The little red man

The Single Brother's House, or just Brother's House, is located in the historic Old Salem Village and Gardens
 in Winston-Salem. This home in the reconstructed old Moravian village
was once home to one of North Carolina's most beloved ghosts.

Salem was originally settled by members of the Moravian Church, a
Protestant denomination that first began in 1457 in the Kingdoms of
Bohemia and Moravia, which are now part of the Czech Republic.
Persecuted for their unorthodox beliefs, the Moravians sought refuge in
the New World, first settling in Savannah, Georgia in 1735. The
congregation moved to Pennsylvania in 1740, where they grew and founded
several towns with the biblical names of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and
Lititz. Still growing and facing increasing pressure from the growing
communities of Pennsylvania, they searched for a new community to call
home.

The Moravians purchased the site of Salem from Lord Proprietor and
Earl of Granville John Carteret in 1753. Members of the community moved
from Pennsylvania to begin construction on their new home. Founded as a
religious community, the town was strictly controlled by the church and
any members who were found disobeying the rules would face exile. As the
 nation around them grew, the community gradually drifted away from its
strict observance and the Moravians became assimilated into the
mainstream culture. The original settlement of Old Salem is now a living
 history museum, where visitors can see and experience the life as lived
 by 18th and 19th Century Moravians, and taste the crispy delight of the
 distinctive Moravian sugar cookies.

Now part of the museum, Brother's House was originally used as a
communal home for unmarried men in the Moravian settlement. Moravians
have a strong tradition of keeping excellent records, so we have an
unusually detailed account of how this ghost came in to being. The late,
 great North Carolina folklorist Richard Walser quotes the record at
length in his invaluable and highly recommended book North Carolina Legends.

On March 25, 1786 a shoemaker named Andreas Kresmer was killed
while excavating a new foundation for an addition to The Brother's
House. Working late into the night, around midnight Brother Kresmer was
caught beneath a falling bank of earth. He passed away a few hours
later. This kind man and playful was much mourned by his fellow
Brethren.

For years afterwards, strange sounds that resembled the tap of a
shoemaker's hammer were heard throughout the house. A small man wearing a
 red cap like the one Brother Kresmer had been wearing when he died was
also seen scurrying through the halls.

The figure was seen for years, even after the Brother's House had
been converted into a home for Moravian widows. One of the most famous
encounters with the Little Red Man happened then. Little Betsy, the
granddaughter of a widow who lived in the house, is said to have met the
 ghost and gotten along splendidly with him. Little Betsy had been left
deaf from an early childhood illness, but could still speak. She knew
nothing of the ghost or the accident, but one day while visiting her
grandmother rushed excitedly in from the garden and told of a small man
wearing a red cap who had beckoned her to come and play.

According to legend, the Little Red Man's appearances were brought to
 rest when he made an ill-advised appearance before a prominent member
of the community showing an important visitor around the cellar. The
visitor was shocked to discover such disreputable supernatural goings-on
 in a respectable Moravian home. It's never good to show up the boss,
and a minister was called in to lay the ghost to rest, which apparently
worked. The Little Red Man has not been seen since.

## How to Get There

Old Salem Museums and Gardens
is located at 900 Old Salem Road in Winston-Salem. The museums are open
year round, and while your chances of seeing the Little Red Man seem to
have disappeared, there are still many interesting things to see and do
there.