Update 03/20/05
Various forum posts concerning Payne Rd.

From Danielle Lyons:
Ok, this is strange. I grew up here in Winston-Salem too and know the legend 
very well. We used to go out there as teens and stop on the old wooden bridge 
and turn the car off and try to crank it up, it would not. We would have to push 
the car off of the bridge before it would start. My grandfather would laugh at us 
and tell us we probably stalled out the car because we were so nervous. So tonight, 
of all nights by the looks of the dates on this thread, the irony has returned 18 
years after I last experianced it. Here is what has happened.

My daughter's boyfriend lives out Friendship Rd. in Germanton. One of the ways to 
get to this road is to take #8 all the way around or hwy 65 to #8. The third option
is to take Edwards Rd. {which was one time named Payne Rd.} from the Rural Hall side
all the way down to the stop sign. We did this today while picking him up to take him
to our church fish fry with us. I told the kids all about what I had experianced as a
kid and told them how the road was once dirt and the bridge was once a plank bridge. 
I showed them where the house once stood and in a way relived the fun of my teen years
in story telling.

Tonight I had to take the boy home and so the kids all begged me to drive down Payne
Rd at night. I was no longer scared, like I was a teen and found an oppertunity to scare 
my kids and have fun with them. We turned onto Edwards {which really is Payne Rd.} As we 
got close to the drop-off on your right side, I started with "did you see that in the woods" 
and things like that. I slowed the van down to a stop as we got close to the hairpin turns. 
I told the kids we had run out of gas....they screamed, I laughed and we travled on. We got
down to the now paved bridge and I told them I was going to stop, they screamed and we 
all laughed at it.

When we got to the stop sign, we turned right and then at the next intersection 
{Friendship Rd} we went left. NOne of these extension roads have any hauntings on them.

When we got home, a little while ago now, my daughter told me about the car that was 
behind us on Payne Rd that seemed to turn off into the woods. She said that when she 
told me about it in the van as it happened, I blew her off and said there was a road 
there. I do not remember saying that OR her telling me about the car. In fact, I had 
forgotten about the "car in your rear view" until she said that. Goosebumps in a major 
way. THEN, I get online and goodle Payne Rd. to see what I could find and I run across 
this thread which started only two days ago.

Why did it start now? All we talked about at dinner with friends was Payne Rd. and the 
things they had heard. Never did the headlights come up in the coversation though.

I will be more than glad to help you guys in anyway I can. I can even post the old 
story as I was told so you can compare notes. And the story I know is the one my dad 
told he that he heard in high school. This one has a long history to it.

Peace
Danielle Lyons
right outside of Rural Hall, NC

From Lorrie Stacy:
hi
i am mark's girlfriend. I grew up in Winston so payne rd is pretty familiar to me.
i have been there several times and seen some pretty strange things. the electronic
gate your speaking of actually forks off of edwards rd next to a small cemetary. 
the forking rd has no sign naming it and seems to be the private property of someone. 
i have often considered slipping past it on foot, which is possible on either side, 
but i have always been hesitent to do so without the permission of the unknown owner. 
i have not been able to see anything down that road past the fence execpt for the dirt 
rd itself which is completly surounded by the thick forest that runs the length of both
edwards and payne rds. however, if you continue past the forking rd and the cemetary on
edwards rd, you will pass several dilapedated shacks and also a few more recently built
homes that are currently inhabited. edward rd is long and winding and certainly almost
as chilling as payne rd itself. when you reach the stop at the end of edwards rd, you
may turn either left or right onto payne rd. if you turn left you pass basically the 
same type of scenary as you did on edwards, only it seems somehow to be more unsettling. 
near the end, there are three abandoned buildings and one such house that literaly catch
your attention and don't let go, giving you a sense of foreboding that doesn't lessen 
when you pass. if you turn right onto payne rd, you will soon cross over a concrete 
bridge. there is also a road forking to the right in that area that looked to have an
older man made bridge, but i have not yet had the pleasure of eperiencing that rd seeing
as i did not notice it until i was leaving one night and it was too dark to be sure of its
safeness or where it lead. however, past the concrete bridge on the main rd, you will pass
miles of forest with old shacks scattered randomly amoung the trees.at one point another 
rd crosses through payne rd, and the rd continues further. i have not yet been past that
point. this brief description of the rds is completly lacking the true affect of them. 
they are both truely mysterious and strange, and i have no doubt of reality of its hauntings.
i have experienced many myself on several of my visits that still give me chills to this 
day, and i am looking forward to further exploration of this area in the near future, for
there is much i have not yet attempted. as for walking, i have done so myself in daylight 
many years back and explored several of the old buildings. even at daytime the place has its 
abnormal feeling to it, one that you don't soon forget. however it is a very long rd with un 
even land on its sides befor the thick,dark mass of trees engulf all else that may inhabit 
the area, so i recomend caution and plently of light weither day or night when walking. when 
driving the rds, have someone drive who won't panic and run off the rd or not hold one of the
 very sharp curves and run into the trees if "something" should appear for a moment in the rd, 
dart across the windshield unexpectedly or , most commonly, head lights appear from nowhere in 
the rearview, blinding you momentarily before falling back and vanishing once again into thin 
air. try as you might, i doubt you'll find a car or any other source for those lights. i never 
did. the mystery of payne rd is very real. you can feel it around you when you visit, and you
don't soon forget that feeling.if you know of something about the rd that i don't, please fill
me in, for the place holds my fascination firmly and i can't wait to return.

