Jackson, Tennessee, is located in an area known as Middle Tennessee. Known for its big city charm coupled with small town wholesomeness, Jackson lies right between Nashville and Memphis. The city is home to country singer Carl Perkins, the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant, a blues and Rockabilly festival and a famous farmers market. Perhaps lesser known are the many haunted attractions near Jackson that draw tourist from around the country.
Built between 1 and 500 AD, the Pinson Mounds south of Jackson are Native American in origin. Safely protected in the Pinson Mounds State Archeological Area, the mounds are rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of the Woodland Indians who built them. Burial mounds abound here and reports of strange energy sources, ghosts and weird noises are not uncommon. If the hauntings are not enough of an attraction, check out Ozier’s Pyramid, located in the mounds. An ancient, earthly pyramid, it lines up with sunrise on the spring equinox.
A few miles southeast of Jackson is Savannah, Tennessee, and a house called the Cherry Mansion. Built in 1830, the house was originally owned by a Unionist man and his pro-Southern wife. Many Civil War generals came and went through the house, including Ulysses S. Grant, who used the Cherry Mansion as his headquarters. General W.H.L. Wallace died at the house. This haunted attraction has been the source of numerous reports citing ghosts, noises and ethereal voices. In 1976, several people saw a man in white walk up to the historic marker and vanish before their eyes.
Near Jackson, Tennessee, in rural Henry County are the city of Paris and a famous haunted attraction known as Dumpling Hill Cemetery. Its official name on maps is Pleasant Grove Cemetery and it is one of more than 50 graveyards in Paris. Local folklore suggests that in the 1800s a slave was convicted of a crime, hanged and buried in the cemetery. His ghost is said to walk among the gravestones at night chasing away any visitors.
