Stay Away From Tennessee's Most Haunted Street After Dark Or You May Be Sorry
By Meghan Kraft|Updated on March 31, 2023(Originally published March 26, 2023)
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Meghan Kraft
Author
Meghan Kraft loves to travel the world, but she makes her home right here in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a degree in English, and has worked in the digital marketing realm with companies such as Apartments.com, USA Today and HarperCollins Publishing.
Sensabaugh Tunnel has been given a bad rap by the folks of Tennessee, and for good reason. It’s the location of one of the most rampant hauntings in the state. Really – the stories that have spawned from this place are extensive and downright chilling. When you are looking for haunted places in TN, this one most certainly will rank up there. We’re going to show you the very spot where each supposed event occurred, but if you decide to visit? That’s completely on you.
Kingsport, Tennessee is a beautiful east Tennessee hamlet. Most of the city lies in Sullivan County, with the city of over 50,000 sitting pretty in the roiling greenery of the surrounding forests and valleys. It is so beautiful with the surrounding mountains and scenery that it is hard to imagine something so sinister happening within this community.
There's a darker side to Kingsport, however. A ghost story that has spanned almost a century, dredged from the hearts of east Tennesseans that don't come close to Sensabaugh Hollow Road. And for good reason. Spooky stories and strange encounters seem to happen around this tunnel, it might take only the bravest to dare enter.
Sensabaugh Tunnel was built in the 1920's on land owned by the Sensabaugh family, predominantly Ed Sensabaugh. Rumors of terrifying tales and experiences down by and in the tunnel began almost immediately. Some said they heard phantom sounds, crying babies and footsteps that belonged to no one. Some say a homeless man broke into the Sensabaugh home and stole money, jewels, and the most precious thing they had: their child. Ed was said to have chased the man to the tunnel, where the thief tossed the child to his death in the river beside it. That's enough heartache to make for a ghost, wouldn't you say? To this day people have made claims of hearing disembodied voices and screams within the tunnel and around the area.
Others say that Ed was the murderer. A man who forever walks the earth after murdering his whole family in their beds, then taking his own life in the seclusion of the tunnel. Another legend concerns a young woman who was chased out of her home and gave birth in the tunnel, both her and the child expiring before morning. It's her child that is said to scream through the night, inconsolable. Either way, the sounds of tortured souls are rumored to be heard coming out of this terrifying place.
Weirdly enough like most urban legends the stories tend to get muddled a bit. Some claim that the original tunnel is called Big Elm Tunnel, or Click Tunnel. This eerie place has no road running through it and is overgrown. In fact, if you drive by it you might miss it altogether, there are no pull-offs and nowhere to park on the narrow road. Still, there are whispers of ghostly tales, murderous stories, and chilling accounts that have happened at this location too.
The last story we've heard was that of a young woman whose car stalled on one side of the tunnel, and she ventured through to the other side in search of help. Yep, you guessed it - no one saw her again. Alive, anyway. She may be one of the ghosts that is said to haunt the place, the road, and the tunnel. To this day it is said that if you go through the tunnel at night and turn off your lights, then turn off your car, then you will not be able to get it turned on again. You will be stuck in the dark you never know what might be lurking in the shadows all around you.
What an eerie experience, hey? The Sensabaugh Tunnel is quite the wild ride, one that you may not want to drive down by yourself…It is up to you if you are into haunted places in TN, this might be one you want to check out.
To learn more about this terrifying place make sure to watch this video from YouTuber Real Appalachia:
