Is there ever a ghost tale more frightening than one based in real life experiences soaked with tragedy and despair? Come along with us as we explore a haunted tunnel in North Carolina. A tunnel where tragic things have occurred; things that some might consider inexplicable – while others are convinced the reason is as plain as day.

Welcome to the Cowee Tunnel, a 700-foot train tunnel carved through the mountain just outside of Dillsboro, North Carolina.
Google Maps
Resting in the horseshoe of the Tuckasegee River, which snakes around the mountain forming a big loop to the northwest, the Cowee Tunnel has reportedly been haunted for more than a century.
In 1882, a chain gang of convicts was put to work building a train tunnel through the mountain here.
Google/Sharon Soligny
It was grueling work and as the tunnel was literally in the middle of nowhere, getting to work each day wasn't easy.
Today, the tunnel still stands, exactly as it did upon completion well over a hundred years ago.
Google/Sharon Soligny
But that completion didn't happen until well after a major tragedy occurred while transporting those convicts over to the work site one morning.
Google/Sharon Soligny
They were all in one boat on a frigid December morning and the Tuckasegee was particularly unforgiving that day. To cross the river, the convicts had to pull the boat by using a guide cable stretched across the waters.

The boat began to take on water and the convicts started to panic. Nineteen of them forced themselves to the front of the boat and accidentally toppled out into the icy waters, connected at the feet by their heavy chains. As one can imagine, they died in those frigid waters after sinking to the bottom, each pulling the next down into a watery grave.

This was on December 30, 1882. On New Years Day, the bodies were pulled from the water and it's believed they were buried in a mass gave in the hillside next to the tunnel entrance (although there has forever been talk that the bodies are buried en mass somewhere in Dillsboro).
As the story goes, one of the remaining 11 convicts in the boat actually saved one of the guards during the incident. Instead of receiving recognition he was beaten and sent back to work. His name was Drake.
Google/Sharon Soligny
To this day tragedy has stricken the Cowee Tunnel on more than one occasion. Since the 19 convicts died there, there have been cave-ins and derailments. And the walls inside the tunnel have a near constant seepage from the ceiling high above. The water is thought to be the tears of the convicts buried in the hillside.
Others believe that Drake, the brave convict who saved the guard, himself cursed the tunnel after taking that beating on behalf of his fellow inmates that fell out of the boat and died.
Google/Sharon Soligny
Note: Do not dare to walk through the tunnel on foot. It's too narrow and dangerous and is 700 feet in length. Additionally, it's on private property and trespassing in a crime.
Some people find ways to see it in person, but the best way to experience the Cowee Tunnel is to take a ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. You'll travel right through Cowee Tunnel and can see for yourself if you get any paranormal or creepy vibes.
Google/Jeff Baxter

Did you know about this haunted tunnel in North Carolina? Ever ridden through it on the GSMR?

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