I recently took a little vacation to Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. I’ve been there many times so I was looking for something new to do when Luna suggested that I go on one of the ghost walks that are offered. We searched the net together and found that some were encouraging you to bring a camera and guaranteeing paranormal photos! Of course we knew that those kinds of tours weren’t for me so we kept searching.

Soon Luna found one that was a little more suited for people like us called Ghost Walk of Gatlinburg. We weren’t mislead as it says right on their site that they may embellish a bit for entertainment purposes and I really enjoyed the late night walk and the stories our guide told along the way. The best part for me though was after the walk. Our guide Tyler, was available to answer questions and was more than willing to go way above and beyond the parimeters of his job by talking with my husband and I about the history of Gatlinburg and his own ghost hunting experiences in the area! He gave us more than an hour of his time and when we had to leave to go back to the cabin I’d felt as though we’d made a new friend! I’ve invited him to join us here on The G.R.I.M. Society and hope to hear from him soon!

He told us many stories along our walk but the one that I found most interesting was the story he told about the pizza parlor.

Many years ago people could buy plots in the cemetery just like they could buy any other land so people would buy up a bunch of plots and then clear off the headstones, lump the plots together on one deed and sell them as usable land. Ths is what happened to a large portion of the White Oak Flats cemetery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Just over 35 years ago (a time that the locals refer to as B.D. — Before Dollywood) two businessmen bought a plot of land adjacent to the cemetary and erected the town’s first pizza parlor. Business was going well when they experienced some vandalising night after night. The owners noticed that there was no evidence of breaking and entering and contacted the police. They posted a night watchman outside and he never saw anyone going in or coming out, yet the vandalism continued.

Eventually one of the owners installed cameras inside and was astounded to find that things were being thrown about by something he couldn’t see and now and then he’d see an apparition on the film! He was afraid that his findings would not only label him the “crazy one” about town, but that it would be bad for business to admit to the haunting so he destroyed the tape and removed the cameras immediately! His business partner was anxious to find out what was on the tape so reluctantly the first man finally told him but swore him to secrecy. Of course the man’s partner couldn’t keep this outragous information to himself so he went to his best friend and told the story.

Before long the news had traveled through the small town and to the first man’s surprise it was very good for business but unfortunately it wasn’t good for keeping help. All of the workers promptly quit and the two men were left to run the booming business all by themselves. Sadly they weren’t able to keep up with the flurry of patrons so they eventually had to close up shop. I find it hard to believe that a business would have to close due to too many customers!

Today the building has been razed and there is nothing left but the parking lot. I snapped a couple photos there but haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary in those photos.