Mysterious Tennessee

Tennessee the "Volunteer State". The two things that come to mind about this state is that it is the home of Elvis Presley and the home of country music. The Carnton Mansion is considered the most haunted house in Tennessee. Now it is a museum located in the town of Franklin, TN. which is about 15 miles south of Nashville. The mansion sits on land that was once the site of a bloody Civil War battle, where many soldiers were killed in a shower of bullets.

The Carnton Mansion has two stories with 22 rooms. It is an early 1800s brick structure with 7 beautiful white columns and a front porch both upstairs and downstairs. A verandah and closed porch are found along the backside of the mansion. The color scheme used in decorating was to use the colors which were popular during the discovery of Pompeii popular in American decorum at this time. The colors are mustard yellow, dark blue and Pompeii red.

Located close to Carnton Mansion is a graveyard where 1700 Confederate soldiers were hastily buried after the bloody conflict in the fields close by. At that time the mansion became a hospital where 4 generals died of their wounds and their bodies lay in state so that men who survived could show their respect.

A young house servant girl was murdered in the kitchen by a jealous field hand in the 1840s, because she rejected him as a suitor and of their five offspring only two Carter children made it to adulthood.

There are two spirits that haunt the kitchen and at times move to other parts of the house. Hearing noises in the small, enclosed porch off the back of the house, the curator went to investigate. She found that two panes of glass had been taken from a box of panes located on a shelf and had been put on either side of the back door. It is thought that this was the work of the murdered servant girl. The head of a cook who was working for the family during the Civil War was seen floating in the hallway, near the kitchen. The cook is often heard bustling about the kitchen doing her duties. In the second floor hallway a beautiful young girl with long brown hair appeared to a workman making him retreat quickly. One of the bedrooms has been occupied by a soldier’s spirit. In this bedroom a picture of the mansion strangely crashed to the floor and was found on top of the floor heater. The back porch is haunted by a lady dressed in white who sometimes floats into the backyard.

Spirits of fallen soldiers appear to be the most active in the autumn at dusk. The spirit of General Pat Cleburne a man with a mustache, a short beard and piercing eyes paces the back porch, walks around the outside parameter of the mansion and occasionally speaks to the living. A man called Mr. P whose ancestor fought in the Franklin Battle came after 5 PM to see the Carnton Mansion but found that it was closed. He walked about the place along a path which led to the back of the mansion. Near the porch Mr. P saw the silhouette of a man about to get on a horse but then the horse vanished. He then saw another man on the porch and asked him what had happened to the horse. The man explained that the horse had been shot from under the soldier. This mysterious man standing on the porch was dressed like a Confederate Officer and he went on to explain that whether on horse or not they would be at the mercy of the enemy tonight. The Civil War officer then suggested that Mr. P had better have a pistol with him if he was going to join in battle further predicting in an angry voice that not many men were going to survive the night and it was the fault of that fool, Hood, who had ordered his men into this soon to be slaughter. Then he began humming a rallying song. All this time Mr. P figured that this was part of a Civil War enactment and that the officer must assume that Mr. P is also part of it. So then Mr. P asked this officer what kind of carbine he was carrying and he replied, "It’s an Enfield 577. What do you have?" At this point Mr. P confessed that he had nothing and didn’t know how to use a weapon. Hearing this, the officer became alarmed and told him to quickly leave or to go to the Carter house, which is also located on the plantation or town. The officer then started speaking to another spirit at his side. "Well, Govan, if we are to die, let us die like men." He then threw his hat up in the air, in an angry way and vanished. Now Mr. P began hearing the sounds of battle. The officer’s voice, yelling "Charge men! Charge." The air was filled with sounds of shots, shells, muskets and cannons. A regiment band was playing "Annie Laurie". There came a whole army of rebel yells, which were fierce and jolting cries. Mr. P tried to run to his car as he was surrounded by the unearthly din of battle. He felt the cold, creepy feeling of death around him and then found himself stumbling around in the graveyard near the mansion. The next day when Mr. P returned to Carnton Mansion he found out that the officer he had spoken to was the much loved Irishman, General Pat Cleburne.

The Hermitage which is just 20 min. northeast of Nashville is the home of the 7th President of the U.S. Andrew Jackson. It sits on an estate of 1,120 acres, which includes the entire 1,050 acre tract that Andrew Jackson owned when he died in 1845. The mansion has been completely restored to the way it was from 1837 – 1845. The Ladies Hermitage Association also bought from the family most of the original furnishings. Tours are given of the site and house.

The Hermitage Plantation was a gentleman’s farm, run by slave labor and providing a home for two generations of the Jackson family. Andrew Jackson enjoyed country living and making a comfortable home for his wife Rachel. He was often taken away from home because of politics, business and military careers. Because Andrew and Rachel were unable to have children they adopted an orphaned nephew of Rachel’s and called him Andrew Jackson, Jr. He became heir to the property. Throughout the years many children lived with the Jacksons for a period of time including an orphaned Indian boy, the victim of war.

