Ghosts of Franklin

I diligently researched the stories you will read in the book, both the history behind the story as well as the events themselves. Many of the people who had these experiences and talked to me about them allowed their real names to be used while others did not. Nevertheless, I believe these stories to be true. I know for sure that the witnesses themselves believe their stories to be true.

Few of the witnesses were typical ghost hunters. The vast majority just stumbled upon "their" ghost and often didn't like it much. One man said, "I don't actually believe in ghosts...but I saw one. I hope never to see another one."

The book consists of ten chapters, as follows:

Chapter 1: The Original Steel Magnolia

She had it all, and lost most of it. In life she never lost her spirit...and her spirit lives on. Sallie Carter was one of a kind!

Chapter 2: A Great Place to Live

Ever get so attached to something that you think you'll just die if you can't have it? Max thought that, and in the end he actually had to die to keep it. And he's still there today, haunting his dream house.

Chapter 3: What’s With Third Avenue, Anyway?

Some streets are just a'crawlin' with ghosts and Franklin's Third Avenue is one of them. Both Park Marshall and Nelle Mosley loved Franklin so much they couldn't bear to leave.

Chapter 4: A Scandal Involving a Woman and a President

But not the one you think! Don't be surprised to learn that politics was just as dirty in the "good ole days" as it is today. Maybe even worse.

Chapter 5: It Was Not a Bed of Roses

Houses aren't all that can be haunted. A bed from an unhappy marriage carries with it the spirit of a deserted husband.

Chapter 6: A Spirited Main Street

These days Franklin's one hip and happenin' place. But the spirits aren't just in the bars and restaurants.

Chapter 7: No Place on Earth They’d Rather Be

When you love your work, you don't want to leave at the end of the day. Or at the end of your life. So you don't.

Chapter 8: Bloody Franklin

The Battle of Franklin, called the "Gettysburg of the West" back in the day, killed so fast and furiously that many of the dead never knew what hit them. They still don't.

Chapter 9: She Watches Still

Carnton is reputed to be the most haunted building in Tennessee. It's the longest chapter in this book, that's for sure. The spirit of Carrie McGavock keeps watch over her home and the cemetery, over 100 years after she died.

Chapter 10: The Final Resting Place

The end...or is it? The McGavock Confederate Cemetery was established by the McGavock family at Carnton to give the Confederate soldiers killed in the Battle of Franklin a proper resting place. Some of them seem somewhat restless.