Ghostly fiddlers, mysterious fireballs, haunted houses and a few tales that might make you think twice about wandering around these mountains after dark!
There’s something about living in the mountains that lends itself to a good ghost story. Who doesn’t love sitting around an open fire, sipping on hot apple cider, bundled in your favorite old blanket, sharing tall tales?
Maybe it’s the fog that rolls into the valleys, the old houses tucked away along winding roads or those strange noises you hear in the woods after dark.
Or maybe it’s just that mountain folks have always known how to tell a good story!
Storytelling is part of our Appalachian heritage. My own ancestors passed down Jack Tales, along with spooky stories like “Who’s Got My Big Toe!” You know the kind … the stories that had you hanging on every word, even when you knew something was coming that would make you jump right out of your chair! I could never understand why you would tell me those stories right before bedtime but I can tell you that I never forgot them. And, I have passed them along to my children and grandchildren through the years.
And I imagine many of you grew up hearing stories like those, too.
With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it might be fun to dig into a few of the ghost stories and legends connected to Johnson County.
Now, before we get started, let me be clear. I’m not suggesting that ghosts are wandering around Mountain City or that you need to sleep with the lights on tonight. But some of these stories have been around for generations, while others have found their way onto websites devoted to haunted places.
Are they true? Who knows! But they’re fun to share.
So, here we go …
🎻 A Fiddler, Some Rattlesnakes and a Very Bad Ending
Let’s start on Stone Mountain, near Trade, where there’s a story about a place called Fiddler’s Rock.
According to a tale published by The Moonlit Road, a young man named Martin Stone loved to take his fiddle up the mountain and play.
Nothing unusual about that. After all, we’re talking about Johnson County, where fiddling is practically part of our DNA!
But Martin apparently had a rather unusual audience.
Rattlesnakes.
Yep. The story goes that the snakes would gather around him while he played, seemingly mesmerized by the music.
Now, I don’t know about you, but that would have been enough for me to pack up my fiddle and head home!
Not Martin.
According to the legend, he figured out that he could kill the snakes and sell their skins.
Well, you can probably guess where this is going.
One day, the snakes supposedly turned on him, and Martin was later found dead on the mountain, his fiddle nearby.
But here’s where the ghost story comes in.
Some say that if you’re up on Stone Mountain at just the right time, you can still hear the sound of a fiddle playing, followed by a terrible scream.
The place has also been called Screaming Rock.
Now, I’ve spent plenty of time enjoying our mountains, but if I ever hear fiddle music coming from a deserted rocky outcropping, I believe I’ll just keep right on walking!
And this story is so much a part of Johnson County folklore that our very own The Kody Norris Show even turned it into a music video!
🏡 Prospect Hill: A Ghost with a Sweet Tooth?
For our next story, we don’t have to venture very far. We’re heading right into Mountain City.
The beautiful historic Prospect Hill Bed & Breakfast, built in 1889, has apparently made its way onto a few websites devoted to haunted places.
And the alleged ghosts? Well, they seem to have some interesting habits.
According to stories posted online, people have reported unexplained smells of perfume and … peanut butter cookies!
Peanut butter cookies?
Now, I’ve heard stories about ghosts rattling chains, footsteps in empty hallways and doors opening on their own.
But cookies?
I suppose if you’re going to have a ghost hanging around, one that smells like fresh-baked cookies isn’t such a bad thing!
Of course, there’s no proof that anything supernatural is happening at Prospect Hill. These are simply accounts that have been shared online, and not everyone agrees with them.
But I got a kick out of discovering that one of our historic Mountain City homes has landed on a list of supposedly haunted places.
You can check it out yourself at Haunted Places.
🕳️ The Jingling Hole: Now THIS One Has Some History!
Here’s one that isn’t quite so lighthearted.
There’s a cave known as the Jingling Hole, sometimes called the Jingle Hole, that has been the subject of some pretty chilling stories.
And unlike a lot of the ghost tales floating around online, this one has a documented connection to our region’s storytelling history.
Back in 1932, Caroline McQueen Rhea recorded accounts of the cave in her master’s thesis, Sketches and Legends of Upper East Tennessee. The stories were later discussed in a publication of the National Speleological Society.
One of the tales connects the cave to the bitter conflicts and violence that took place in Johnson County during the Civil War.
According to the account, captured men were forced to hang by their hands over the mouth of the deep cave while their captors struck their knuckles.
Can you even imagine?
The opening reportedly leads into a shaft approximately 90 feet deep.
Now, whether every detail of that story actually happened is something we can’t say for certain. But the fact that it was being recorded nearly a hundred years ago makes it an interesting piece of our local folklore.
And it certainly reminds us that some of the darker stories associated with these mountains have roots in a very real and sometimes violent past.
I think I’ll stick with the peanut butter cookie ghosts, thank you very much!
🔥 The Doe Mountain Fireball
Now here’s one I would REALLY like to hear more about.
Have you ever heard of the Doe Mountain Fireball?
Apparently, there’s a story about a mysterious ball of fire that has been spotted moving up, down and across Doe Mountain.
And this isn’t supposed to be just a little flicker of light.
Descriptions range from the size of a bowling ball to something three feet across!
Even stranger, the story claims that this fiery ball can roll across dry leaves without setting anything on fire.
Now, if I happened to see a three-foot ball of fire rolling down Doe Mountain, I don’t believe I’d stick around long enough to see whether it could start a brushfire!
We haven’t been able to find a reliable historical source for this one, so we’re not claiming it’s anything more than a tale that’s been attributed to the mountain.
But I’m curious.
Have any of you heard about the Doe Mountain Fireball? Is this something your parents or grandparents talked about? Does anybody know where the story started?
Or, better yet … has anybody SEEN it?
I’d love to know!
👻 Your Turn! What Stories Did Your Family Tell?
Now, here’s the part I’ve really been looking forward to.
Growing up, many of us heard stories passed down from parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents.
In my family, those included the old Appalachian Jack Tales and stories like “Who’s Got My Big Toe!”
And if you’ve ever heard that last one told by somebody who REALLY knew how to deliver the ending, you know exactly why children would be scared half to death … and then beg to hear it again!
That’s the wonderful thing about these old stories. They weren’t just entertainment. They were part of how families spent time together, how traditions were passed down and how one generation connected with the next.
Of course, some were meant to teach a lesson, some explained things people didn’t understand, and some were told for no other reason than to give everybody a good scare!
So, now I’d like to hear from YOU.
What stories did your family pass down?
Did your grandparents tell Jack Tales? Were there ghost stories about an old house, a lonely stretch of road or a mysterious light on the mountainside?
Maybe somebody in your family swore they had seen something they couldn’t explain.
Or perhaps you remember a favorite story that was told over and over, especially around Halloween.
I’d love to hear about those, too!
Share your stories in the comments on The Johnson County Line’s Facebook page. And if you know more about any of the places we’ve mentioned, please chime in.
We may just discover that some of the best ghost stories in Johnson County have never been written down.
And wouldn’t it be fun to collect a few of them before they’re lost? I know locals are missing Evelyn Cook who used to share her collection!
After all, our heritage isn’t just found in old buildings, photographs and history books. It’s also found in the stories our families have carried from one generation to the next.
Even the ones that made us pull the covers over our heads!
Happy Halloween from The Johnson County Line!
And one last piece of advice …
If you hear fiddle music coming from a deserted mountainside, you might want to keep walking.
Especially if you hear rattlesnakes! 🎻
