Avery Sharpe, Statesville, NC – Home of the Infamous Mr. Sharpe Shears

Nice gun holster …

DATELINE, Statesville, NC — Ever been to Statesville, North Carolina? It’s kind of like Mayberry RFD – you know, that fictional place that was the setting in the 60s TV series, The Andy Griffith Show. Except it’s in color, not black & white, and it looks like it’s grown up with the changing times.

We wouldn’t exactly call it vibrant, but there’s evidence of life, for sure. Not much evidence, but it’s there.  However, no sign — not even a whiff of Avery E. Sharpe – A K A Mr. Sharpe Shears. People spoke of him, but there was no visible sighting.

Well, we enjoyed our self-guided tour. Even ate a burger in one of the spots there. It just doesn’t seem like the kind of place you’d find a guy like Avery Sharpe, though. He seems out of place here. Definitely mis-cast. NOT the kind of person you think you’d get from central casting when you asked for a supporting person to act the part of a salon-visiting, hair-cutting scissors sharpener – shears, as they’re called in the industry.

The Andy Griffith Show, which purported to be about small-town life in North Carolina, actually was filmed on the other side of the country, at Desilu Studios in Callifornia. The street scene exteriors were filmed at Forty Acres in Culver City, California. The woodsy locales, which you watched while the theme song was whistled, were filmed north of Beverly Hills at Franklin Canyon, including the shot of main characters, Sheriff Andy and his son, Opie, walking to and from “the fishin’ hole”. It’s TV smoke and mirrors. Avery Sharpe Shears seems like he also belongs on the other side of the country, too – like maybe in one of the many LA-area homeless encampments you see littering the once-beautiful city.

LA-area homeless encampment, California. (Fox News photo)

Keep an Eye on Avery E. Sharpe of Statesville, North Carolina – A Word to the Wise, in Our Opinion

(From a Facebook post by Avery E. Sharpe. Note: image published under the Fair Use doctrine.)

(From a Facebook post by Avery E. Sharpe. Note: image published under the Fair Use doctrine.)

We caution people who are in contact with Avery E. Sharpe.

He operates out of Union Grove, North Carolina with his shear sharpening business being listed as Statesville, North Carolina. No physical address could be found for him, however, in Statesville. We talked with a few salon owners there, who say Sharpe just shows up, unannounced, to sharpen shears for them. They never know if or when he’s coming. They’re not sure if they’ve seen him for the last time or not. They have no business card for him. They have no phone number. Sharpe just shows up to start sharpening.

Odd way of doing business.

But our admonishment to be wary around Sharpe stems from the constant string of threats he makes against a shears provider and his demonstrated obsession with that, coupled with the amount of references he’s made about guns. Multiple, numerous references. As well as his numerous references to having been a “50-cal gunner” while in the military. He just seems a little unhinged to us – our opinion. So, a word to the wise. Couple that with his arrest for public masturbation, and you can see why we’d recommend being cautious around this guy (see our write up here: Public Masturbation).

The Sharpe Family in North Carolina – How Far has Avery E. Sharpe Fallen?

The Sharpe family has deep roots in North Carolina. My, how far the proverbial apple has fallen from the tree.

Now, we’re not actually sure of the lineage of one Avery E. Sharpe, but we noted a couple things during our visit to the purported business home of “Mr. Sharpe Shears” in Statesville, North Carolina. Out for a walk to sort of assess the area, we came across this street sign (see above) at an intersection – W. Sharpe St. & S. Center St.

That intrigued us. Apparently, Sharpe is a big name in these parts.

A Captain John Sharpe was born in 1744 in Cecil County, Maryland. He moved to North Carolina to what is now Iredell County before the Revolutionary War. Statesville, North Carolina is pretty much at the heart of that county. Sharpe died in 1812 at age 67 in Iredell County, North Carolina, United States. He was the son of Thomas Sharpe Jr. and Elizabeth (Gillespie) Sharpe. (Take a look at some of the Sharpe family lineage here: Sharpe.)

There is a Sharpe Street in Statesville, as noted above, as well as a Sharpe’s Café a little north and east of Statesville. It has lots of sandwiches – including a fried bologna sandwich – which is near and dear to our heart.

There are a couple histories of Sharpes that have been published:

  • A history of Major Amos Sharpe, Iredell County, North Carolina, by Mildred J. Miller, published 1975
  • The family of John Sharpe, Revolutionary soldier, by by Mildred J. Miller, published 1976

Neither of those would include Avery E. Sharpe, as they were published before he was born.

There also is a place called “The Historic Sharpe House” in Statesville.

The Sharpe family has quite a distinguished history in the Statesville area of Iredell County, North Carolina. Lots of patriots, statesmen, advocates for good.

We haven’t been able to find Avery E. Sharpe’s name among them. In fact, Avery E. Sharpe leaves a wake of quite the opposite kinds of references in his name, which include lots of criminal records. Not the most upstanding Sharpe in the county of Iredell or the state of North Carolina in our opinion.

Statesville, NC, Avery Sharpe’s Business Address

Avery Sharpe, Statesville, NC, “where it all comes together”?

Avery Sharpe lists his business location as Statesville, North Carolina. No street address, though. Odd for a business to have a physical location listed as Statesville, NC, but no actual place of business. Several salon owners confirmed he shows up from time to time to work on sharpening their shears, but they say they have no way to contact him — he just sort of “ghosts” in and out of their businesses, with no schedule, no appointments, no method of contact. Odd fellow, odd way of doing business in our opinion.

Where in the world is Avery Sharpe Scissorhands? Statesville, NC?

Avery Sharpe, Statesville, North Carolina?

Avery Sharpe lists his business address simply as Statesville, NC. That’s it. No address.

We spoke with several Statesville salon owners who said Sharpe just shows up to work on sharpening their shears. They don’t know how to get in contact with him, he just shows up to work on sharpening their shears. And they don’t know when. He just appears. Seems consistent with his persona; seems to like to live in the dark and the shadows, doing … well, you know.

Avery Sharpe’s Hidden Layer — North Carolina’s Scissors Sharpener/Masturbator

Avery Sharpe’s house, Union Grove, NC

Avery Sharpe’s car parked at a house in Union Grove, North Carolina,.

Deep in the hills of North Carolina, outside of Charlotte, along a curvy road near Union Grove, lie the hidden layers of Avery Sharpe, shear sharpener and convicted public masturbator.

 

This is a guy who appears to look like he likes to hide. Our observation. He lives on a country road, his lawn is overgrown, his “Silver Scion Scissorhands” car is parked under a carport, mostly hidden by an overgrowth of brush. Again, all our observation

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Avery E. Sharpe Convicted: Indecent Exposure

The disposition in the courts of Avery E. Sharpe’s conviction for indecent exposure after, according to the police report, he “exposed his penis and started masturbating himself in plain view of [redacted] from inside his vehicle, while parked in front of CVS Pharmacy.” (Our boldface & italics; and we redacted portions of the court’s finding for privacy purposes.)

Avery, Avery, Avery … what the heck were you thinking, dude??!!!!??

Or were you thinking at all? Who does that? How do you get to a point in your life as a human being where you think doing something like that is acceptable? Or at least OK? In public? Huh? In addition to witnesses, you know there are surveillance cameras all over the place. Especially at the pharmacy window of a CVS!

Time for some serious help, Sharpe Scissors Man.