Ghost Guides

06/28/2022

The Ring-of-Fire Ghost

Early Bristol had a pike leading to the Holston Valley. About a block beyond the old campus of King College (present site of King Pharmaceuticals) was the town's original exit from Fifth Street (then Bluff City's main street). It then crossed the railroad tracks and turned into what is now Pennsylvania Avenue, before heading south to the great valley beyond. James King III owned Linwood Plantation, which included the dense Fair­mount Forest.

A band of highwaymen attacked a peddler through the forest at twilight shortly before the Civil War. Even though he had weapons, he couldn't defend himself and was eventually overpowered and dragged off. Immediately after slitting his throat from ear to ear, the robbers grabbed his money and fled. He ran in a circle around his wagon while bleeding to death. Those who found him early the next morning described seeing a distinct circle of blood drawing in closer and closer to the wagon as the peddler made his last and desperate run.

Nobody knew who he was or where he came from. He was buried at the Whittaker Cemetery, which is near the current campus of King College. In the aftermath, his wagon and merchandise were turned over to G. H. Mattox, the local undertaker who paid for the funeral.

There was a terrifying ghost that appeared at the scene of the murder of the unknown peddler soon after. (The site is the current intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Spruce Street.) A horseback traveler was suddenly surrounded by a whirling band of fire as he rode along the pike. In the beginning, the circle was wide, but as time went on it began to close in on the terrorized traveler. Despite lunging forward and backward, left and right, the horse was unable to escape the circle of fire. The whirling band of fire closed in until it seemed that it would consume both horse and rider, then it suddenly vanished.

In the years that followed, many travelers found themselves suddenly surrounded by a mysterious band of fire. No one could escape it until it finally vanished, like the horse. As described by one old-timer, it was about a foot wide and knee-high above the ground. It was accompanied by a strange whirring sound, according to several witnesses. When it closed in, it touched the victim, then suddenly stopped. One can be sure that those in the area avoided that stretch of pike at night, and many were scared to travel through that area during the day; more than one traveler claims to have encountered the ring of fire in broad daylight.

The ghost never appeared more than once at a time. As a result, many fearful travelers took great measures to ensure someone accompanied them.

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06/27/2022

We invite you to join us at Ghost Guides for a real historical tour or ghost hunt at real haunted locations in Bristol. Come with us, be the investigator, and take your findings home with you.

We invite you to join us at Ghost Guides for a real historical tour or ghost hunt at real haunted locations in Bristol. Come with us, be the investigator, and take your findings home with you. The Ring-of-Fire Ghost Early Bristol had a pike leading to the Holston Valley. About a block beyond the old...

06/27/2022

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06/27/2022

There is an eerie light shining on General Shelby's grave

General Evan Shelby died in December 1794 at the fort he built near the current Weaver Funeral Home (located at Locust and Seventh streets). The knoll where he was buried is now the intersection of Fifth and Shelby streets, northeast of the fort. After the fort had sat in silence for some time, a ghostly light began to rise from the newly dug grave. Overlooking the small cemetery, the light would rise into the canopy of giant oak trees and float among them. The light would suddenly disappear as it approached the fort. Occasionally, the ghostly glow would change its routine.

Before reaching home, darkness enveloped a Hunter from the fort. A light rain began to fall. The general had recently been buried in a small graveyard, which he passed as he walked. A strange light appeared as he passed through the gate. The light followed the hunter through the giant oaks, but instead of slowly moving toward the fort, it was suddenly speeding toward the hunter. This was because it was speeding toward the fort, and the hunter did not find the gate to the fort. The ghostly light chased him as he ran around the stronghold. After exhausting himself to the point of fainting, he fell to the ground. When he woke up, the light had disappeared. After such a terrifying chase, he was determined to reach the fort before nightfall. Shelby's ghost continued to appear near her grave well beyond Bristol's founding.

A frightened slave rushed up from the spring at the beginning of 1817. This was shortly after James King moved into his new home on what is now Solar Hill overlooking Bristol. An old slave walked down to the spring early in the morning near where Robert Boswell Insurance Agency now stands. A horse splashed across nearby Beaver Creek as he dipped his wooden pail into the crystal-clear water. On a large white horse, General Shelby rode toward the slave. Having lived on the King plantation (Holly Bend), only four miles from Fort Shelby, he was well acquainted with General Shelby, who would often visit there. Having grown up under the Kings, he was just about to salute General Shelby and say, "Good morning, General Shelby" when suddenly the chilling realization struck him that the general had been dead for over twenty years. The sight of the horse and rider frightened slaves. As soon as he saw General Shelby, the old slave dropped his bucket and fled back up the hill to the King's house. A few members of the King family stepped out of the yard and gazed over the meadow surrounding the spring after he told them what he had witnessed. However, they were nowhere to be seen. Their disappearance seemed as sudden as their appearance. The dead general made his first appearance on the King plantation, but it would not be his last. Even so, some evidence suggests that the old general did not always manage to bring his horse from the other side.

He was seen strolling through King's big meadow (where today's Cumberland Square Park is located) during spring 1818. Not long after, he was spotted sitting under one of the enormous shade trees on Beaver Creek's side of the meadow. During the following year, several King slaves worked in the corn fields of Broad Bottom ( near the current courthouse in Bristol, Tennessee). They were startled to see General Shelby standing directly ahead. Among the crew was an elderly slave who knew him well. After yelling "It's General Shelby,'' the slaves dropped their hoes and fled in all directions. It was difficult for the overseer to gather them up and get them back to work. General Shelby's old home survived long after the walls of the fort were destroyed. Sometimes, a candle would be seen flickering in darkness in that rickety house on cold nights. Could it be that he was wandering through his old home again? There was no doubt in their minds.

General Shelby was last known to have occurred in 1839. Sapling Grove Post Office had opened a week or two earlier. At that time the old fort had been converted to a sheep pasture. A slave who happened to be with the slaves when they met the general unexpectedly was given the job of chief keeper and shearer of the sheep that day. During one of his shearing sessions, he sat in a small barn near the eastern end of the pasture. (During the 19th century, a road through this pasture was called Barn Street until it was renamed Locust Street.) The man slowly realized the sheep were becoming too easy to handle. As he looked around, he noticed General Shelby was helping with the shearing. The slave fled for home after seeing Shelby. He wondered later how he had left the barn so suddenly.

The apparition of General Shelby stood between him and the door, and he knew that Shelby would not have turned in that direction. A few days later, when he finally returned to the shearing barn, he found several shakes missing from the low roof. When he came to his senses, he realized he must have jumped through the roof in a hurry to escape. He was found dead in the same barn where Shelby's ghost had been seen a few days earlier. The man was said to have been scared to death when the ghost appeared again.