The Truth About the Parrotsville Plane Crash

According to legend, the Cocke County Memorial Building in Newport is haunted the ghosts of passengers killed in a plane crash that occurred in nearby Parrotsville years ago. Rich, a reader of this site, was kind enough to do some research on the plane crash:

After reading the account of the bodies stored in Newport after a plane crash in Parrotsville I did further research that reveals the crash occurred on July 9, 1964, @ aprox 6:15 PM.

United Airlines flight # 823 (reg # N7405) was a Vickers Viscount 745D on route from Philly PA to Huntsville AL. with 35 passengers and 4 crew. All were killed.

The plane crashed 2 miles northeast of Parrottsville after experiencing an uncontrollable fire of unknown origin which started below the passenger floor and eventually involved the passenger cabin. One passenger died after free-falling out of the No. 4 emergency escape window of the plane in an attempt to escape the onboard fire. The ignition source was never determined, but it is thought the plane's battery or something in a passenger's luggage caused the fire. Testing revealed lethal amounts of CO2 could be discharged into the cockpit instead of the lower baggage compartment. The plane was seen flying erratically and the fire eventually burned through the controls. It is likely the crew was unconscious by then.

I just thought you would want the correct info for this occurrence.

I am going to try to inspect the crash site and get some info from the natives. I live about 20 miles from there.

Thank you very much, Rich. We're always interested in learning more about legends, and myself and many readers would be intrigued to learn anything else you may uncover.

Gallatin's Fairvue Mansion

Gallatin's most well known story of the supernatural may be the unusual disappearance of David Lang, but that is not the city's only mystery. A reader, who wishes to be identified only as "Tennessee Tuxedo," shares the following:

Fairvue Mansion, the antebellum mansion at the "The Last Plantation," outside of Gallatin, is one of the most haunted homes in all of Tennessee. Fairvue Mansion was built by Isaac Franklin on a large plantation in 1832. The New Orleans-style home sits on a picturesque bluff on Old Hickory Lake. The mansion served as a Union Army hospital during the Civil War. Three families have lived in the mansion during its existence and was vacant for several years in the early 1900s.

The last owner of Fairvue was Mrs. Ellen Weymss, a grand lady who lived to be 104 years old before passing on a few years ago. "Ms. Ellen", as she like to be called, entertained her church congregation once a year and would allow them to wander the halls and floors of Fairvue. She said that there were always a lot of strange happenings and noises occurring in her home. Guests have claimed to have seen Civil War era soldiers walking up and down the stairs. There is blood stains covering the stairs and between the 2nd and 3rd floors, there is a blood stain that has reappeared out of nowhere after being cleaned off of the stair landing.

One guest told of how he had finished playing poker and enjoying drinks, when he encountered a ghost in the help quarters on the back stairwell. He said he had a conversation with the ghost until dawn. Of course the drink might have affected that conversation. Many other guests have reported to have seen many other ghosts around the Fairvue property. That is no surprise, as Fairvue was the largest slave labor plantation in the United States in the early and mid 1800s. Slave quarters align the road into the "Last Plantation" that leads to the Fairvue Mansion.

"Ms. Ellen" told people that there was only one ghost that bothered her over the 60 years or so she made Fairvue Mansion her home. It was the ghost of a young girl who rode her tricycle up and down the halls of Fairvue every night. Ms. Ellen said it bothered her because it was a shame for anyone to have died so young. What bothered her the most was that in her research of the Mansion and the of the previous owners, there was no mention of a young girl living there or dying there. She nor anyone else with knowledge of Fairvue Mansion can explain the ghost of the young girl riding her tricycle up and down the halls of Fairvue Mansion.

Very strange, indeed.

Haunted Hendersonville

A source who wishes to remain annonymous shares the following story:

Having always held a keen interest in ghosts and the supernatural, I found your blog very interesting.

I just wanted to let you know that there is an entire neighborhood in Hendersonville, TN that has been haunted since homes were first built there about 6 years ago. My brother and his family live there and they have told me about their personal experiences and what the neighbors have told them about their experiences in the [exact location withheld by request of the source]. People familiar with the area, say that there was an ancient Indian civilization and burial ground where the neighborhood currently stands.

