Yesterday we were in Staunton, VA only an hour from Virginia Tech when we heard about the massacre. At first, I thought it was just a rumor as we overheard people at the restaurant talking about it. Then our worst fears were verified when we got back into the car and turned on the radio.

Cho Seung-Hui, a resident alien from South Korea, was the shooter. This psychopath killed 32 innocent people. Since he killed himself the blame game has already started. People are searching for someone or some group to hold accountable. I’m sure since he was an immigrant; they will start there with a “whack a mole” blame game.

As soon as I heard the shooter was dead I told my wife they would immediately start searching for the sacrificial lamb. First, they wanted to blame the police for not knowing two murders in a dorm would grow into the worst massacre on a college campus in American History. Then, they jumped on the school for also failing to read his mind. Now they have started a witch hunt for any students, faculty or staff who might have known about anything. Who could have predicted this? Even if he would have told somebody, who would have believed it? Punishing somebody would be ludicrous.

Very soon they will find out what kind of music he enjoyed and blame the artists. Then they will find out which video games he played and try to ban them. I am sure they will also try to blame the gun shop who sold him the guns, even though he legally bought them and even waited the legal three days. He was an English student who read Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. Do you think they will try to ban books by those authors now?

Now they are probably going to try to pass a slew of laws, none of which would have saved any of these innocent people, but will be a major loss of liberty to every law abiding citizen in the country. There will be stupid law suits against the school, so now every University will be forced to lock campuses down like prisons or face similar stupid law suits. Where will it end? I don’t know.

My heart pours out to the families of the innocent victims but the reality of the situation is, in a free society, there is no way to stop random acts of violence like this. No amount of laws or loss of freedoms will ever stop this kind of behavior. This is the price we all pay for living in a free society. The alternative is to regulate EVERYTHING and to sacrifice liberty for safety; this is the definition of fascism. Don’t buy into this!!!!

Pray for the families, mourn with them but don’t jump on a fascist bandwagon which will accomplish nothing except to eliminate the freedoms our grand-parents have paid for with their blood. Like it or not, the right to bear arms is a Constitutional right which cannot be sacrificed for safety’s sake or convenience sake.

This guy was a psychopath, plain and simple. Don’t let his mental illness influence the rights which we fought so hard to obtain. The fact of the matter is no amount of changing of the laws will ever keep us safe from psychos; they will always find a way to be psychos. But don’t apply the least common denominator principle and treat all of us like this psychopath.

Our vacation continues. Yesterday we toured Endless Caves and the Woodrow Wilson birthplace. Today we saw the Manassas Civil War battlefield and Mt Vernon. Enjoy some pictures from the past two days in Virginia.


Endless Caverns


A family of bats on the cave wall. They don't like to be petted and they hate Skittles.


Mt. Vernon, home to George Washington, the father of liberty. He died of a sore throat which became infected. If they only had Triaminic he might still be alive today.


Woodrow Wilson's birthplace. They actually had the bed in which he was born (and conceived) in the house.


I'm sitting on GW's back porch enjoying the view of the Potomac River. You can actually see my duck feet in this picture.


Manassas National Civil War Battlefield. An early battle won by the Confederates thanks to the leadership of Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. He acquired that nickname at this battle.

In other news, I've also changed my mind about the Dodge Charger, it is a piece of crap. It might look fast but it has no pick up at all. We were having troubles passing 18-wheelers. My Monte Carlo can run circles around it. There are many more inadequacies with it: the horn sounds when you lock the car, the lights turn on when you unlock it and they stay on after you lock it for quite a while.

We arrived in Virginia yesterday but too late to see any of the Presidents’ homes. So we drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and hung out along the coast. We then spent the night in Charlottesville so we could get an early start to see as much as possible today. There were eight Presidents born in Virginia and today we saw three of their homes: James Madison (Montpelier), James Monroe (Ash Lawn), and Thomas Jefferson (Monticello).

Many of you know I am an avid reader of biographies and stories about the founding fathers. My favorites are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin. Needless to say I was quite overwhelmed to see two of my favorites.

James Madison’s home is called Montpelier and is currently being renovated by a $30 million DuPont grant. But I still got to see the most important room in the house, his office. It was in that office James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights, which I contend is the most important document ever written by man. Madison was just a 25 year old Congressman but his intelligence was greater than his years. The renovations will be finished in the fall and I must return again to see it again in its glory.

