Tennessee is famous for country music and BBQ, but it also holds some haunting history. From murderous witches to prisons full of screaming prisoners and ghostly footsteps – Tennessee offers plenty of paranormal tales to tell.
Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson’s personal home, is known to have unsettling associations with body snatching and slavery cruelty. Visitors have reported hearing slamming doors, cold spots and hearing footsteps coming through walls at Hermitage.
Greenwood Cemetery
Greenwood Cemetery was once an elegant, well-kept burial ground. But over time, descendants moved away and neglected their graves; consequently, as more vegetation invaded and covered over grave markers, many grave markers became obscured or lost altogether.
Greenwood Cemetery boasts numerous monuments and five public mausoleums for public viewing and serves as the final resting place of over 5,000 Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate alike. The Greenwood Cemetery Historic Fund has undertaken to identify them.
One of the cemetery’s most striking landmarks is Minerva’s statue – representing wisdom and strategic warfare goddess. Facing towards Liberty Statue she symbolizes American freedom and liberty.
Greenwood Cemetery is home to Fred Ebb, who wrote lyrics for many popular musicals with Kander and Ebb as part of their team. Furthermore, this cemetery marks the site of a major battle during the Revolutionary War and therefore holds special meaning for him.
Bethesda Church & Cemetery
Tiffany of New York originally designed the church’s stained glass windows, considered among the most beautiful in New Jersey. Unfortunately, their beauty has been somewhat diminished by surrounding buildings which block sunlight from reaching them. Bethesda Church also served as a hotel and provided Vaudeville shows. Furthermore, visitors have reported hearing voices, seeing apparitions, or experiencing other paranormal activity at Bethesda.
The Hermitage in Nashville is widely considered one of the city’s most haunted locations due to being President Andrew Jackson’s home and that many spirits have been seen throughout its grounds – including his own spirit himself.
Witnesses to Adams’ Bell Witch cave believe it to be haunted by an unknown woman, described by witnesses as having green skin tone. Others who visit have reported feeling disquieted when visiting this location – possibly related to its association with several deaths associated with its curse in Adams and surrounding communities.
Greenwood Plantation
Greenwood Plantation B&B Inn provides lodgings in an authentic Southern plantation home that has been featured in several movies and tv shows, making it the ideal setting for romantic getaways, picnics, candlelight dinners, weddings, family reunions or reunions with old friends. Plus there is also an incredible live oak park on site which makes quail hunting possible!
Harriett and Judge George Mathews employed slave labor on this and nearby plantations to cultivate indigo, cotton, sugarcane and corn crops to be shipped via Bayou Sara. As a result of their hard work they became one of Louisiana’s top 9 sugar planters during the 1850s.
Jones died in 1860, leaving the property to Lavinia Jones who sold off some acreage in 1889 to S. R. Van Duzer of New York as a winter estate and quail hunting preserve – now known as Greenwood as an historic district offering house tours as well as bed-and-breakfast accommodations.
Sensabaugh Tunnel
Tunnels have long been known for being creepy spaces, often serving as the site for ghostly encounters or legends about unexplained phenomena. What sets the Sensabaugh Tunnel apart, however, is its history: from its name alone comes some indication of fear-inducing paranormal encounters!
Sensabaugh Hollow Road tunnel in Hawkins County has long been shrouded with mysterious stories of ghostly activity, including reports that deceased women and babies can be heard crying out their names eerily inside it. Car engines also often stop running after driving through, and reports have surfaced of demonic presence within it.
Soon, stories began spreading about the tunnel as soon as teenagers used it as a location for necking or other inappropriate activities. Ed Sensabaugh became incensed at this behavior, so would hide in the tunnel and emit an audible high-pitched shriek which scared away any interested parties.
Edward was not an evil man and his family remains intact today, yet stories about him and the tunnel quickly spread, quickly becoming terrifying accounts that left many afraid to even enter it.
