Summon the necessary courage and dare to explore the haunted history of the "mountain empire." Tales of ghostly spirits envelop the northeast Tennessee landscape like a familiar mountain fog. Join Pete Dykes, editor of Kingsport's Daily News, as he offers up a collection of spooky local stories and legends from centuries past, including such spine-chilling accounts as the foreboding ghost of Netherland Inn Road, spectral disturbances at the Rotherwood Mansion, devilish felines, ruthless poltergeists in Caney Creek Falls, the tortured cries from fallen Rebel soldiers still heard today and--could bigfoot really be buried in the woods of Big Stone Gap? Pete Dykes is the publisher and editor of the Kingsport Daily News, which has been in operation for over 30 years. He has been in the newspaper business for 50 years. Pete is also an artist, and does many of the newspaper's illustrations and sketches. He created the "Haunted Appalachians" publication from a collection of articles he wrote for his paper. Haunted Kingsport Ghosts of Tri-City Tennessee By Pete Dykes The History Press Copyright © 2008 Pete Dykes All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-59629-494-3 Contents Unseen Force, Henley's Haunted House, Death Crowns on the Pillow, Amos's Hollow, Folks Feared Felines Could Cause "Go-Backs", Devil Cat, The Legend of Cracker's Neck, Bones in the Woods, Jade Whetzel's Wake, They Are Out There, It Waits for You, By Dawn's Gray Light, Bill Hankins's Hand, Ancestral Home, The Curse of Calvin Keen, The Man Who Hated Cats, Ephriam Dodd's Curse, The Gray Ghost of Netherland Inn Road, Caney Creek Falls: Haunting Spot in Hawkins County, The Ghost Who Was Lonely, Rebel's Ghost at Piney Flats, The Reverend's Ghost, The Ghost of Rotherwood, The Fury of the Flies, Holiday of Horror, CHAPTER 1 UNSEEN FORCE You may have driven past the old house near Indian Springs many times without noticing anything odd, but people stopped living there decades ago because of the strange happenings inside. Years ago, a man and his wife lived there. They had no children, and when the wife's younger brother and his bride fell on hard times because the young man lost his job, they let the younger couple move in with them. The new couple was given an upstairs room, just at the head of the staircase, while the other tenants continued to sleep in their usual bedroom, on the ground floor of the building. In a short while, the young couple in the upstairs bedroom began to hear strange noises in the night. The door to the room seemed to have a habit of clicking loose and swinging open, making a creepy squeaking noise. This would occur several times during the night. The young man tried to latch the door shut, but it would still open. He tried tying it, but the result was the same. Several times during the night, the squeaking noise would sound and the door would click open, sounding very much as if someone was opening the door and walking in. The young couple sat up to watch, and the door would open, as if to admit somebody, then click closed again, all by itself. They began to be concerned and fearful over this strange happening, although they continued to sleep in the room. But times were hard, and the older man soon lost his job as well. Unable to continue to pay the rent, he and his wife decided to move out. The younger couple had no choice. They couldn't pay the rent either, so they decided to pack up and move out again, and go live with the young man's parents. The young man's uncle came to help them move. They had loaded up about everything but a final "scrap load" — a few old things they didn't really need but hated to leave behind, and had carried that out to the wagon when they heard a loud noise that caused them to pause. It sounded like someone had thrown down a load of boards on the upstairs floor. "What in the world was that?" the uncle asked. "I don't know," was the reply. They raced back upstairs to find out what had made the noise, but there was nothing to be seen. The bare room was vacant, no sign of anything that could have caused such a commotion. "I'm glad to be leaving here," the young bride said. "There's something wrong about this old house." Later, another family moved in. But they didn't stay there long. One night, the wife said, she heard the door open, and somebody walking across the floor and up the stairs. She jumped up to see who was there, but saw only the empty, dark hallway. She awakened her husband and he searched the house, but could find no trace of any intruder. The next night, both husband and wife were startled out of their sleep by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. The door of the room suddenly opened, and the steps move across the floor. The husband quickly struck a match and lit a lamp, but no one was there. They moved out the next day, and the old house has remained vacant since. CHAPTER 2 HENLEY'S HAUNTED HOUSE The Henley farm consisted of more than a h