I’ve had a good hefty handful of guests come onto Mutilated Mohawk Media, all with such amazing projects and goals. However, a while back I interviewed Jason from the SpookyCLT page, an Instagram page dedicated to all things spooky in Charlotte, NC. Recently, I heard that Jason was starting a new project, one that was not only right up the alley of horror and outreach. He has taken on the daunting task of restoring an old headstone local to Charlotte, NC. This was a story I had to cover, and one that I had to promote because I absolutely believe that it is our jobs to take care of these old graves and monuments. Don’t listen to me say it, read what Jason has to say.
Hey Jason, welcome back. So tell us a little about this headstone restoration project you are working on?
Hey Thanks for having me back! So the headstone restoration project is pretty cut and dry, I am interested in all things spooky about Charlotte NC and I found a headstone of a guy who was killed by a Lion in the 1930’s here in town… I went back to visit it eventually and to make a tik tok about the whole history of it but I found it cracked in half and knocked off it’s base.. I reached out to the cemetery to see what it would hypothetically look like to repair and after a few months of back and forth they told me about their “Angel program” where people are now able to donate to the restoration and cleaning of specific headstones. The restoration all together is $3500 so I couldn’t fund it myself but now the tools are in place where I could crowd source it. I mean I can’t be the only one who thinks this headstone is interesting, right?
What got you into supporting (and doing) this type of project? Why do you feel that it’s important?
Well I am interested in all things spooky. I think graveyards and cemeteries are particularly interesting because they often mix history with macabre. I have been involved with a few volunteer projects to clean up forgotten cemeteries around town but this is my first time raising money for a project like this. I hope it is just the start of this type of work, I would love to be involved with restoring or preserving an entire building in uptown one day, so saving one headstone is a humble start to that path.
Can you tell us a little about the gravestone you are trying to get restored? Is there anything that made you choose this one over others?
The guy was killed by a freaking Lion in Charlotte! I imagine that if he’s not the only person to do that then it is definitely a short list. What I found is that our friend Charlie Hauck, was an animal trainer in the circus which came town in January 1930s. Story goes that he had just finished feeding Leo the Lion and when he went to pat him on the head, he got clawed at slashing his arm up. He died within the week at the hospital in town which is now where the uptown harris teeter is. The headstone is marble which was expensive back in that time, so we are hypothesizing that the circus paid for it. He was originally from Mt. Holley and died a single man, so I am also thinking the circus and the animals were his only family, so when he passed in Charlotte they left him there. What I find really interesting about the headstone is, the headstone has crossed Garland and flower medallions on it. Garland is a symbol of “victory over death” which is somewhat ironic because he was killed by a lion right, but then I thought about it and as an animal trainer I am sure he lived a full life of near death experiences with exotic animals. Flowers ingraved on a headstone typically symbolize immortality, which really spoke to me because he I am trying to make sure he is not forgotten, especially with a headstone that is currently on the ground. I chose this one because it is spooky and because it needed it, but I really loved the experience of learning not only about Charlie and his history, but also about headstones in general.
Say this project is successful, do you plan to do other restorations in the future?
I had the thought that if this one went well then possibly I can try to pick a new one each year. But since I am crowdfunding the project I may not want to constantly be asking my instagram followers for money. Like I said though, the goal would eventually be to be apart of preserving an entire building in Uptown. As it stands I like to think that I have done my part in preserving a lot of Charlotte’s history by branding it as spooky and posting it on instagram. I always say that ghost stories are often just spicy history.,
Is there any parting words you wish to leave on a viewer to maybe convince someone, or simply educate them, on why this is so important?
My parting words would be to check out my website SPookyCLT.com and to clock on the “Charlie Houck killed by a Lion” tab so you can learn about the history and donate if you feel like it. But also I ask everyone to be a little more curious about where they live, or finding something that’s interesting to you and just go balls to the wall learning about it. You’ll never know what you’ll find or where it will lead you.
To follow updates on this project or donate, check out the official SpookyCLT website by clicking here. Be sure to check out their Instagram by clicking here.
