Old Fire Station No. 4

Posted: 12.10.2024 | Updated: 12.10.2024

Old Fire Station No. 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina, housed generations of firefighters. These men and women put their lives on the line every day to keep their community safe — and one man paid the ultimate price in the very walls of his second home. 

The lost fireman who still resides in Old Fire Station No. 4 is one of the most heroic spirits that haunts Charlotte today. If you want to see where some of the less honorable ghosts dwell, book a ghost tour with Queen City Ghosts. 

Is Old Fire Station No. 4 Haunted?

Firefighters and business owners alike have spoken about their strange experiences in Old Fire Station No. 4. From a strong smell of cigars to a ghostly figure wandering the halls, the encounters all seem to be with the same ghost — the fallen firefighter. 

The History of Old Fire Station No. 4

While firefighters are considered heroes today, this wasn’t always the case. For most growing American cities in the nineteenth century, firefighters were volunteers, and these volunteers didn’t exactly give firefighters a good name. 

Known as a “public menace,” volunteer firefighters were untrained, rowdy, and very much had a “boys will be boys” attitude. They were less interested in saving people and more invested in having a good time. 

In the late 1800s, city officials across the country grew tired of the antics of their volunteer fire patrols and began establishing city-employed fire squads. The City of Charlotte created its fire department in 1887. 

Old Fire Station No. 4’s Tenure 

The first few fire stations in town were quite different from their fourth station because the firefighters still used horses to pull their wagons and equipment. Motorized fire engines were first used in 1911, which meant that by the time Fire Station No. 4 was built in 1925, they didn’t need to account for stalls for animals anymore. 

This allowed the red brick station to be optimized for the firefighters’ use, which included adding a kitchen, implementing better ventilation than previous firehouses, and installing a fire pole for staff to reach their trucks quickly. 

Fire Station No. 4 operated as a firehouse for many years, housing many firefighters during that time. In 1972, a new fire station was built nearby, leading the old building to be decommissioned. 

Since the ‘70s, the building has been used for several different purposes. The city used it for storage for a few years, as well as offices. An art gallery used the space for a while, as did an antique shop. It has also been the home of a firefighting museum.

Interestingly, the FBI even used the building for a sting — which targeted the then-Charlotte mayor. In 2012, an undercover agent asked former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon for help in circumventing the legal process to start a business in Old Fire Station No. 4. Cannon ended up accepting over $50,000 in bribes, eventually being convicted in 2014.

The Tragedy of Old Fire Station No. 4

While the fire station acted as head of operations for the fire squad for decades, one tragedy seems to overshadow all the good accomplished in the building. 

Pruett Black: The Fallen Fireman 

At 7 a.m. on April 1, 1934, Pruett Black was sleeping in the second-floor dormitory section of the fire station when the alarm awoke him and his fellow firefighters. Black, in his sixth year on the squad, quickly started putting on his gear. 

Eager to get to his truck quickly, Black ran toward the firepole while finishing up getting dressed. As he went to grab the pole, his foot got looped in his gear, and he missed the pole entirely — plunging headfirst into the concrete 14 feet below.

At just 28 years old, Black’s skull was fractured, and he died a few hours later at the hospital. He left behind a wife and a 2-year-old son. 

Who haunts Old Fire Station No. 4? 

After his life was cut short, it seems Black decided to stay near his crew — or was unable to leave. Ever since his death, encounters with Black have been reported throughout the firehouse, especially after the building was decommissioned and turned into private businesses.

The smell of cigar smoke

The most common experience in Old Fire Station No. 4 is for a person to suddenly smell cigar smoke when no one is around. Black, it turns out, was known for his love of cigars and always seemed to have one lit up. 

The man who owned the antique shop that operated in the building in the late ‘90s remembered how overwhelming the cigar scent was on his initial visit to the firehouse:

“I was walking through the building for the first time. It had been boarded up and no one in there for years, and my first thought was that someone had been living there because the smell of cigar smoke was so strong. It was consistent and stronger in some areas than others, but I smelled it throughout the entire time I had my business there.”

A shadowy phantom 

The same antique shop owner also saw Black with his own eyes. He said a man walked into his shop in a bright yellow parka. Before Black could offer to help the customer, the man approached a wall — and disappeared into it. 

There was another incident, too, when an electrician was working upstairs, where the sleeping quarters once were in the firehouse. 

The electrician was surprised to spy a man walking down the hallway. He followed him to one of the old bunkrooms, but the man was nowhere to be seen. 

On the ground level, at this exact moment, the shop owner saw an apparition emerge from an interior wall, walk across the antique store, and disappear near the front door. 

A protective presence 

As the first encounters were a bit unnerving, the shop owner did some research into Old Fire Station No. 4. He uncovered Black’s story, which included a photo. 

Instantly, he recognized the ghost he had kept meeting. So, the next time he spotted him upstairs, the owner greeted Black by name. This seemed to please the ghost. 

While they had no conversations, the owner said he didn’t feel frightened by his resident ghost. “I felt very protected, but I definitely felt there was someone there,” he said. 

To honor his spectral guest, the owner displayed some antique firefighting uniforms and equipment. While he kept the clothes neat and folded, he’d often arrive at the shop in the morning and discover Black had hung the uniforms on the hooks, just as they would have been back in the day after a long day of work. 

Haunted Charlotte

While the shop owners and customers at Old Fire Station No. 4 don’t seem to mind their resident spirit, other Charlotteans aren’t as thrilled about the ghosts haunting their property. 

From the crooked politicians buried at the Old Settlers Cemetery to the man who was crushed to death beneath the First Presbyterian Church, there are spirits who are less content with simply milling around. To possibly spot a ghost for yourself in Charlotte, book a ghost tour with Queen City Ghosts tonight. 

Want to hear more ghost stories? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. To learn about more Queen City spirits, check out our blog.

Sources:

http://landmarkscommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Charlotte-Fire-Station-No-4.pdf