Читать книгу Nashville Haunted Handbook - Jeff Morris - Страница 17

directions

Exit downtown by taking TN 6 South/US 31 South/8th Avenue South/US 70 Scenic East, and continue to follow this road for the next 18 miles. When you reach the traffic circle, continue straight onto Main Street and then turn left onto 5th Avenue South. Follow 5th Avenue slightly to the right as it becomes Lewisburg Avenue. A little more than half a mile down the road, turn right onto Carnton Lane. The cemetery is across the parking lot from the mansion and gardens.

history

After the brutal night of the Battle of Franklin in November 1864, dead and wounded Confederate soldiers littered the entire city of Franklin. The larger houses in the area were used as hospitals, and Carnton Plantation was no exception (see Carnton Plantation chapter). When the house filled up with the wounded, the dying were laid upon the mansion’s grounds. Hundreds died in and around the house.

John and Carrie McGavock, the owners of the plantation, donated the two acres abutting their family cemetery to bury the Confederate dead. Due to the large number of dead that had to be buried there, the Confederate Cemetery at Carnton (also called the McGavock Confederate Cemetery) is the largest privately owned military cemetery in the country.

ghost story

Both the McGavock Family Cemetery and the Confederate Cemetery here at Carnton are reputed to be haunted. Most of the time, the ghosts are described simply as strange sounds which rise from within the gates of the cemetery. Moans and sighs will often be heard. It will sound as if someone is writhing in pain here in the cemetery, even when it is empty.

There are three other ghosts that haunt this particular cemetery. If you were to enter the Confederate Cemetery from the family cemetery side, in one of the rows on the right twin brothers are buried directly beside one another. Many times when people are walking past the graves of these twins, they will feel something rub against their ankle. Occasionally they will actually feel a hand grab their ankle.

The other ghost here is perhaps the most famous one. A ghost of a little girl walks both the Confederate Cemetery and the family cemetery immediately adjacent. The little girl will always be seen walking or running up and down the fence, pulling a stick across the metal bars. Sometimes the little girl isn’t seen at all but people will still hear the sounds of a stick hitting each bar of the fence.

visiting

Going into this cemetery after dark is illegal. The property is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day of the week except Sunday when it is open from 1 to 5 p.m. The cemetery is free to visit during these hours. Since the grounds are closed at all other times, the only time to explore the cemetery and look for these ghosts is during its open daytime hours. Luckily, this is when the reports of the ghosts commonly occur.