Ghost Stories of Tennessee

by A.S. Mott

Book Overview

The Volunteer State is a rich source of supernatural lore. Inspired by true stories and folklore -- both new and old -- found in Tennessee, author A.S. Mott weaves a series of tales that will put a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1894877721
• ISBN13: 9781894877725
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Ghost House Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

"Thank You, Thank You Very Much"

The first settlers arrived in what is now Tennessee long before the Revolution and President George Washington signed the bill that made Tennessee the sixteenth state in 1796. For a while Tennessee was known as the Hogs and Hominy State but thanks to the fact that the state always sent more than it's fair share of troops to fight in America's wars Tennessee soon became known as the Volunteer State. Then in 1861 Tennessee cast it's lot with the Confederacy and more battles were fought in Tennessee than in any other state except Virginia. With this long and sometimes violent history it is no wonder that Tennessee is just bursting at the seams with ghosts. A.S. Mott has gathered ghost stories from Mountain City in the very eastern tip of Tennessee to Memphis, which overlooks the mighty Mississippi. Oddly, the first story in the book doesn't even take place in Tennessee but I suppose that Chickamauga is close enough to the border to count and I never tire of reading new stories about Old Green Eyes. Depending on who one talks to Old Green Eyes is either a ghost, a demon, or a Bigfoot that roams the north Georgia battlefield. While Old Green Eyes always makes for an interesting story and has been seen so many times that there are enough different accounts to keep this story fresh this author has relied on many stories that are so well-worn that they have become stale. The story of the lover's trees at Tennessee Wesleyan and the story of the ghost in a pink dress for example appear in nearly every ghost book dealing with Tennessee and many books detailing Southern ghosts. It would have made this book far more interesting if some of these stories that have been in print so many times had been left out and some new ones put in their place. Another thing that always helps this kind of book is first person accounts of these ghostly encounters and there are hardly any of these to be found in this book. Many of these stories are in fact just old legends and with so many ghosts roaming Tennessee and so many eyewitnesses to be interviewed it is a shame that these old legends keep showing up in these books. On the other hand some of the stories in this book were quite fresh and well told. I found that the author did take some literary license with some of the stories, especially the story of the Headless Gownsman at the University of the South but while this license may not have helped the credibility of the book it sure made reading it more fun. One of the stories that appears in this book revolves around a dark specter that haunts an old bridge in Elizabethton, a bridge I have been to many times but I had never heard this story. I don't expect that I will be visiting this bridge again, at least not after dark. This is one of those books that are really hard to rate because each flaw seems to be set off by a virtue. The stories are for the most part undocumented but they are very well written and fun to read. Many of the stories are so tired and worn o