Nashville Haunted Handbook. Jeff Morris
both a section giving directions to each location and a section describing how to visit it if you were going there with the intention of looking for ghosts. Also, in lieu of a map in every section, I added the address, allowing readers to plug that information into a GPS unit before setting off on their adventures. All this helps make the book accessible to both those people who read ghost books only to get scared in the safety of their own home and those paranormal explorers who want to go out and find these ghosts for themselves.
As we move forward to the Nashville Haunted Handbook, the series has done nothing but progress. There are several appendixes that have been added to the Nashville guide that weren’t included in the Cincinnati book. We’ve invited new authors and experts to help create this book. Donna Marsh is an author from Nashville and the founder of the American Paranormal Society, which is based in middle Tennessee, and Garett Merk is an author and founder of Tri-State Paranormal and Oddities Observation Practitioners, which is based in southwestern Ohio.
This book was incredibly fun to help create, and I was glad to have been a part of it. I was amazed by how eclectic the ghost stories are in Nashville. I learned more than I ever thought possible about both the Civil War and country music. The locations that I had the most fun with, though, were the strange places unique to the area. There is a llama in White Bluff that roams the forests and eats children. There is an antiques store in Lebanon with an electric chair and a “genuine” bigfoot head. A grave in downtown Nashville is made from the actual cliffside where a woman leapt to her death. These stories make the mummy that comes to life and ravages a local museum every once in a while seem almost normal.
I hope that you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed writing it. Go ahead, go out and explore the strange paranormal side of Nashville, Tennessee.
Enjoy!
Jeff
INTRODUCTION
TALES OF GHOSTS AND HAUNTINGS have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. As a child I devoured every book I could find in the local library, staying up late in order to sneak in just one more thrill before bed. However, I craved more as an adult so I became a paranormal investigator. It was the perfect way to indulge my passion for the supernatural.
When I moved to Nashville in 1997, I wasn’t sure if I could continue to indulge my interest or not because there just didn’t seem to be many books or much information about the ghosts of Music City. I joined a local ghost-hunting group and hoped for the best. Nashville didn’t disappoint me.
Dreams produce passion, passion produces energy, and that energy imprints itself on the surrounding area. Nashville is a city of dreams and passions. It was occupied during the Civil War, is the site of the nation’s worst train accident, gave birth to more number-one records than I can count, and so much more. The first white settlers came here with dreams of a new life, and people still do that today—only today’s dreams are quite often of making it big in the music industry.
With such a history is it any wonder that Nashville is a city full of ghosts? From haunted battlefields to spooky honky-tonks to long-forgotten tunnels, Nashville has it all, and I’ve been lucky enough to visit and even investigate some of Music City’s most haunted spots. Now, with the publication of Nashville Haunted Handbook, you can visit some of these sites as well.
Nashville Haunted Handbook gives you not only the history and ghost story for each location but also directions to the site, as well as little hints and tidbits to make your visit a success. All that is asked is that you hunt both safely and respectfully. Remember, it’s not the dead you have to fear but the living, so always practice safe ghost hunting by letting someone know where you’re heading and when you can be expected to return.
Also, hunt respectfully. Your actions reflect on other ghost enthusiasts, so always leave a site better than you found it—clean up a bit, pick up garbage, and treat the site as if it were your very own. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want someone to do to your final resting spot.
But enough of Mom’s lecture. Enjoy this book, enjoy the sites, and please let us know if you find any evidence of ghostly activity. We’d love to hear about it. Contact us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nashville.haunted.handbook.
Happy Hunting!
Donna L. Marsh
SECTION I
cemeteries
Old City Cemetery: Boulder Tombstone
Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery
BLUE SPRING CEMETERY
1529 Middle Blue Springs Rd., Ashland City, TN 37015
directions
Stay on I-24 West from downtown Nashville for about 18 miles to exit 31, the New Hope Road exit. Turn left onto New Hope Road and follow the road for a little more than a mile and a half to Old Clarksville Pike. Turn right onto Old Clarksville Pike and follow that for a little less than a mile before turning left onto Bear Wallow Road. Follow Bear Wallow for almost a mile and a half, and then turn right onto Peter Pond Road. Follow Peter Pond Road for a half mile, and then turn right to stay on Peter Pond Road. Continue to follow Peter Pond for about 2 miles. You will then make a sharp left onto Carney Winters Road/Middle Blue Springs Road. The cemetery will be on the right just past the intersection. The cemetery is visible from the road.
history
This cemetery is located in a remote section of Ashland City and is rather far from any businesses or public places. The cemetery is surrounded by two houses that were eventually built around it. The property lines of these houses border the fence that surrounds the small cemetery.
The history of the cemetery itself is rather unremarkable. There are some children who were buried here, which is not unusual for a cemetery that has been around since the 1800s when children would die more frequently. There are many more adults than children buried in the cemetery, though. While each person buried here is likely to have his