On today's Episode #334: Join us for haunted tales of Brushy Mountain, haunted caves and Appalachian weirdness, we cover it all! Please remember to hit Subscribe/Follow Please Help Support the show with a donation. Click here to donate ======================================= Links From this episode 222 Paranormal Website Jen's Poshmark Closet Joe's Book =================================== During Miranda's overnight, she captured class A EVP’s Ghost Biker Explorations: End of the Line, S2 Episode 1 Click Here to go to Her Video. ==================================== Brushy Mountain state pen In 1891 there was a major uprising of the miners in the town of coal Creek 39 miles from Brushy mountain Pen this was known as the coal Creek war which was a fight against convict leasing. In 1896 the Tennessee legislature abolished the act of leasing prisoners for labor at the coal mine. But I ended up building the brushy Mountain State prison and coal mine. Which made the prisoners the workforce and the prisoners ended up doing every bit of the work. The prisoners became the complete workforce for the mines. They use the prisoners to build everything including the railroad tracks and all the mining equipment needed to mind the earth. Then the prisoners themselves became unpaid employees of the mine. The conditions were so bad that hundreds of inmate minors died in accidents in the mine. According to old news accounts. The inmates had a daily quota they had to come up with every day and if they did not make that quota they were beaten severely, and the next day had to make up for that quota they missed. Beatings happened in the courtyard in front of the other inmates. In 1966 the state closed the mine. Known as the end of the line or Alcatraz of the South Is now open to tours, and ghost hunts, and has a restaurant and distillery. There was no spot in the prison considered death row, the prison was so violent that the entire prison was considered death row that's why they called it the end of the line. Once you were sentenced to brushy Mountain State penitentiary you were pretty much guaranteed never to leave. The prison cemetery has around 400 burials, but none are identified or kept secret. There was no part of the prison off limits to murder from inmate to inmate from guard to inmate and guard to guard. Hauntings include everything that you can imagine that comes out of a prism. Noises, screams, voices, apparitions, EVPs , light, anomalies, shadows, figures, noises such as banging, machinery, door slams, the rattling of chains, noises that the inmates did on a regular basis. Other haunted locations involve the prison. Drummond’s Bridge/Trestle (Briceville, TN) In Briceville, there is a scary bridge that is made even scarier by local lore. There are many different accounts of the Drummond legend, however, it seems the real story is that a 25-year-old miner was hanged in retaliation for the murder of William Laugherty during the Coal Creek War (Karin Shapiro, A New South Rebellion). Richard (Dick) Drummond - Coal Creek War, Briceville, TN Dick Drummond was one of the many laborers who were killed by militiamen sent by Governor John P. Buchanan. Legend has it that the ghost of Dick Drummond still wanders the area looking for revenge against the soldiers who dragged him to the railroad trestle and hanged him. If you are one to connect with the spirits, you may be able to see a shadowy figure hanging from the bridge’s trestlework or walking the tracks. As part of a spooky game, kids dare each other to walk across the bridge at midnight. Apparently, at this witching hour, Drummond walks across the bridge and then vanishes into thin air. Whether it’s a local trickster or the ghost of Drummond himself, the trip will surely scare the wits out of you. Bring your camera, you may just be able to capture it. If you don’t think that’s scary enough, try driving through Circle Cemetery Road, up the hill on Circle Road, which causes the chills even during daylight. Also be sure to check out Red Ash Cemetery (official name is Turley Cemetery), around 10 minutes away from the bridge, located off Old Tennessee 63 in Caryville, TN The entire Red Ash area is suspected of being haunted, including reports of giant goat men and hell-hounds. From Satanic rituals to murder, stories and hauntings abound.   Mine's haunted by Tommyknockers According to Merriam-Webster, a tommyknocker is “the ghost of a man killed in a mine.” Other references indicate that the folktale is more complicated than mere haunting.  “The Knocker, Knacker, is a mythical creature in Welsh, Cornish and Devon folklore. It is closely related to the Irish leprechaun or clurichaun, Kentish kloker, and the English and Scottish brownie. The Cornish described the creature as a little person two feet tall, with a big head, long arms, wrinkled face, and white whiskers. It wears a tiny version of a standard miner’s garb and commits random mischief, such as stealing miners’ unattended tools and food. Some miners believed Cornish Tommyknockers haunted underground passages. Miners crafted crude clay statues of knockers with match stick eyes and placed them in the mines as guardians. Some miners believed Cornish Tommyknockers haunted underground passages. Miners crafted crude clay statues of knockers with match stick eyes and placed them in the mines as guardians. “The name comes from the knocking on the mine walls that happens just before cave-ins – actually the creaking of earth and timbers before giving way. To some miners, knockers were malevolent spirits and the knocking was the sound of them hammering at walls and supports to cause the cave-in. To others, who saw them as essentially well-meaning practical jokers, the knocking was their way of warning the miners that a life-threatening collapse was imminent.” “According to some Cornish folklore, the Knockers were the helpful spirits of people who had died in previous accidents in the many tin mines in the county, warning the miners of impending danger. To give thanks for the warnings, and to avoid future peril, the miners cast the last bite of their tasty pasties into the mines for the Knockers.”   Cross Mountain Mine disaster  25 miles north of Brushy mountain pen in Briceville, Tennessee The Cross Mountain Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion that occurred on December 9, 1911, near the community of Briceville, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. In spite of a well-organized rescue effort led by the newly created Bureau of Mines, 84 miners died as a result of the explosion. The likely cause of the explosion was the ignition of dust and gas released by a roof fall. At least 22 of the miners killed in the Cross Mountain Mine disaster were buried in a circular memorial known as the Cross Mountain Miners' Circle, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.