Winnie Heard died around the 1920s from pneumonia. That doesn’t mean she left the Foster House. The blue-eyed girl wanted to go to a party when she was around 16 years old, but her parents – the Heards were second family to own the house – told her she had to stay home because she was sick with the measles. So Winnie washed her blond hair, thinking she could talk them into letting her go. But she never made it to the party. Patricia Hamby, the restaurant’s current owner, said people apparently still see a young girl with blond hair and blue eyes in the historic home. She has even been seen with Henry Foster, the man who built the house in 1887. But this is just one of the spooky stories that circulate throughout the county, told just often enough to never quite let them rest. Hamby said she personally saw a 6-year-old boy in the kitchen, which used to be a sleeping porch. But she knew there was no one in the house at that time of the morning. Even when these sightings are not happening, Hamby she often catches the scent of sweet pipe smoke. When the Foster House, known for its restaurant and Southern charm, was being renovated, said Martha McConnell, co-president of the Historical Society of Forsyth County, a group of people were spotted inside, wearing “older clothes.” No one knew who the strangers were, and they never could find them to ask. One Valentine’s Day, McConnell and her husband and Historical Society co-president, Jimmy, went to a couple’s night at The Foster House. She said she has heard tales from the home’s owners that a broom has stood up by itself in the middle of a doorway. They were there early, and only one other couple had arrived. As they sipped their drinks, a loud and startling sound came from another room.“It was just very loud,” she said. “It was not like a hand slap. It was like someone had slammed down a book on the table.” They went to the room to see who had made the noise. No one was there. They went out to the porch to see if anyone had walked in or out. No one was there. So she called the home’s owner to tell her what happened. She laughed it off. She was used to weird things happening in the old home. Traveling away from The Foster House, hauntings and legends continue. Legend has it that cars on Booger Mountain can be pushed up the hill without being driven. If you put the car in neutral while the right tire is aligned with a telephone pole to form a 90-degree angle with Tribble Gap Road, just past Dr. Dunn Road, the car will be pushed upwards. Or if ghosts are what spooks you, you might see a little girl in a blue dress who supposedly drowned walking across the Poole’s Mill Bridge, McConnell said.