Haunted places guide · Petros, Morgan County, Tennessee

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary: Tennessee's Haunted End of the Line

For 113 years Tennessee sent its hardest prisoners to a stone fortress in a remote mountain hollow. It closed in 2009. Now you can walk its cell blocks by day, or spend the night in them.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate places

5.0/5Haunted Rooms Score
1896Prison opens
2009Prison closes

Our nearest ghost hunt: Thomas House Hotel, TNMeet the ghosts

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary sits in a narrow valley in Petros, Morgan County, on the Cumberland Plateau next to Frozen Head State Park, about 40 miles from Knoxville. Inmates called it the End of the Line. It began as a coal mine worked by convicts, became Tennessee’s toughest maximum-security prison, held the man who killed Martin Luther King Jr., and closed on June 11, 2009, after 113 years.

In 2018 it reopened as an attraction, with tours led by former guards and former inmates, a distillery, a restaurant and a concert stage in the yard. It also runs its own after-dark paranormal investigations, and it has become one of the best-known haunted places in the South. Here is its history, the stories told about it, and how to investigate it yourself.

Brushy Mountain at a glance

5.0/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation5
History5
Ghost hunter access5
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowedOvernight investigations
  • Location 9182 Highway 116, Petros, TN 37845; about 16 miles from Oak Ridge and 40 from Knoxville
  • Opened January 1, 1896, with about 210 inmates
  • Closed June 11, 2009
  • Reopened 2018, as a museum, distillery, restaurant and venue
  • Most haunted spots The Hole, D Block (now closed), the cell blocks, the mess hall, the hospital, Cell 28
  • Reported activity Footsteps, voices, whistles, moaning, touches, scratches, shoves and growls
  • Ghost hunting Public and private paranormal investigations and overnights, run by the prison

Our nearest ghost hunt: Thomas House Hotel, TN Visit / tours

History of Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary

Brushy Mountain was born out of a labor war. In the early 1890s Tennessee leased its convicts to coal companies, which used them as unpaid miners. In 1891 free miners at Coal Creek and Briceville rose up in the Coal Creek War, attacking stockades and burning a state prison. The legislature moved to end convict leasing, and instead the state built its own mine and prison in the hills of Morgan County.

The first inmates, about 210 men from the ended lease system, arrived on January 1, 1896. Prisoners built the railroad spur, worked the coal seams and coke ovens and farmed the land, and they built the first wooden prison themselves. A whipping post in the courtyard was used on men who missed their coal quotas, a practice a former-inmate guide says only ended in 1966. Disease was common: syphilis, tuberculosis, typhoid and pneumonia all took lives, and beatings sometimes proved fatal.

By 1931 the prison held about 976 men, some 300 more than it was built for. The state replaced the wooden prison with the castle-like stone building that stands today, made of sandstone quarried on the property by the prisoners themselves. The prison’s own history says the new building, in the shape of a cross, opened in 1934 behind an 18-foot stone wall; other sources date the rebuild to the 1920s. The Hole, a windowless punishment cell, was shut in 1957, and D Block was built on the site of the old death house, where bodies were held before being returned to families or buried in the cemetery up the hill.

Mining ended in the 1960s, and in 1969 Brushy returned to maximum security. Its most famous inmate was James Earl Ray, who confessed to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. On June 10, 1977, Ray and six other men went over the fence; he was caught in rugged country about eight and a half miles away less than 58 hours later. Other inmates included Paul Dennis Reid, the Fast Food Killer. Brushy was also the state’s only unionized prison, and a guards’ strike over unsafe conditions closed it from 1972 to 1976.

In its later years it became East Tennessee’s reception and classification center, with a maximum-security annex. It closed on June 11, 2009, when its work moved to the Morgan County Correctional Complex. Nine years later the site reopened to the public, with a museum of weapons and cell art, the Brushy Mountain distillery, the Warden’s Table restaurant and an outdoor stage.

The ghosts of Brushy Mountain

Touched, shoved and growled at

The prison’s own website says visitors have reported being touched, shoved and growled at. Guide Jamie Brock told CityView the whole site is active, and listed what people describe: touches, scratches, voices, whistles and moaning. Owner Pete Waddington said he became a believer after his wife’s hair was pulled in a bathroom at the end of a hall, and that a paranormal guide once quit after being frightened in the same spot.

