Donna Marsh - Nashville Haunted Handbook

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

W E WOULD LIKE TO START BY THANKING all of those nameless people out there who made this book possible. During our countless hours of research into this vast array of haunted locations, we were helped by so many people who either wished to remain anonymous or whose name we never knew. It almost seems unfair that many of the people who helped us the most may not be individually named in this section. For this reason, we feel that these people should be mentioned first. You have our most sincere apology for not including your name, and you have our most sincere thank-you.

Next, there are a handful of people who assisted with the daunting amount of research that was necessary for this book. Without these people, this book would not have been possible: Nicole Dunn, Chris Smith, Lawrence Michaels, Michele Carter, Johnny Cash, Jerry Zoeller, Matt Kroeger, Michael Lamping, Stephanie Ollech, James Nash, Alan Brown, Joanne Shelton, Richard Edgeworth, Dudley Pitts, Terry Mayo, and Brad Zeltmer.

Many individual stories throughout this book can be credited to individuals who helped us obtain the stories and history of the locations. Joe Peters, owner of the Walking Horse Hotel, thank you for telling us stories and allowing us to investigate your amazing hotel. Adam Russell, thank you for helping us track down the ghostly happenings at Hume-Fogg High School. Yvonne Clark, thank you for both your encouragement and the amazing research that you did to help us along the way.

Another person who made this book possible is Ryan Vehr. Ryan was indispensible during our many excursions into the city of Nashville. He helped to discover and photograph several of the locations that appear in the book. He did this selflessly, sacrificing his own time and money to help us. He deserves credit for some of the photographs in this book, and he deserves our gratitude for his contributions.

Next, we would like to thank our friends at the American Paranormal Society: Monica Leister, Fran Staley, Tanya Green, Wayne and Judy Meeker, Carol Humphrey, Scott and Neth Williams, Nikki Nelson-Hicks, Melanie Nelson, David and Nicholle Rockwell, Heather Beckwith, and Ron and Chris Noel. These people all deserve a very special mention because they are responsible for many of the locations that are featured in this book. They are true paranormal explorers and researchers who helped us discover many of the haunted sites described in the following pages.

Finally, we would all like to individually extend thanks to family and to people who have helped us along the way:

D ONNA: My sons, Jonathan Dyer and Jordan Marsh, deserve a tremendous thank-you for all of the hours they spent with me going through cemeteries, researching sites, and poring over evidence when Im sure they would rather have been hanging out with their friends. And my parents, Randall and Shirley McCormick, have my gratitude for encouraging me to go for it.

J EFF: My wife, Amy, my son, Koen, and my stepdaughter, Dakota, deserve my gratitude. Not only did they sacrifice their own time to pick up the slack at home while I worked on this book, but they also encouraged me and pushed me to be my best. My parents also deserve my thanks. Their encouragement helped to get me through all those long hours of writing and research. Finally, my brother, Mike, who helped me with the Cincinnati Haunted Handbook, deserves my thanks. He has been my partner throughout my career as a writer. Without him, I never would have made it to this point.

G ARETT: Id like to thank my parents and God for making me; without such I couldnt have helped write this book. Id like to thank my family for being supportive; ghosts for existing (without them this book would make no sense); Garfield for being awesome; my truck for getting us to and from Nashville; the Nashville Predators fans for making one of our trips more interesting; and Elvis Presley, because without him I would not now have an awesome picture of me and a statue of him.