The Holston River area in the Tri-Cities of Tennessee seems plagued by specters and even a hellhound. One place located on the North Fork of the Holston is the Rotherwood Mansion, which has a grim history. The mansion in Kingsport dates back to 1818 and has accumulated a fascinating supernatural history.
One legend says that around the start of the Civil War, the mansion was sold to a former slave overseer named Joshua Phipps. Phipps had a known, cruel, and mean streak, and if you were unlucky enough to cross him, you would pay the ultimate price.
Even his white neighbors considered his treatment of enslaved people to be overly harsh and unnecessary. Many stories have been passed down of how Phipps met his demise, but one said that he was allegedly “strangled by hundreds of flies.”
Nowadays, it is said that on stormy nights, a “Hound of Hell tormented by a horde of flies” can be seen roaming the grounds of the Rotherwood Mansion.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
Source: Johnson City Public Library, Zachary Harris