Chattanooga and the surrounding towns are rooted in rich history, some of it good, some of it ugly and some of it quite scary.
We spoke with a few people who shared some of their spooky stories just in time for Halloween.
Business owner and author, Amy Petulla, shares some of the haunted locations and folklore in her book, “Haunted Chattanooga,” co-authored by Jessica Penot.
The owner of Chattanooga Ghost Tours, Petulla takes guests on walking tours which highlight many haunted locations in downtown Chattanooga. Her book mentions various other spooky spots within the city and surrounding communities.
During a recent interview she mentioned two locations that are reportedly haunted and hold a bloody past – The Hunter Museum of American Art and the Chickamauga Battlefield.
Hunter Museum of American Art
The Hunter Museum of American Art sits on top of Bluff View. This land provides a stunning view of the city and the river and was once native tribal land of the Cherokees. It also served as the site of a vast mansion once belonging to Benjamin Franklin Thomas who opened the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the city.
The mansion at 15 Bluff View was later the home of a wealthy socialite named Augusta Hoffman who met an untimely death at the hands of her own family members. This ghastly incident may have cursed the land where the museum now sits.
“She was a socialite,” Petulla said. “When she disappeared, it made national news.” Hoffman was a spinster, never married, but loved by the children of the community who called her Auntie Gus, Petulla said.
Hoffman invited her niece and nephew to live with her so she would have some company. However, they had a different reason for wanting to stay with Auntie Gus – her money.
“Suddenly people started to notice that she had not been seen in a while, Petulla said. “The niece and nephew said she had run off with a man, didn’t know his name or where he was from. After many years, the house was sold and while undergoing renovations her remains were discovered inside a crawlspace.” The niece and nephew were convicted but it was later overturned due to lack of evidence.
In 1970 Hoffman’s mansion was torn down to make room for the museum. People have reported paranormal activity there including the apparition of a woman, they say is Hoffman, who just vanishes into thin air. It seems that Auntie Gus remains trapped on the land where she felt betrayed and murdered.
Chickamauga Battlefield
Th battle at Chickamauga was the second deadliest battle in the Civil War, behind Gettysburg. There were 34,000 casualties to include killed, wounded and missing. Of those 18,000 were confederate soldiers and 16,000 were Union soldiers.
Petulla said there are many ghosts that still haunt the battlefield.
“There is whole regiment of soldiers,” she said. “Most of them didn’t die at the battle, most of them died of infection.”
Bodies reportedly laid on the ground for days and weeks. Death eventually came. It was reported that women came out to the battlefields carrying lanterns as they searched for their husbands and loved ones. Petulla said people have reported seeing the spirit of a woman thought to be a bride in search of her fiancé, likely killed in battle. Others have reported strange lights in the evening and apparitions of Union and Confederate soldiers still engaged in battle.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Interpretive Park Ranger Christopher Young said he has never experienced anything paranormal.
“I will tell you though, it is extremely eerie to be out here at night,” he said. “Not that I’ve seen anything or heard anything or whatever, just the stillness. It is such a contrast of what it would have been like.”
He said the soldiers who fought on the battlefield and survived are likely the ones who were left haunted by all the, “ghastly, grewsome, heart sickening and heart wrenching stories and sights,” Young said they experienced in battle.
The park closes at dusk, and Young said no one is allowed to roam the battlefield at night.
“But even driving the thoroughfare, which is open, it is dark and can be eerie,” he said. “But it’s the silence that makes my hair stand up. It’s not because I feel anything but because I know what happened here. The shrieks and groans of dying filled the air on those days and nights. Now it’s just eerie silence.”
According to Petulla the battlefield houses another mystifying spirit.
“Old Green Eyes,” Petulla said.
Petulla said Green Eyes has been described as a large wolf-like man creature.
“Others described it as some sort of cat,” she said adding the size differed between a typical house cat and a tiger.
Petulla said psychic Mark Elliott Fults, who wrote about Green Eyes and previously lived in Red Bank, once described Green Eyes as an elemental.
“Which is an old spirit that starts out neutral but could turn good or bad,” she said. Whoever or whatever Green Eyes is, it continues to terrorize people who are unfortunate enough to come face to face with it.
Petulla’s book is filled with many more stories about haunted locations across the city and neighboring towns. This book and two others written by Petulla can be purchased here: https://chattanoogaghosttours.com/shop/
The Shops of 1910
James Horn is the owner of the Shops of 1910 in historic downtown Chickamauga. The building was the site of the former bank of Chickamauga and has been there for more than 100 years. Inside his vintage antique and treasures store, you’ll find a steel door that weighs 6,500 pounds and is said to be from the 1870s.
“It’s the old bank vault,” Horn said. “It came from a bank in Texas after the bank was allegedly robbed and burned down. The vault door was the only thing left standing.”
Horn bought the building about five years ago and immediately noticed paranormal activity.
“We’ve had a couple of professional paranormal groups come through that have found children, Civil War soldiers, German soldiers, and event Indians.”
His first encounter was with a woman and a little girl.
“I was helping somebody take out a desk and I came back in…I heard voices talking, a woman and a child,” he said. “There was nobody there.”
Horn said, years ago, the town was called Crawfish Springs before it was renamed Chickamauga. He said the area has been through the Civil War, the Trail of Tears and has seen many people die from Tuberculosis, Malaria and various other illnesses.
He said his store is extremely active.
“There is a lot of creepy stuff that goes on around here at night,” he said. “We get orbs and stuff. We’ve had chairs moved.”
He said the upstairs area is especially active.
“You walk around a couple of those rooms and hallways, and you can just feel something,” he said adding it makes the hair in the back of his neck stand up.
Horn has his own ghost hunting equipment and opens the store to ghost hunters about twice a month.
For more information on The Shops of 1910 and their ghost hunts visit: https://www.facebook.com/theshopsof1910
Gunfight in South Pittsburg
Many people have heard about the Haunted Hospital in South Pittsburg, but there is another spot that recorded a bloody battle on Christmas night in 1927. People have since reported hearing the gun fire and seeing the ghosts of the officers that perished that evening. This location was featured in an episode of Most Terrifying Places in America.
On the corner of 3rd Street and Cedar Avenue a historical marker explains the carnage.
The marker states, “In January 1927, H. Wetter Manufacturing Company, South Pittsburg's largest employer, a unionized company, closed its stove factory. When Wetter tried to reopen with non-union labor, the unions established picket lines. The strike hurt the local economy. High tension between four local unions and Wetter not only drove a wedge between employer and employees, but divided residents, politicians, and law enforcement officials. Growing resentment, coupled with political rivalries from the last sheriff's race, soon led to officer battling officer. The gunfight on Christmas night of 1927 at Third Street and Cedar Avenue left six officers dead and several injured, bringing national attention to the city. Dead were Sheriff G. Washington Coppinger, Deputy Lorenza A. Hennessey, City Marshalls Benjamin Parker and Ewing Smith, and Wetter guard Oran H. LarRowe. Police Chief James Connor died the next day. Governor Henry H. Horton dispatched the National Guard to curtail additional violence.”
Do you know of any other haunted locations? Send me an email at: PattyL@brewermediagroup.com