At the time Madison was writing the Bill of Rights, Thomas Jefferson was in France but he lent Madison many books from his impressive library to do research. It is important to note that Jefferson had the second largest library in the country (only the National Library had more books). In the war of 1812 when the British burnt down the National Library it was Jefferson which replenished it with his own books. He later wrote he could not live without books and again built an impressive collection of literature which survives to this day.

Anyway, I stood in the very room in which James Madison wrote this important document and was immediately entranced in thought. I often wonder what he would say if he knew the kind of inhumanities our own government is involved with today. I don’t think anyone else on this tour realized where they were standing and the importance to American history, and humanity for that matter, it signified.

Thomas Jefferson’s home is named Monticello and was just as impressive. Jefferson wrote the Constitution and as I stood in his office staring at his pen, chair and desk, I got the same feelings of pride for my country as I did while standing in Madison’s office. Both of these men were good friends. Both were intellectuals, rebels and liberals; they would not fit well today into our heavily regulated society in which human rights have taken a back seat to security. Many of their greatest ideals have been undone by our current administration.

We also saw the historic Michie Tavern which serviced travelers since 1784. In those days it was rumored body oils would protect you against disease so people did not shower much. The tavern only washed linens and clothes twice per year, and people bathed only during the summertime (if that). They carried a small bag of potpourri in their pockets and would press it against their noses when encountering other people to cut down the smell of the stench. I don’t know how people had sex back then with the stench of their bodies being so strong but they had many children so it must not have bothered them.

Michie’s Tavern offered separate rooms for men and women but there were few (if any) women traveling alone. Mostly the women’s quarters were used for private rooms for richer patrons which would pay up to a weeks salary for one night in a private room. Most travelers stayed on the floor of the main lobby. For a meager amount (no one knows exactly how much) they would get a hot meal, usually soup, and be offered the floor or a chair to sleep through the night. The main lobby also had gambling tables and unlimited drinking for travelers. Alcohol was sold by the glass, mostly whiskey or wine.

James Monroe was another important player in American history. He was integral in the Louisiana Purchase as he was the ambassador to France and a good friend of Napoleon. Under Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency, Monroe went to France with a millions dollars and came back with the title to land which more than doubled the size of the US.

James Monroe was a farmer and his home, Ash Lawn reflected his meager living. He wrote about defeating a king during the Revolutionary War and did not believe men should live as kings. Most of Ash Lawn was burned down and rebuilt by another family but it is still impressive to see this man’s home. One of the most impressive pieces of art was the bust of Napoleon given to Monroe by Napoleon in honor of their friendship. There was also a portrait of Napoleon’s daughter hanging in the parlor as their daughters were also good friends. They even attended college together.

Enjoy a few pictures of my travels and come back tomorrow for more. Mount Vernon is on the itinerary, home to George Washington.


Historic Michie's Tavern in the pouring rain.


Monticello, home to Thomas Jefferson - still raining.


Barboursville Ruins. This historic home was designed by Thomas Jefferson for Governor James Barbour and was built in 1814. It was destroyed by fire on Christmas Day in 1884.


Our hot rental car is a 2008 Dodge Charger. When my 2001 Monte Carlo is replaced, I want one of these.


Ash Lawn home to James Monroe. This house is very small compared to the other famous homes; I feel like a giant.

It happened again. For the third time this year, hundreds of thousands of homes in the St. Louis area lost power for more than three days (many are still out) as a another mediocre storm was again mistakenly classified as “one of the worst ever”. The only disaster was NOT the couple of inches of ice but the performance of Ameren, as they proved again incapable of handling the electricity needs of a large metropolitan area. If this utility cannot get customers back on the grid within 24 hours of a small storm, then the state of Missouri should find a utility than can.

This past July an average thunderstorm transformed St. Louis into a Stone Age town, last Thursday it was a small ice storm. What would happen if a real nasty storm hit St. Louis? I am talking about tornadoes or a blizzard with a few feet of snow, not some measly ice or a typical thunderstorm. What would happen is the St. Louis area would be without power for weeks and possibly months. How come none of the St. Louis politicians are calling Ameren out on this issue?

To further complicate the matter, Governor Matt Blunt calls a state of emergency. I can understand in Jefferson City where they received up to 16 inches of snow but why in St. Louis were all we got was a couple of inches of ice. The only thing I can think of is because Ameren could not restore the power within an adequate length of time so he had no choice but to get help for the people who could have frozen to death in their igloos. If he called for the state of emergency because of a corporate screw up, then he should state that but he is too much a corporate guy to ever call Ameren out in public.

