Red Dog Road is in Harlan County, Kentucky, and is located on Black Mountain. This area is renowned for its numerous ghost stories and legends over the years. Another legend that dates back to the same time period as Headless Annie involves a coal miner who lost his mind after he believed his wife was…
The Strange Disappearance of Annette Sagers
If you have followed The Lantern or this page, you may be familiar with the name Annette Sagers from the two-part series titled “Secrets in the Swamp.” If not, you can find it on The Lantern’s website. Annette Sagers was only eleven years old when she mysteriously disappeared from a school bus stop in front…
Headless Annie of Black Mountain
Headless Annie is one of Harlan County’s most famous ghost stories in southeastern Kentucky. The legend dates back to the 1930s, when the coal mining industry was filled with violence and conflict. During this time, mining companies began intimidating and attacking employees who voiced support for better working conditions and unionization. The story goes that…
The Ghost Bride of Cumberland Falls
Cumberland Falls is a beautiful area in southeastern Kentucky, near Corbin, but it also has a reported ghostly bride that’s said to still walk the trails. In the 1950s, a young couple, recently married, honeymooned at Cumberland Falls State Park. Since the night was still young, they decided to take a stroll after checking into…
Tobacco Brides of Virginia
Tobacco brides or wives is a descriptive name for young, single English women whom the Virginia Company of London recruited in the early 1600s. They would emigrate to Colonial Virginia to marry a settler, where a significant gender imbalance existed between men and women. The expense to find the perfect companion fell upon the men…
The Mysterious Disappearance of Paula Merchant
Paula Merchant was 25 years old when she disappeared on January 4, 1999. Merchant lived in Forest Acres in Columbia, South Carolina, and her disappearance continues to haunt the city, 26 years later. Merchant’s 1989 Nissan Sentra was found on fire on that cold January morning on Commerce Drive. Inside the vehicle, her purse was…
The Mysterious Disappearance of Sidney Riggs
Sidney Riggs was last seen in Greenwood, South Carolina, on March 4, 2000. He was a senior at Lander University with plans to graduate that year. He mysteriously disappeared right before spring break. Riggs was only 22 years old. Some online sites indicated that his off-campus apartment was left undisturbed, with no evidence that a…
Strange Occurrences at WWDR / WDLZ
Murfreesboro, NC, gained its own radio station in 1965 when Don Burnett founded the Murfreesboro Broadcasting Company, and WWDR went on the air. Don owned and managed the station until his death in the 1970s. The AM station played top forty pop music, and the FM played “beautiful music”, a.k.a. “elevator music”. In the late 1970s, the AM…
The 5 Most Terrifying Places in Eastern Tennessee
Eastern Tennessee has many ghostly legends. I have written many of them through the years. If you have followed The Lantern and our website, there’s a good chance you have read them, as we grew from serving just the Carolinas to include eastern Georgia, Tennessee, and southern Virginia. 1: The Bell Witch: Some legends are…
The Legend of Stonepile Gap
Stonepile Gap in Lumpkin County, Georgia, in Dahlonega, is home to a popular legend. The legend says that Cherokee Trahlyta was told by the Witch of Cedar Mountain of a natural spring that would keep the young woman beautiful and young. Word quickly traveled about her growing beauty, and soon men came across the land…