lorrie

Update 09/22/04
An email from Crystal Floyd
Hi,
I was just surfing the web for Halloween stories and came upon your site. The 
story you have about Payne Road does have a history, but not the one you tell. I am 
from the area where this all took place and I'm also related to the past owners of the 
property--The Lawson Family. There is a book on the happenings of the Lawson Family 
murders... You can find out the whole story by getting the book and reading the 
story of my past relatives. The book is called White Christmas Bloody Christmas it 
was written by Bruce M. Jones and Trudy J. Smith. I am not trying to be mean I just 
would like the history of the Plantation known. It is a very scary past- but  I 
thought you might want to know the real story behind property you visited, please 
read the book- but it is very scary, you will probably think oh, my goodness I was
where all that happened. Thanks

I like scary things too-but weird enough this really happened to my ancestors.

GHNC's experience
Of all the locations we've been to, Payne road was one of the most interesting. 
As you may or may not know, we are from Wingate, NC. Thats a good two and a half
hours away. This was about a year ago, but when we finally made it, we had to 
stop and ask a gas station attendant for information and directions. She warned 
us that satan worshippers were known to frequent the road and she said they carried 
bats! This scared us pretty bad but we figured she told all non-locals that. 
 
When we finally got on the right trail we had to go down the VERY curvy road 
leading to what used to be Payne's slave plantation. The drive is very creepy and 
it alone was worth the trip. After driving around in circles we finally found a 
bridge that lead up to a house on a hill. We determined this was the fabled bridge 
and whistled dixie as described and waiting to see if our car would start. The 
first time it started fine but we tried at least 3 more times and one of the times 
the car refused to start... I really believe theres something to this legend. 
We were too afraid to drive past the bridge and on to the house. There appeared to 
be cars parked at the house and there was also a remotely controlled iron gate that
 could have closed behind us at any time. Being stuck that far from home at 5am 
didn't sound like a good idea to anyone.
 
I got out with my camera to take a few pictures before we left. When I got down under
 the bridge a very strange thing began to happen. My camera display started changing 
colors and eventually went to a solid pink. I had never seen it do this before and im 
still not sure why it did it. I was able to take a few pictures and one of them I 
will never forget. I was under the bridge when it happened, I aimed up towards the 
sky and took the picture with flash. When the image was parsed and finally displayed 
I saw a RED orb moving through the frame several times. Out of the thousands of 
pictures i've taken I have never seen a red orb again, it was a defining moment 
for me... I thought I had taken the best picture of my hunting career. Unfortunately, 
Mr. Payne thought otherwise. On the ride home my camera refused to cut on, old or 
new batteries, it didnt matter. About halfway home the camera finally started working 
again, to my shock, every single picture was gone, they had all been erased. I still 
believe to this day that the spirit of Mr. Payne knew I caught a photo of him and 
screwed my camera to erase the evidence. Arriving home, the camera was never the 
same, It doesn't work at all now.