Haunted Chattanooga, TN: 6 Haunted Places in and Around the Scenic City
A hotel room with a 1927 murder story, a leaking dam that left one great powerhouse on the river, and an empty hospital where a seven-foot shadow tells you to get out. These are the most haunted places in and around Chattanooga.
Chattanooga’s ghosts come from the Civil War battles on Lookout Mountain and at Chickamauga, from the river and from a long run of hard history. We have checked each place against current sources: two of them, the Old South Pittsburg Hospital and the Hales Bar powerhouse, let you investigate after dark, and the Read House lets you sleep in its most haunted room.
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 1265 Hales Bar Rd, Guild, TN 37340
Where to look The powerhouse, the tunnels beneath it and the old control room
Reported ghosts Workers who died building the dam; children; a young woman on the second floor; Native American voices
Visiting Private powerhouse with reservation-only tours; marina and distillery on site
Tours Distillery and history tours of the powerhouse; seasonal haunted attraction
Ghost hunting The powerhouse has hosted ghost tours and paranormal investigations; check what is running before you go
Work on the Tennessee River’s first multipurpose dam began on October 17, 1905, and dragged on until November 1913 as soft limestone defeated contractor after contractor. It leaked almost from the day it opened, TVA bought it in 1939, and it was replaced by Nickajack Dam and dismantled in 1968. Only the Classical Revival powerhouse survives, on the National Register since 2008.
Records confirm deaths in construction: a boiler explosion, a falling derrick, a worker drowned in a rope. Legend adds a curse, said to have been laid in 1775 by Cherokee leader Dragging Canoe, who warned the land would be dark and bloody. Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures have both investigated the powerhouse, where visitors report shadow figures, voices and touches.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the Dam Whiskey distillery and history tour to get into the powerhouse tunnels, and check what ghost tours or investigations are running that season.
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowedOvernight investigations
Address 1100 Holly Ave, South Pittsburg, TN 37380
Where to look The third floor, the nursery, Nelly's room (304) and the second-floor nursing station
Reported ghosts A 7-foot shadow figure; Buddy, a toddler; a nurse; Jim the caretaker; Nelly
Visiting Paranormal research center open for tours and investigations
Tours Day tours, public night investigations, half nights and private overnights
Hours and season Day tours 10 AM to 2 PM by appointment; night investigations from 6 PM (Central)
Tickets Day tour and mini investigation $35; overnight for up to 8 people $659 (2026)
Ghost hunting Yes: public and private investigations and overnights; ages 14 to 18 with an adult
South Pittsburg Municipal Hospital opened in 1959 and closed in 1998. The 68,000-square-foot building was used for storage until a later owner noticed odd things and let investigators in. Paranormal investigator Ronnie Dee bought it in 2018, and it now runs as the Old South Pittsburg Hospital Paranormal Research Center, about 35 minutes west of Chattanooga.
Staff believe 40 to 50 spirits are active here. The best known is a shadow figure at least seven feet tall on the third floor that is said to tell people to get out, and Buddy, a toddler on the second floor who giggles and asks to be picked up. Former employees reported moving carts and wheelchairs, crying babies and voices while the hospital was still open.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a half night midweek in winter for the lowest price, and spend time in the nursery and on the third floor.
Address 107 West M.L.K. Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37402
Where to look Room 311
Reported ghosts Annalisa Netherly
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
A hotel has stood on this downtown corner since the Crutchfield House of 1847, which served as a Civil War hospital and burned in 1867. Dr. John T. Read’s Read House opened on New Year’s Day 1872, and the current ten-story Georgian building by Holabird & Roche opened in 1926. Avocet Hospitality restored it to its 1920s look in 2018, and it calls itself the longest continually operating hotel in the Southeast.
Its ghost is Annalisa Netherly, who local lore says was murdered in the bathtub of Room 311 in 1927 by a jealous husband. No record of her death has been found, but guests report running water, flickering lights and a figure in the room. The hotel offers tours of 311 and you can book a night in it.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book Room 311 directly with the hotel for the full experience, or ask about a tour of the room if it is taken.