Ameren claims to have 1500 electrical crews available to hang lines after a storm. What they fail to tell us is this 1500 covers a large area in Missouri and Illinois and not just the St. Louis area and they count the tree cutting crews as part of this 1500. How many tree cutters are included in this 1500? It is hard to say but it could be up to 50%.

At one time Ameren had almost 500 electrical crews working in the St. Louis area alone but fired them when they bought out Union Electric as a cost cutting action. So now when any precipitation falls in the St. Louis area we are all at risk to loosing power for days just so Ameren executives can take home a fatter bonus.

To compensate for the loss of those employees Ameren hires crews from neighboring power companies on a project by project basis. These mercenaries can take up to two days to arrive or longer if the roads are blocked due to snow or other hazards. My family freezing to death in my home is seen as just a “project” by Ameren, nothing more. If the amount of Ameren crews is not brought back up to acceptable levels then they should be forced to bring in the mercenaries BEFORE the storm so they are in ST. Louis and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

This is why Matt Blunt, who is in bed with big business, keeps up the charade by calling for a state of emergency after a thunderstorm and a mild freezing rain storm. What should be done is an investigation into the business practices of Ameren and discovering why they cannot respond faster to outages. City Governor Francis Slay is just as guilty by doing nothing. This is yet another example of our politicians not looking out for us by siding with big business over the people.

We were without power for three of the coldest nights of the year. What was even more frustrating was calling into the Ameren (no)customer service lines. First of all, the number was busy for the first 36 hours. Then when I finally did get through I was not even given a date when my power would be restored. Ameren had over a week lead time before this storm hit so there is no excuse for them not being prepared with CSR’s to answer the phones or crews available to fix the downed lines. At the very least they should have had the mercenary crews already in town and ready to go.

While on the phone with them I totally freaked out and had a "Clark Griswold" moment. The echoes of “f bombs” and GD’s are still resonating within the walls of my house. I almost smashed the phone when I slammed down the receiver. I was so bad I later apologized to my wife and son for my idiotic behavior. If there would have been an Ameren truck anywhere close to me at that moment I could have picked it up and threw it because I was so pissed off.

My particular case was different from the average downed power lines because the tree limbs pulled the weather box and meter from my house. Those are the responsibility of the home owner so I had to get an electrician to fix my stuff before Ameren could even reconnect my lines. Well, I had that finished the same day just in case but I was still out three days.

I’ve had enough of this crap; we are looking for a natural gas powered generator to keep our entire house powered in the event of another outage. When we moved into this house we were hoping not to need such a thing because we live in a large metropolitan area but our asshole power company can never restore our power within a reasonable time frame so now we have to get one. Maybe I’ll send Ameren the bill.

This third update from Alton will focus on the Underground Railroad with a few words on a couple of other hauntings, and a few more pictures.

The Underground Railroad provided a means for escaped slaves to go north and become free men. The penalty for harboring an escaped slave was death, either by tarring and feathering or hanging. The secret rooms where these escaped slaves were hidden were dark, depressing places. I have visited several of these hiding places consisting mostly of brick, concrete and stone with no toilets.

Men, women and children were hidden in these small rooms and had to remain completely silent. Any noises could lead to their discovery which many times would mean death or at least a severe beating and then being send back to the slave pens. They were fed whatever scraps the host family could spare, which sometimes was not much.


A picture of one of the many Underground Railroad hiding places; this particular one is in the basement of the old Enos Tuberculosis Sanitarium.


The notorious McPike Mansion. The classic looking haunted house. This home is currently condemned so no visitors are allowed to investigate inside the house. The current owners are in the process of renovating the building and converting it into a bed and breakfast. In the wine cellars of this house a smoke cloud followed the current owner and was captured on video. I’ve seen it; it’s incredible!!


518 South. This home is a restaurant today. The strange happenings involve a particular table in the front left side of the house in which I had the privilege of eating dinner. Things disappear from the table which also has been seen levitating. At one time this place was a funeral home and at least one person has committed suicide in the house. Where? You guessed it; right where the levitating table sits today. On the night I was there nothing happened but the food was excellent. Maybe I will get a chance to spend the night here. HINT! HINT!


The Historic Hampton Mansion designed by the famous local architect Lucas J. Pfeiffenberger, who also designed the Fulkerson House, the Cheney Mansion and several other homes in the 1800's.


The William Fulkerson House is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Located in historic Jerseyville, IL, it is the twin to the Cheney Mansion, in which I have conducted two investigations.


