Spooky Places

Brenda mentioned Carmichael Inn and it got me to thinking of the spooky places around town. Besides, Halloween is just around the corner.

I guess Carmichael Inn tops the list. The Best family lived there for years, and before that were the Lantern family who were friends of my brother. There were times thought that it stood empty. We used to dare one another to walk the bridge and go over there. It was definitely a spooky place, and if the light was just right or the wind made just the right noise, the hair on the back of your neck stood up.

On the Friendsville side of the dam was another old house. I don't remember exactly where it sat, but it seems to me it was just down a dirt road on the right side of the highway not too far from the bridge. It was two stories and inside some of the plaster and boards had been ripped off the walls. It was another place that made you uncomfortable when it was getting dark outside.

Almost across the highway from that old house, and along the bluffs north of the bridge was (is?) an old cave. I don't recall it being very deep, but it could get spooky too. There was another cave northwest of Lenoir City. I can remember turning left off 11 onto Old Sugar Limb Road, not far from where the Justice Center is now. But I can't remember exactly where the cave was, but it was much larger than the other one. A mobile home would fit in it's opening and there were several spots inside it where you had to crawl on your belly to get through it, and it went back a long way... or seemed to when I was a boy.

On Main Street just above Greer's old warehouse, along the railroad spur, was an old wooden water tower platform. The reservoir that held the water had been gone a long time and all that was left was the platform it sat on. Someone had climbed up there and suspended a noose from the platform, so there were stories of the ghost of whoever used the noose to hang themselves.

Out beyond the Junior High school was a spot called Lover's Leap. It's where someone built the A frame house. (Is it still there?) Anyway, there used to be a path off River Road that led down to a bluff that overlooked the river and it was pretty much a sheer drop of about 75 feet or so down to the water, and of course there were stories of those lovers who "jumped".

The woods along the bluff from Robinson's Mill on old 72 to Poplar Springs were said to be haunted. I don't know if they were or not, but they sure as heck got dark in a hurry.

There were also haunted woods west of Steekee School and there was an old house between Steekee School and old 72 that was said to be haunted.

I guess if I thought longer I could come up with a few other places. Do you know of any?