Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 15, 2010
River City Roundabout
Creepy little town
Erica Tuggle
With Halloween right around the corner, folks are looking for a few good chills. Chattanooga is brimming with
opportunities for fright like the
Ruby Falls Haunted Cavern and the Aquarium’s Thrills and
Gills, all a part of the Chatta-BOOga celebration this month. Yet, there’s also an opportunity out there for those who aren’t keen on the heavy scares but enjoy a good ghost story.
For the Chattanooga Ghost tours, every Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 p.m., a tour guide will meet you at the South end of the Walnut Street Bridge, and for the next two hours, they will take you across downtown Chattanooga with chilling stories and historical hauntings. What is nice about this tour is that, more than likely, there will be no screams or danger. No one is popping out to grab you as your tour guide tells you about the spirits residing in well known locations, but at the same time, if you see something you can’t explain, you are on the right track.
With camera in tow, you begin your tour by following your guide to the Hunter Art Museum mansion where no less than five ghosts have been reported to be haunting. Our tour guide, Holly, dressed in a pair of sparkly black fairy wings, gave us a brief history of the Hunter as well as a history of who the ghosts are thought to be. A maid ghost, a lady with her head bashed in and the previous owner of the Hunter Museum are just a few said to be lurking in various spots in the mansion, and all of these have been confirmed by a local psychic, Mark Fults, in his book “Chattanooga Chills.”
After that stop, the tour loops back around to the bridge, where the guide will tell the tragic history of the lynching of Ed Johnson from the second span of the bridge. A little further along the bridge is where the guide stops to point out the Delta Queen floating hotel on Chattanooga’s North Shore. Here, Capt. Mary Greene’s ghost is said to reside. Saving the ship from burning in one instance and leading the current captain to a happy marriage are a couple of her touted helpful works.
As the tour continues, the group passes the condominiums beside the Walnut Street Bridge, where years ago the first A-frame house stood. This house, taken over by General Grant during the Civil War, was said to be home to his ghost and the ghost of a soldier who had fallen asleep on guard duty and been killed for his transgression. Unfortunately, the house no longer stands and thus the whereabouts of these ghosts are unknown.
After a few more paces, the group heads to what Holly says is one of the most haunted places in Chattanooga, and one that a certain Chattanooga Ghost Tour guide will simply not go. Underneath a parking lot, Holly brings us to a sealed portion of what is known as underground Chattanooga. Before the building of the dam, the city used to flood, wiping out homes, businesses and all in the water’s path.
The city leaders at that time strategically took the entire city and moved it up above the water level. The tunnels of underground Chattanooga still remain, but only those with a special permit may enter since the area still floods during heavy rainfall and could present a danger.
At this opening on the tour, people have claimed to have seen the forms of men with beards and horses inside the wire gate and the pictures many groups have gotten from this area are said to be full of orbs. I also got a specter photo at this spot of a phantom limb hanging in place beside the cage. Unfortunately, I later found out this was just another member of the tour group who had gotten into my shot and quickly backed out. All the same, seeing the parallel of today’s city and thinking of the uncharted ruins beneath our feet is exciting, and very creepy.
The last stop on the tour was at the home of Chattanooga’s most famous ghost from room 311 in Read House Hotel. Many guesses on the identity of this ghost have been made, but in the end, we may never know what is in this room that is double the price for rental, has instituted an early check out fee, sends guests screaming from the hotel in the middle of the night and is denied of existing by hotel staff. I enjoyed seeing the room from the outside of the building just fine myself.
For $13 a person, this tour will provide a night of entertainment all around the town and leave the guest feeling smarter about the history of the city and its lesser-known inhabitants.
Reservations and more information can be found at www.chattanoogaghosttours.com.
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