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old farmhouse

Long ago, a doctor and his wife lived in the farmhouse. Tragically the wife fell ill and her husband vowed to take care of her. The woman died, however. Devastated, the doctor hanged himself. It is said that on some nights one may see a man in a white laboratory coat walking around the grounds of the farm.

Smyrna, Tennessee Ghost Tales

The old antebellum home on Roos Drive in Smyrna has had many sightings. A man in a military uniform has been seen. We live next door in a home built around 1970 and by younger brother saw a man in a military uniform and another relative saw possibly the same figure 20 years later. A newspaper story ran a few years ago about the old house in the Rutherford Courier, as for the opther sighting mentioned above I have been a resident of Smyrna all my life and nver once heard of those stories. The picture of the home is of Sam Davis home which copied the design of ther Batey Home on Roos Drive.

Smyrna, Tennessee seems equal to any other spot in this country, but there are phantoms in this settlement, and they come into view during the night. Night is living dead time around here. Disbelievers don't have faith in the local spirit testimonies, but bloodcurdling things sure occur here in Smyrna in the dark hours.

These are some of the spooky things that have happened here recently.

The ghost of a delivery man is often witnessed downing water from Gwyn Spring at night. If you listen to the locals, this ghost gets pleasure from scaring people who are courageous enough to interrupt the quiet in Smyrna.

A feminine shape can regularly be spotted munching on a cracker up on Blackman Hill. According to what the people who live here allege, this phantom could be
the spirit of a person who lived here who passed on here in Smyrna some decades ago.

The phantom of a lady with satanic symbols carved into her hand may be noticed very frequently performing a melody on a xylophone in a Smyrna house. In any event, it's a frightening ghost that any rational person would not want to come across.

A woman
with larvae crawling out of her nose has every so often been distinguished hiding a cadaver by a big boulder in East Fork Recreation Area at night.

The ghost of a shackled up lady is every so often witnessed marveling at Neil Bend at the stroke of midnight. People who have noticed this ghost say this ghost might be a distinguished old days inhabitant of Smyrna.

A lady with the head of a beast may every now and then be observed reading a newsletter by East Branch Hurricane Creek. A local man declares that this spirit is most likely the undead spirit of a local resident who used to live here in Smyrna.

The ghost of a gentleman having half his head not there was witnessed in a mirror in a Smyrna flat; the spirit was solely perceptible in the mirror. The watcher fled after she noticed the ghost. One of the folks who live here steadfastly asserts that this ghost is the undeparted soul of a long departed Smyrna local person.

The spirit of a young female having on a bloody wedding dress emerged in a flat next to Smyrna. The
ghost did not care that there was somebody other nearby.

The ghost of an 8 foot huge giant became visible looking for a bag by a parked Toyota in a Smyrna parking lot on a dark night. When the watcher became visible the spirit ran away. Several of the folks here allege this ghost is that of a local person who lived here in Smyrna a long time ago.

The ghost of a lady with half her head lost was observed struggling to snatch something outside the entrance to Bledsoe Creek State Park. The appearance of the viewer frightened the ghost who then disappeared.

A form with a skeleton face in murky robes was witnessed reasoning around midnight on a park bench in Smyrna. The ghost talked about avenging a slaying.

A female with a sword in her head has often been made out relaxing at a table in a Smyrna house redistributing orbs around.

A drifting ghost is repeatedly distinguished strolling through a building in Smyrna. Regardless of what, it is unquestionably a terrifying ghost that you shouldn't go looking for.

The ghost of an aircraft pilot can frequently be seen traveling on
a stallion next to a highway in the vicinity of Smyrna. If you listen to the people who live here, this ghost loves terrifying foolish folks who come trying to find ghosts in Smyrna. Regardless of what people say, this phantom indisputably is chilling; one that should be steered clear of.

The bloodcurdling ghost of a Barbarian can be made out
over and over again marching through a flat near Smyrna. Lots of locals say this phantom can be the spirit of a local resident who died here in Smyrna long ago. One thing's for guaranteed, it's a creepy ghost that you would not want to encounter in the early morning hours before sunrise.

The body farm

In the early 60's, the Corp of Engineers began acquiring land for Percy Priest Lake. Homes, farms, even one entire town were reclaimed to build the lake. This meant relocating families, including many family cemeteries. While most folks were eager to cooperate, one family was not particularly happy about the government taking their land... the Morelands.

Uriah Moreland's family had owned the modest, five-hundred acre farm since the late 1860's. With the help of his wife, Abby, their five children and a few farm hands, the farm was successful, producing corn, tobacco as well as cattle. Uriah's interests though... were not totally farm-related. A curious man, he had a passion for the darker side of life. His photography chronicled this passion.


Tales of Uriah's dabbling in the dark arts, combined with his fierce temper were chilling... torturing farm workers... mutilating them... some claim killing them... if his orders were not followed. The farm hands nicknamed the place "The Body Farm".

With Abby, he conducted crude seances, resulting in the awakening of all sorts of evil spirits. They would gather with their children by moonlight in the woods, chanting inexplainable incantations. Sometimes screams of terror were heard by the farm hands during some of those gatherings. The next day, the wooded area where they were seen would be bloody, and bits of what appeared to be flesh and hair could be found. This same blood would also be found marking the family graves with ritualistic symbols.


After more than one farm worker 'vanished', and countless others experienced the temper of Uriah, the farm help left...only the Morelands themselves remained. The farm deteriorated, and when time came for the Corp of Engineers to take the farm, they found Abby, and the children brutally slain in the old farmhouse. The former farm hands figured Uriah had gone mad with anger over his farm being taken and the evil within his soul took matters into its own hand, destroying not only his farm but his family as well.

As for Uriah... he was never found. The land was condemned, the family graves moved, and today most of the farm lies under the cold waters of Percy Priest Lake. What remains visible is the high ground where the Moreland house still stands, and the adjacent woods.

Many inexplainable stories of horror and sightings of apparations have been reported in those woods and near the house where the Morelands once lived-and died. Strangely, Uriah's horrific photos of what went on have been recently discovered at the Moreland House.




Uriah Moreland's farm.

A mysterious -- some would say possessed -- landowner ruled with an iron fist over this 500 acre family plot, where the spirits of the many farm workers, sharecroppers and complete strangers, tortured to death in the macabre chambers in his house, barns and nearby woods... refuse to rest.

In the 1960s, the Corp of Engineers tried to drown it out of existence.

Uriah wouldn't let them. Photopraphy oddly comes to life.

Today, while much of the land lies 12 feet under the choppy waters of Piercy Priest Lake, there still remains the home, the forgotten woods, the graves and the ghosts....

as for Uriah... no one knows.