CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLENOW) – With its rich history in farming, the river trade and the Civil War, Clarksville has its fair share of ghost stories and alleged hauntings.
Here are a few that have spooked people in our area for the last hundred years or so.
Woodward Library at Austin Peay
Several years ago, famed paranormal investigator the late Lorraine Warren visited Austin Peay State University to give a seminar, and she felt overwhelmed when visiting the bottom level of Woodward Library.
During the Civil War, the APSU campus was home to Stewart College, and where the Woodward Library sits now was a dormitory called Stewart Hall. Union troops used those dorms as field hospitals for soldiers, according to previous reports. Warren said she saw visions of injured soldiers.
She isn’t the only one who’s been spooked. Over the years, many people have reported strange things that go on in the basement, including voices coming from empty rooms.
The library is open to the public daily. For hours and more information, go to the Woodward Library website.
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The Bell Witch
Starting in 1817, the small town of Adams, just east of Clarksville, was the site of one of the most well-known hauntings in American history. At the time, it caught the attention – and then the involvement – of a future president of the United States, Andrew Jackson.
Known as the Bell Witch, the strange and often violent poltergeist provoked fear and curiosity.
Details vary from version to version. But the prevailing account is that it was the spirit of, or a spirit conjured by, Kate Batts, a neighbor of farmer John Bell. She believed she was cheated by him in a land purchase, and, on her deathbed, she swore she would haunt Bell and his descendants. The torment of the Bell house continued for years, culminating in the ghost’s ultimate act of vengeance: She took responsibility for John Bell’s death.
Today, the Bell Witch property, including the Bell Witch Cave, is open for tours. For details and reservations, go to the Bell Witch Cave website, call 615-696-3055 or email bellwitchcave@gmail.com.
Smith-Trahern Mansion
The Smith-Trahern Mansion was built in 1858 at Spring and McClure Streets by Christopher Smith for his bride Lucy. Christopher – no relation to the Clarksville Now editor – was a riverboat captain and had made his fortune raising tobacco.
The house includes a widow’s walk, a small balcony on the home’s top floor, and it has a view of the river.
In 1865, Christopher died from yellow fever while on a river trip to New Orleans. When the boat’s crew went to return his body to his family, their ship went down, killing about 1,200 people. Christopher’s body was lost at sea.
When news reached Lucy, she refused to accept his death, and it is said she spent the rest of her days, until her own death in 1905, walking alone through the mansion, waiting for her husband’s return. Some visitors have claimed they see a white, flowy figure, presumed to be Lucy’s spirit, staring out of the upper windows and walking the widow’s walk.
The mansion is at 101 McClure St. and is open Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. For more, call 931-648-9998.
Bellamy Cave murder and hanging
On June 20, 1885, William Morrow was hanged in Clarksville’s Public Square for the murder of Dick Overton. Overton’s body was found in Bellamy Cave, on Morrow’s property in Woodlawn. The body was in “Hell’s Hole,” a deep ditch inside the cave.
According to an archived article from the Memphis Daily Archive, Morrow was already facing a life sentence for the murder of another Black man, Jim Brown. Many people at the time believed Morrow was being used as a scapegoat by his father, Ransom Morrow, and brother-in-law, Dr. Bellamy, because of his lack of intelligence.
Bellamy Cave today is on private property north of Blooming Grove Road.