A Shrek sighting and a view of the remains of the old Confederate Prison


The Confederate Cemetery


The Enos Tuberculosis Sanitorium. The third floor of this building was added to treat Tuberculosis (TB) patients who died at the rate of 100 per year. During this time the only treatment for TB was plenty of sunshine and food. Needless to say many people lived in agony on this third floor.
This building was also part of the Underground Railroad. On the roof is a turret room in which the residents could signal across the Mississippi River when it was safe to enter the city to hide more people.
Today it is an apartment building where residents hear furniture moving and people talking, moaning and screaming on the third floor, when the third floor is vacant. One night a bottle of wine vanished from a kitchen table only to be found hours later in a different room of the apartment.


A view of the turret rooftop


The infamous "Devil Face Photo" taken at the Milton School in 2004. Upon first viewing this picture within our camera displays, it looked liked a white angry face but when we blew up this picture at home on a large monitor it seemed to be just paint on the back wall. The insert on the lower left shows the picture as we saw it on our camera displays. Special thanks to AndyR for creating the insert.
We sent it to the touring company and asked them to check that wall. After the next tour they checked it out and told us there is no paint or white wash on this back wall. So now we don't quite know what to make of it.
Because of this we now wait to view all photos on a larger monitor at a higher resolution before passing judgement. You be the judge: devil face or something on the far wall?

Stay tuned, more to come tomorrow.........

The Unitarian Church



“We meet again, at last.”

Last year I headed an investigation into the Unitarian Church. While the atmosphere was the best ever, with a severe thunderstorm passing over head, nothing of substance actually happened. During the séance the church rattled as the thunder roared and the lightning pierced the darkness throwing mass amounts of energy into the air. Everybody was on edge but no apparitions appeared.

This time I was anxiously anticipating entering the church again but it would be to help the tour guide handle the large group. I did get the opportunity to take some pictures and more orbs appeared but the EMF flat lined as there was no energy in the old church this time. Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to investigate the church again but this year I want to further investigate the old Meridian Coffee House and the Milton School.

The History and Hauntings

Phillip Mercer was the pastor of the First Unitarian Church in the 1930’s. He was found hanging in the sacristy, dead of an apparent suicide. It is rumored that he lingers behind to keep watch over the church. Church members cannot explain the weird things which take place here.

The old Meridian Coffee House is one of the most spectacular haunted locations in the town of Alton Illinois. The coffee house building was once located on the site of an America Red Cross hospital that was constructed during the influenza epidemic of 1918. Reports of women getting “goosed” and men being pushed have intrigued me. An investigator I know got the opportunity to spend the night alone in the location with some IR motion detectors. He fell asleep on the couch and woke to the IR detectors going crazy but he could not see anybody. He was so freaked out he left, leaving behind all of his equipment. (Not a very good investigator in my opinion.)

People on the first floor have reported hearing footsteps on the vacant second floor. Men have reported to have been grabbed by invisible hands. Women have reported having their hair grabbed and the butt pinched by an invisible assailant. Well I want to be the next investigator to try to find out who this ghost is and why he still haunts this location. Keep your fingers crossed; hopefully more to come.

ORBS

Just for the record, I consider orb pictures to be the worst form of evidence of a haunting unless they are coupled with other evidence. For example, my psychic friend tells me a spirit is in a location and I snap an orb picture. Even better is when an EMF gauge or an IR thermometer is showing some evidence and then I get an orb picture. Orbs alone are not very good evidence but orbs with something else are not too bad. Of course we all want a picture of a full apparition or some type of materialization but those are very rare.

Be wary of cameras below 4 mega pixels because they have a CMOS flaw that can draw artifacts into a picture. Artifacts are types of “noise” where the camera generates images on it own. Because of this I bought a 5 mega pixel camera without this known bug.


This comet appeared during an Antoinette tour of a private residence.




This orb from the Unitarian Church appears and then is seen again closer in the second picture. The EMF gauge was not around me during this time but I did have a PVR running in the back of the church. When I analyze that I’ll let you know if I hear any EVPs.


The old Meridian Coffee House

Stay tuned for Alton Update 3, which will focus on the underground railroad and other haunted locations. Also later this week, I will give a complete review of both tours.

As promised here is the update on the tours and investigation from this year’s trip to Alton. This past weekend I gave this website out to many people I met on the tours so they could see the pictures. For those of you who are new to the page, you will find a collection of past writings on the right side of this page broken into categories. The paranormal writings are between the Political Essays and Funny Stuff.

