The story of Chicken Alley appears in my new book, Exploring Asheville, Its History, Attractions, Mysteries, Ghosts and Tall Tales.
One of the most haunted streets in Asheville is less than a mile from the Arcade Building. It is just off Woodfin Street. It is actually an alley, Chicken Alley, a narrow walkway between North Lexington Avenue and Carolina Lane. As you approach the alley, you will pass by Building #6 on Woodfin Street with its tiny mouse doors. But the landmark that will announce your arrival will be the giant Chicken Mural painted by Asheville artist, Molly Must. While the mural celebrates the area’s rich agricultural heritage, it is the ghost of Dr. Jamie Smith that attracts many of the alley’s visitors.
In the late 1800s, Ashville had a rough and raunchy side. Asheville’s nearby forest and the navigable French Broad River fostered a growing logging industry in the area, and Asheville was where loggers went for entertainment and “good times.” And the Broadway Tavern at Chicken Alley was one of their favorite spots. Asheville’s Dr. Jamie Smith was one of its prominent physicians, although on the side he is said to have counted many of the loggers among his clients for treatment of injuries and social disorders. He too enjoyed the “good times” and was a regular at the tavern. Dr. Smith stood out from the other men in route to and from the tavern for his unusual attire—a wide-brimmed black fedora hat and long duster style coat with a silver topped cane in one hand and a medicine bag in the other. On his last visit to Chicken Alley’s Broadway Tavern, Doctor Smith met his end. He arrived just as a bar brawl raged and while trying to stop the fighting, he was stabbed in the heart and died instantly. A year later in 1903, the tavern was destroyed by fire.
People say that things die slowly in the quartz laden mountains—especially those who meet a tragic or untimely end. So it seems with Dr. Jamie Smith—his spirit lingers. Late at night (since his death in 1902—now well over 100 years) those who live in Chicken Alley and people passing through it have reported hearing a cane tapping on the pavement or seeing a man lurking in the alley—a man in a long coat and wide brimmed fedora and a silver topped cane.
[Author’s Note: Some say Doctor Smith’s spirit is looking for revenge, but most locals say he just wants another drink before departing his earthly bonds. As for the mouse doors, they are the subject of another story.]
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