Address 3370 LaFayette Rd, Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742
Where to look Snodgrass Hill and Wilder Tower
Reported ghosts Old Green Eyes; soldiers, gunshots and cannon fire
Visiting National military park; roads and grounds open in daylight hours
Hours and season Grounds open in daylight; closed from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise. Visitor center daily 8:30am to 5pm ET
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No; the park is closed after dark and rangers turn away night-time ghost hunters
Just over the Georgia line south of Chattanooga, Chickamauga was fought from September 18 to 20, 1863, the largest battle in Georgia and the second bloodiest of the war after Gettysburg, with about 34,000 casualties. Congress made it one of the first national military parks in 1890, and Lookout Mountain Battlefield and Point Park above Chattanooga are part of the same park.
Its best-known legend is Old Green Eyes, told in many versions: a Confederate soldier’s floating head searching for its body, a Cherokee spirit, or a fanged creature said to make drivers run off the road. Visitors also report figures, gunshots and cannon fire, especially around Snodgrass Hill and Wilder Tower. None of it is on record, and rangers have had to move night-time ghost watchers away from the Wilder Monument.
Haunted Rooms tip: Come for the battlefield drive by day and finish at Wilder Tower before the park closes, half an hour after sunset.
The museum stands on the Bluff View cliff above the Tennessee River, land held sacred by the Cherokee, later the site of Bluff Furnace in 1854 and of grand mansions from 1904. It opened as an art gallery in the Faxon-Thomas mansion in 1952. Next door, at No. 15 Bluff View, lived the Bennett family and their aunt, Augusta Hoffman.
Augusta vanished around 1915 (one account says 1912); the family said she had left to marry a man named Brown. In 1924 workers found her skeleton under the basement floor of No. 15. Family members were convicted, but local accounts say the conviction was later overturned. Ghost tours speak of five ghosts, with Augusta a feminine shadow at a window, though the museum has called it all in good fun and said no staff had seen a ghost.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit the museum by day, then join an evening walking ghost tour that stops on the bluff.
Leo Lambert found a narrow opening into Lookout Mountain in 1928 and followed it to an underground waterfall, which he named for his wife, Ruby. The older Lookout Mountain Cave entrance had been sealed by railroad work in 1905.
Its ghost story is Lomax, a colleague of Lambert’s said to have been trapped in a passage when his lantern died. He was found babbling a warning not to go further, his hair turned white within days, and he left town for good. Guests on later tours reported cold hands at their necks in the dark, and the chamber was sealed. Each fall Ruby Falls runs after-hours Lantern Tour: Ghost Walk Edition walks.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the Lantern Tour: Ghost Walk Edition in the fall; it is for ages 12 and up and sells out, so buy online.
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.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
The Delta Queen steamboat
Long moored in Chattanooga as a hotel, with stories of the ghost of Captain Mary B. Greene, who died aboard in 1949. The boat left the city in March 2015 for Houma, Louisiana, and its owners announced in June 2025 that it was for sale. You can no longer stay on it here.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Chattanooga?
Room 311 at the Read House is the most famous, linked to the legend of Annalisa Netherly. Hales Bar Dam, west of the city, and the Old South Pittsburg Hospital are the most investigated.
Can you ghost hunt in Chattanooga?
Yes. The Old South Pittsburg Hospital Paranormal Research Center runs day tours, night investigations and overnights, and the Hales Bar powerhouse has hosted ghost tours and investigations.
What is Old Green Eyes?
A Chickamauga battlefield legend told in many forms: glowing green eyes in the dark, a soldier’s apparition or a fanged creature. The battlefield is a national military park, closed after dark.
Are there ghost tours in Chattanooga?
Yes, several downtown walking tours stop at the Read House, the Hunter Museum bluff and the Walnut Street Bridge area, and Ruby Falls runs Lantern Tour: Ghost Walk Edition each fall.
Is the Delta Queen still in Chattanooga?
No. The haunted steamboat left Chattanooga in March 2015 and has been docked in Houma, Louisiana. In June 2025 its owners said it was for sale.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so 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.
