exception.

I’ve heard about them off and on over the years, and have always been intrigued by the thought of a subterranean network of secret tunnels, rooms, and machinery hidden below the surface.

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