My brothers experiences began about a year after they built and moved into their brand new home about 4 years ago. My 10 year old nephew kept telling me about his toilet would flush all by itself. He said that the toilet flush handle would push down by itself as if an invisible hand was pushing it down. This went on sporadically over an entire summer. Then my nephew said that his closet doors would open by themselves. He would turn around and hear a noise and look around only to see that the doors were closed. My nephew thought it was funny and was not scared by what he had seen.

A few months later, my youngest nephew, about 2 at the time, would wake up crying in his crib every night. My brother and sister-in-law would bring him into bed with them. He told them he was scared. This went on for a couple of months every night. My sister-in-law decided to buy a visual monitor to place in his room to see just what if anything was disturbing my nephew. The nightly crying episodes of my nephew continued. One night she looked into the monitor and saw her son, but there was something strange showing up on the monitor screen. She saw a close-up image of what looked like the hairline of a person. She ran into her son's bedroom down the hall to see what was going on. All she saw was her son crying in his crib. My sister-in-law picked her son up and took him with her into their bedroom. She looked back at the monitor and saw something in her son's crib. Looking closely she saw the image of a little boy laying in her son's crib. In fact it looked like a young Indian boy.

My sister-in-law has not seen the Indian boy since, but their home has continued to have strange things happen in it. Closet doors continue to open and close. The gas fireplace has turned on overnight all by itself on a couple of occasions. My brother has told me that his son still wakes up crying and wanting to come into he and his wife's bed. One night upon his son after falling asleep in their bed, woke my brother and his wife and asked them, who is that man standing in the doorway of their bedroom. My brother got out of bed to show him that nobody was there. My nephew said that he saw a man with red eyes in the bedroom with them and he stayed there for sometime before my nephew said that he had left.

What is strange about that last part is that my brother told a close neighbor friend about their episodes. The neighbor then told him that he and his son had been approached in recent times by a large entity with red glowing eyes. The entity came to the foot of his bed, where he laid with his young son. He told my brother that the entity was a very large dark figure and as it approached the bed, the neighbor said he became paralyzed and felt a weird force being applied to his body. He begged the entity to leave he and his son alone and sure enough the entity left as fast as it arrived. That neighbor said that he had heard of other nearby neighbors that reported seeing a dark figure with red glowing eyes looking into their bedroom windows. One house in this neighborhood has been sold several times in the 4 years since it was built. One owner and his wife left the home in the middle of the night, never to return to the home. They hired a moving company to pack up their belongings, move them, and sold their home.

This information came from my brother, his wife, and both of their sons. They are honest God-fearing people.

Old Union Meeting House

Old Union Meeting House is an abandoned, boarded up church located in the country just outside of Livingston. A reader, who prefers to remain anonymous, writes:

OK, well for about 4 1/2 yrs. me and my best friend have always went down to Old Union. And we always WANTED to believe it was haunted, just to get a little spooked. Well then, now that we are all older (teenagers) we just keep on hearing stories that it is. Like here's a story: there was a bride supposed to get married (1800s, guessing) her wedding day her husband went missing and they found him at Old Union. And supposedly, she went looking for him with a police person and they were killed. So now, the i heard that the bride lurks the area of the grave yard looking 4 her husband and the cop too. But the cop is there to; just his hand and a lantern floating around the grave yard. And sorry - missed one part - the husband was found dead. And I am just wondering if this is true because i have also heard about the lights through the cracks in the windows but I haven't heard about the organ music. My other friend's mom saw that lantern flatten around and so... could this be true? Because I'm a bit spooked because I don't EVEN live far from there... maybe a couple of miles... but when I hear these stories my parents and family just say its just made up there cant be ghosts. I'm sorry, I do think there is... and I have been down there in the daytime - those buildings (they are little ones) behind the meeting house - are those haunted too? What are they? Well, just wondering and please write back or post your answer on your site.

Thank you,
anonymous person

Very interesting... I don't know if it's true or not, but Old Union Meeting House is very creepy during the day - I can only imagine what it is like at night. Anyone out there ever been, or know more about the legend?