Published by Haunted America
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net
Copyright 2008 by Pete Dykes
All rights reserved
Illustrations were drawn by the author or reprinted from art previously used in his newspaper columns in the Daily News of Kingsport.
First published 2008
e-book edition 2013
Manufactured in the United States
ISBN 978.1.62584.367.8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dykes, Pete.
Haunted Kingsport : ghosts of Tri-City Tennessee / Pete Dykes.
p. cm.
print edition ISBN 978-1-59629-494-3
1. Ghosts--Tennessee--Kingsport. 2. Haunted places--Tennessee--Kingsport. I. Title.
BF1472.U6D95 2008 133.10976895--dc22
2008041952
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
CONTENTS
UNSEEN FORCE
You may have driven past the old house near Indian Springs many times without noticing anything odd, but people stopped living there decades ago because of the strange happenings inside.
Years ago, a man and his wife lived there. They had no children, and when the wifes younger brother and his bride fell on hard times because the young man lost his job, they let the younger couple move in with them.
The new couple was given an upstairs room, just at the head of the staircase, while the other tenants continued to sleep in their usual bedroom, on the ground floor of the building.
In a short while, the young couple in the upstairs bedroom began to hear strange noises in the night.
The door to the room seemed to have a habit of clicking loose and swinging open, making a creepy squeaking noise. This would occur several times during the night.
The young man tried to latch the door shut, but it would still open. He tried tying it, but the result was the same. Several times during the night, the squeaking noise would sound and the door would click open, sounding very much as if someone was opening the door and walking in.
The young couple sat up to watch, and the door would open, as if to admit somebody, then click closed again, all by itself.
They began to be concerned and fearful over this strange happening, although they continued to sleep in the room.
But times were hard, and the older man soon lost his job as well.
Unable to continue to pay the rent, he and his wife decided to move out.
The younger couple had no choice. They couldnt pay the rent either, so they decided to pack up and move out again, and go live with the young mans parents.
The young mans uncle came to help them move.
They had loaded up about everything but a final scrap loada few old things they didnt really need but hated to leave behind, and had carried that out to the wagon when they heard a loud noise that caused them to pause.
It sounded like someone had thrown down a load of boards on the upstairs floor.
What in the world was that? the uncle asked.
I dont know, was the reply.
They raced back upstairs to find out what had made the noise, but there was nothing to be seen. The bare room was vacant, no sign of anything that could have caused such a commotion.
Im glad to be leaving here, the young bride said.
Theres something wrong about this old house.
Later, another family moved in. But they didnt stay there long.
One night, the wife said, she heard the door open, and somebody walking across the floor and up the stairs. She jumped up to see who was there, but saw only the empty, dark hallway. She awakened her husband and he searched the house, but could find no trace of any intruder.
The next night, both husband and wife were startled out of their sleep by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. The door of the room suddenly opened, and the steps move across the floor.
The husband quickly struck a match and lit a lamp, but no one was there.
They moved out the next day, and the old house has remained vacant since.
HENLEYS HAUNTED HOUSE
The Henley farm consisted of more than a hundred acres of land, part of it covered with a thick woodland, choked and tangled with a heavy growth of underbrush.
In the midst of this thorny, tangled growth stood an old, dilapidated and decaying house. No one had lived there for many years. In fact, not even Grandma Simms, the oldest resident of the entire community, could recall anyone ever having been in residence there. The old house just stood there, rotting away, in the middle of the thick, tangled woods, occupied only by rats, mice and an opossum or two.
Tales had grown up about the old housescary, chilling, spooky tales of ghosts and terror, yarns and stories that would literally make your hair stand on end when you heard them.
But, so far as anyone knew for sure, they were just tales, figments of someones imagination, sparked by eerie sounds on a dank, dark night.
Among the older boys of the neighborhood, the rotting old structure became known as Henleys Haunted House, and the oft-repeated dare or challenge was to spend a night within its creaking walls.
One boyFred, his name wasdecided to take the dare and accept the challenge.
I am going to spend the night in Henleys Haunted House, he declared. Will any one of you fellows go with me?
Billy couldnt go; he had a cold.
Joe had too much homework to do.
Chads mother was going to change the bed sheets, and needed him to stay home and help her with the work.
Jackie had too much work to do, helping his father feed the farm stock and all.
There were other excuses, too, some of them more believable than others.
Fred, however, was determined to go through with his announced intentions. With a companion or alone, he would spend a night in Henleys Haunted House.
So, packing up the necessities and needs he felt he required, Fred set out for his declared destination.
He took along half a box of Twinkies, a couple of Moon Pies, two bologna and cheese sandwiches, a Snickers bar and a two-liter bottle of Gatorade, all packed up nicely in his old Boy Scout knapsack.
Fred also took along his flashlight, pocketknife and his BB pistol, just in case one of them might be needed.
The tangled trail through the woods was difficult to travel, and Freds progress was slow. In some places, he had to break down brush and brambles just to get through. The old pathway was so grown up with weeds, briars and brush that he found he could make better time by hacking his way through the woodland itself, avoiding the path and its barricade of thorns.
At last, after a good bit of trouble and a lot of work, Fred arrived at the old house. The sunset filtering through the shadows of the trees made a kind of pink glow around the dilapidated wreck, and heavy wisps of mist floated around the gloomy, slanting, shackled walls, giving the place an eerie, ghostly appearance that made Freds heart beat faster in spite of his brave resolve.