Since so much happened I want to break the weekend into a few different posts. This first one I want to focus on the remains of the old confederate Prison, The Confederate Cemetery and Sunflower Island.

The History

The Alton prison was originally opened in 1833 as the first Illinois state penitentiary. It remained in service until 1860 when a new facility was built in Joliet on February 9, 1862. The vacant structure re opened as the Alton federal military prison. During the next three years at least 11,764 Confederate soldiers were held in this facility.

By all objective accounts, conditions in the prison were substandard. The mortality rate was high. Hot humid summers and cold damp winters undoubtedly contributed to the high death rate. Overcrowding, inadequate food and clothing and unsanitary conditions further compounded the prisoners misery. Pneumonia and dysentery were common killers bur contagious diseases like smallpox and rubella were the most feared. The smallpox epidemic that began in late 1862 ultimately prompted prison officials to transfer contagious prisoners to a temporary facility a safe distance from civilian residents of Alton. This facility was called Sunflower Island.

In addition to being a tent hospital, when the Confederate cemetery filled with corpses the dead were buried in mass graves on Sunflower Island in trenches. Years later when the Army Corps of Engineers wanted to make the island into a wild bird refuge, they discovered they could only make to make minor changes to the island for fear of releasing hundreds of thousands of bones into the Mississippi River. When the trees were dug up on the edge of the island hundreds of human bones were imbedded within the roots and bark.

The Hauntings

Many residents of Alton report seeing vagrants within the remains of the old prison and within the Cemetery. Only those are not vagrants they are ghosts. One night a gentleman was walking his dog and bent down to tie his shoe when he looked up he saw a homeless man standing in front of him. When he looked away momentarily to make sure his dog was under control the man vanished.

Many of the bodies of the Confederate soldiers never even made it to the Cemetery. The Union soldiers were given the task of burying the dead but they did not want to do this strenuous task. So many times they would just push the bodies off the cart into a ditch along the way to the cemetery. There is an old haunted road called Hop Hollow Road were many of the dead were hidden. To this day when the residents along this road perform yard work they still discover bones.

The Pictures


Two orbs rising from the ground at the remains of the old Prison. I don’t put much weight behind orb pictures because they can be dust or bugs, but on this night it was 35 degrees and there were no bugs. In addition, my psychic friend kept telling me there were spirits here.


An Orb at the Confederate Cemetery. My psychic friend told me to take a picture of these trees and I would see a spirit.




Sunflower Island. Here is where the trees were dug up and the bones were imbedded within the bark and roots. Under the ground is a mass grave containing thousands of bodies.


A monument dedicated to the Confederate soldiers buried within Sunflower Island. Only a few names are on it, as we do not know the names of most of the people buried here.

More to come tomorrow..........

Blogger was having fits the last two days of my vacation so I could not post anything. The last two days were spent visiting Graceland and the Memphis Zoo. Graceland was too expensive and over hyped. The Hermitage was more beautiful, older and cheaper. Graceland was not what I expected and the over commercialization only added to the frustration. While I am glad I went, I will never go back again.

The Memphis Zoo was a hidden gem as it contained two adorable pandas. LeLe and YaYa are only allowed together a couple of times a month and usually ignore each other. However, on this day they were playing together. So I was lucky to take pictures of two pandas playing and wrestling together.

I like my vacations to be an adventure and a learning opportunity. So with every vacation I like to reflect on what I have learned. This vacation I learned the Stones River Battle was an important win for the Union army. Before this battle the Confederates were winning but this battle changed that. The first monument to the Civil War was erected on this battle field, only six months after the fighting stopped. There are only a few Civil War battlefields preserved, this being one of them.

I learned the home and distillery of Jack Daniels is located in a dry county. They have a special permit to sell sealed bottles of whiskey from the gift shop only but none can be consumed in the county. Also Jack Daniels kicked his safe out of anger and later died when the broken toe turned into gangrene. I took a picture of the safe. The water used to produce this whiskey is collected from the mountain; it is from a stream running through the distillery.

I also learned much about Andrew Jackson and his home. I found it interesting he was a strict disciplinarian but often disobeyed his superiors. He owned 150 slaves and although it hurt his personal finances, he still fought to free the slaves. After the Civil War, many of his slaves elected to stay on the farm; one was buried in honor right next to the former President.

Tennessee was a beautiful place and the people were very friendly and made my vacation very enjoyable. All pictures will be available on my Flickr page shortly.