James Earl Ray, or someone claiming to be him

Cell 28, Ray’s old cell, is one of the places investigators head first. Guides say some visitors report seeing Ray, or a presence that claims to be him. A Tennessee Tourism writer on a private overnight recorded 14 voice clips, including some near Cell 28 and in the cafeteria.

The Hole and D Block

The Hole was a small, windowless room with no bed, where men were given two buckets, one for water and one for waste. A former inmate who guides tours said men were moved from there to D Block so their eyes could recover from total darkness, and that he will not go into D Block because that is where bad things happened. D Block is now closed for structural reasons, which has done nothing to quiet its stories.

Rumors and what to make of them

Some stories told about Brushy are just that. Visitors ask whether an electric chair was ever used here and whether the building is an upside-down cross; the prison says it carried out no executions, and the cross shape is simply its floor plan. Claims of thousands of deaths and mass graves circulate online, but the confirmed history of disease, beatings and violence is grim enough on its own.

Where to look

  • The Hole: the windowless punishment cells, open on paranormal tours.
  • A and B blocks: the main cell blocks, where most footsteps and voices are reported.
  • Cell 28: James Earl Ray’s cell.
  • The cafeteria and mess hall: where one overnight team recorded several voice clips.
  • The auditorium, chapel and hospital: quieter rooms that investigators say are far from empty.
  • The yard and the whipping post: the open heart of the prison, with the old post still standing.

Visiting Brushy Mountain

By day, the self-guided tour takes about an hour to an hour and a half, with more than 30 stations and an 18-minute documentary, and former guards and former non-violent inmates are posted along the way to answer questions. Groups of 15 or more can book a private guided tour before opening. The prison is open April through November: Thursday to Sunday in spring and fall, daily in summer, and weekends in November, with the 2026 season ending November 29. It closes for the winter, but paranormal tours carry on.

Paranormal investigations run after hours and must be booked ahead; arrive 30 minutes early. They take in A and B blocks, the cafeteria, laundry, gym, courtyard, auditorium, chapel, the Hole and the yard. Overnight investigations run from 9 PM to 4 AM, with only one group booked a night. Investigators must be 18 or older, or 16 and 17 with a parent who also signs the waiver. Paranormal tours do not run on major holidays, including Halloween.

Inside can be 10 degrees cooler than outside, so dress warmly in fall and winter and wear sturdy shoes (no sandals on paranormal tours). Only service animals are allowed. There is an RV park on site, and Historic Rugby, with its own lantern ghost tours, is a short drive away.

  • Visiting Prison museum with self-guided and guided tours
  • Tours Self-guided tours, guided group tours, paranormal investigations, overnights
  • Hours and season Seasonal, April to November; paranormal tours run all year
  • Ghost hunting Yes: public and private paranormal investigations and overnights, 18+ (16 with a parent)

Tips for your visit

  • Book an overnight if you can: one group a night means you have the prison to yourselves.
  • Do the daytime tour first so you know the layout before you investigate in the dark.
  • Ask the former guards and inmates on the day tour for their own stories.
  • Bring layers; the stone holds the cold.
  • Add Historic Rugby’s lantern tours or Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre for a full haunted weekend.

Go ghost hunting nearby

Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary haunted?

It has a strong reputation. The prison says visitors report being touched, shoved and growled at, and guides describe voices, whistles, scratches and sightings linked to James Earl Ray. These are reports, not proof, but the prison invites you to investigate for yourself.

Can you stay overnight at Brushy Mountain?

Yes, on a booked overnight paranormal investigation from 9 PM to 4 AM, with one group per night. There is also an RV park on site.

When did Brushy Mountain close?

On June 11, 2009, after 113 years. It reopened to the public as an attraction in 2018.

Did James Earl Ray escape from Brushy Mountain?

Yes. On June 10, 1977, Ray and six other inmates went over the fence. He was recaptured less than 58 hours later about eight and a half miles from the prison.

Were there executions at Brushy Mountain?

No. The prison says no executions were carried out there, though many prisoners died of disease, mine work and violence over its history.

How old do you have to be for a Brushy Mountain ghost tour?

18, or 16 and 17 with a parent or legal guardian who also signs the waiver.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.