In 1825 Rachel began to suffer from medical problems, which became worse in 1828 when Jackson ran for President again. She died on December 22, 1828 on the eve before they were to leave for the White House. Andrew Jackson died in 1845 and was buried beside his wife in the family cemetery in the Hermitage Mansion garden. Andrew Jackson, Jr. inherited the Hermitage Plantation and Mansion and his wife Sarah and two sons and a daughter took official ownership of the mansion.

Not being much of a farmer Andrew Jackson, Jr. put his money in an ironworks operation and a lead mine, which turned out to be bad investments. He began selling outlying parcels of Hermitage land. In 1856 he sold off a 500-acre section of the farm, including the mansion and outbuildings for $48,000 to the State of Tennessee. The Jackson family was allowed to stay in the mansion as tenants. In 1858 Andrew Jackson, Jr. sold what was left of the acreage to private owners and moved his family to Mississippi. When the cotton plantation failed in 1860 they moved back to the Hermitage. The Civil War came and both his sons went to war, serving as officers for the Confederacy. Only Andrew Jackson III came home alive. Andrew Jackson, Jr. died in 1865.

In 1883 the State of Tennessee repaired the Jacksons’ Tomb and Monument and put an iron fence around it. While the mansion was being restored some ladies from the Ladies Hermitage Association took turns staying in the mansion to guard it from intruders sleeping on mattresses in the living room. They were rudely awakened in the middle of the night by the entity of President Jackson making his presence and feeling known. They heard sounds as if someone were riding a horse up and down the main staircase and a message was clearly expressed, "Why are you sleeping? Get up! Fix my house!"

Loud, clanging sounds of chains have been heard being dragged across the front porch and sounds of havoc reigning in the kitchen. However, the next day nothing is out of place and all the doors and windows still locked.

Andrew Jackson did meet the needs of his slaves but felt offenses were severe and did permit slaves to be whipped and posted runaway notices. Throughout the years and even today apparitions of slaves congregate on the balcony in front of the master bedroom and sounds of chains dragging across the front porch are still heard late at night.

The Orpheum Theater in downtown Memphis, Tennessee is a remarkable success story it has survived bankruptcies, a devastating fire, the decay of downtown and the threat of demolition and is now the premier performing arts center for the Mid-South.

This 1928 brick 5 storey theater complete with a balcony and a 5th floor gallery seats 2000 people who enjoy concerts and touring Broadway plays. The inside has a very large, high ceiling, with 2000 lb. chandeliers and gold leafing everywhere. At least 7 spirits have made their home here one of them being Mary.

On the spot where there is now the Orpheum Theater there was once another theater, The Grand Opera House in 1921. In front of this theater a 12 year old girl named Mary was tragically killed in an accident. So it is thought that her spirit decided to stay on this spot and has moved into the Orpheum Theater.

During a run of the musical "The King and I" a quite psychic Yule Brenner saw Mary sitting quietly in the balcony in her favorite seat, CF, dressed in a 20s style white dress. Several cast members of "Fiddler on the Roof" have also seen Mary sitting there and she was enjoying the show. A woman patron and a group of friends saw a 12 year old girl dancing in the lobby. Suddenly she vanished before their eyes. Mary had made her presence known to staff. A theater workman felt her presence constantly around him. He described it as "A cold eerie feeling, like getting into a bathtub of cold liver." Mary has played childish pranks on the housekeeper, by taking the housekeeper’s tools and putting them into the toilet.

Workmen have seen a theater door fly open in an outwardly direction and then shut by itself. There was no wind nor any living person nearby. Trying to repair the theaters organ late one night the repairman became frustrated and decided to take a break. He locked up and went for some coffee. He returned to continue doing battle with the organ and was surprised to find that someone unseen had already repaired it.

A homeless vagrant was mistakenly locked in on the 5th floor gallery by the night watchman. The watchman was surprised by a terrifying scream and the sound of feet flying down the five flights of stairs which were in total darkness. The entrance doors to the gallery crashed open and the terrified person never stopped running. The doors were knocked off their hinges. One wonders what he saw. No joking matter now, for I truly believe but my thoughts turn to the Phantom of the Opera. Remember what was on this site before….

The police with canine units came to investigate one night when the theater’s alarm system went off. The highly-trained dogs refused to enter the theater and lay down on the ground refusing to budge. They sensed what their human handlers didn’t see.

After the opening night of "Fiddler on the Roof" some of the cast held a séance in the balcony and made contact with Mary. Other psychic research groups, such as a Memphis State Parapsychology class, also examined the balcony and sensed Mary’s presence. Other ghosts were sensed throughout the theater.

Have you already purchased your tickets for the next show? By Rasma Raisters