Graceland

We actually went back to Nashville, which is where we are tonight. Today we saw Raccoon MTN Cave, Jack Daniels distillery, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, Russell MTN Cavern in Alabama and various old buildings along the way. During this trip I discovered that I am not a small town man. I cannot stand dry counties and when everything closes at 4pm. Because of these reasons, we went back to Nashville to see Andrew Jackson’s house, and the Sam Davis Home before traveling toward to Memphis.

We would like to see more State Parks and historical sites in southern Tennessee but when everything closes at 4pm, it makes it difficult to see everything. I don’t want to end my day at 4pm; I stop when the sun goes down. This is the first state that closed so early. I am not sure if this is a Southern thing or just a Tennessee thing but it sucks.

The Eerie Green Ivy

According to our tour guide through Raccoon MTN Cavern, the eerie green ivy is called Kudzo. Kudzo was brought from the orient a while back to combat some problems. But the problem it created far outweighed the problems it fixed. Since there is no natural enemy for Kudzo in the US it grows unabated; as much as one foot per day. Now we can’t get rid of it and it seems it is here to stay.

See you again tomorrow, hope you enjoy these pics:



Site of General Bragg’s Confederate Headquarters in July, 1862. Chattanooga Tennessee



The ceiling in Raccoon MTN Caverns.




A rare rock formation called a shield found in Raccoon MTN Caverns. There have only been five known found in the US.



This is a picture from the tour of the Jack Daniels distillery which is located in a dry county, so we could not sample the whiskey. Thank God for the Baptists.



Clowning around.

Day three of our vacation leaves us in a little Days Inn in Ridge, TN. We drove through the Smoky Mountain and the Appalachian Mountains; the scenery was incredible. Our only problem was the road constriction on Highway 441 which made the final eleven miles unbearable. As a result, we missed Clingmans Dome which was closed. Thanks Tennessee!!

We drove through Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia and saw two National Forests: Nantahlia and Chatahoochie. The strange thing I noticed was the eerie green ivy growing over the forests like the Martian Red Weed from War of The Worlds. It covers the grass, blankets the trees, crawls up utility poles and along power lines, and engulfs abandoned cars and buildings. It makes the trees look like huge bulking green ghosts. I don’t know what this crap is but if it is not stopped, I can see it doing much damage to the forests.

Word to the warning: stay out of Gatlinburg, TN!! It is nothing but a tourist trap. We wanted to eat lunch so we stupidly went to Gatlinburg but had trouble finding a free place to park. If I am paying to eat at your restaurant, I’ll be damned if I am going to pay to park. I have standards. I don’t pay a cover charge to enter a bar either. Why would I pay to enter a bar and then pay them for drinks too? I will never understand why idiots pay cover charges. If nobody pays they will have to let you in for free.

Anyway, enough of my ranting; I hope you enjoy these pics from today’s adventures.



A slow running stream.



The Great Smoky Mountains





The eerie green ivy



The beautiful "Burning Tree"

BTW: I fixed the broken links from yesterday, so you can now click and view all the pictures at full resolution. Sorry about that.

Day two of our Tennessee odyssey and we made it as far as Lenoir City, TN. Tomorrow we will travel down Highway 321 and see the Smoky Mountains. Today was awesome, we visited,: The Carter House, Carthon Plantation, and a Confederate Cemetery and two of the oldest cemeteries in Tennessee (Rest Haven and the old City Cemetery) in Franklin TN, Stone Creek battle site from the Civil War, and Fall Creek State Park.

First of all, we did not see any ghosts in any of the cemeteries. I did not bring my PVR so I did not even get a chance to record any EVP’s. The ghost hunting has been a bust but Tennessee is a beautiful State and we are enjoying every minute of it.

Also, thanks to everybody for the awesome comments. I do not have time to respond but I appreciate all of them.



This is the exquisite Carthon Plantation, home to the McGavock family. John McGavock dedicated a plot of his land to the biggest private Confederate Cemetery in the country. It is still well maintained to this day.



Fall Creek Falls, a breathe-taking 296 foot waterfall.



City Cemetery in Franklin, TN. I would like to come back here at night with my PVR-this place really gave me the creeps. Most of the graves dated from the early to mid 1800’s.



Our rental car dragging some TP (typical)

I have noticed a couple of things about Tennessee. Many of the towns end with "ville"; we drove through a dozen "villes" today. Where is the Second Baptist Church? We found plenty of Firsts.

See you all tomorrow. Hopefully, I will have some shots from the Smoky Mountains.