The Looney Jones House: Life Inside a Historic (and haunted) Home

I’ll never forget the moment Carl and Angie told me the name of the historic house they live in and are now renovating: The Looney Jones House. I couldn’t wait to replay our video-recorded conversation to see what kind of face I’d made upon hearing that. Or what I’d said. Had I asked them to repeat that? Did they really just call their house “looney”?

After reviewing the video, I was a little shocked (and bummed) to find that my poker face was engaged. I did make note of the name, but amazingly there were no big facial expressions as I’ve noticed I’m apt to make during interviews.

Why is it called the Looney Jones House?

The first owner’s wife died in childbirth. They named the house in honor of him! They bought it about three years ago, but have only been living in it for about 18 months.

Today I posted the video and podcast episode of my chat with Angie and Carl about their life living in a historic home while they restore it. Oh yeah, did I mention it also might be haunted?

If you want to watch or listen to the Looney Jones House episode, you’ll find links below. You can also look it up on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from.

But here’s a look at the history of the Looney Jones House and a brief recap of what I discussed with its owners.

About the Looney Jones House

The Looney Jones house is an antebellum home in the Federal style located in Columbia, Tennessee. The first section of the 185-year-old house was built in 1835. Another section was added in 1839, and a third in 1864.

A judge, a mayor, and a man who started an airline were all previous owners. There’s even a connection to Jack Massey, an entrepreneur who owned Kentucky Fried Chicken and the largest franchisees of Wendy’s, as well as co-founded the Hospital Corporation of America or HCA, which is a huge deal here in Nashville.

Carl and Angie had an excellent sense of humor about their connection with the house now. As Carl put it, “We’re probably the poorest and most unknown people who have ever owned the home.”

It wasn’t always a single-family home, though. For a time, it was also turned into apartments.

However, one of its biggest historical connections was to the Civil War, during which it served as union headquarters and a hospital for Union soldiers. The Union occupied Columbia for most of the war so soldiers who were injured would come there and recover.

They also guestimate that at least two or three presidents (or men who would eventually become presidents) had likely spent time in the house.

One of them, Andrew Jackson, even lived in a little cabin on their property once upon a time! (Before he became the 7th POTUS.) The cabin isn’t there anymore, but they found its remains during one of their restoration projects.

Speaking of…

Finds Inside the Looney Jones House

One of the neat things to emerge from our conversation was all of the finds they’ve made.

One of the first to come up was the bloodstains. It’s also one of the first things many people stopped and asked them if they’d discovered yet shortly after they bought the property.

So did they?

Similar to the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, which had also served as a hospital during the Civil War, Carl and Angie did find bloodstains on the floor near the window in the room that has the best natural lighting. They imagine it would’ve made sense for surgeons to set up in that part of the room to tend to those injured during battle, which would’ve included amputations.

But they’ve also found a skeleton key (that might’ve gone to the cabin), a half of a doll’s head, a big Dr. Pepper sign, and even a 50-year-old edition of the funny papers from the Nashville Banner. (See the “The Funny Papers Incident” section below for more about that.)

A friend of theirs even came with a metal detector. Right away he hit on something. It turned out to be an ambrotype. (A type of photo from the 1800s.)

It was of portrait of a woman. The Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU investigated. The woman didn’t fit the age of any of the women who would have lived in the house around the time the photograph was taken. Did it belong to a Civil War soldier who lost it?

But even crazier, a Bobcat and backhoe had been excavating that ground and didn’t break it. It was pure chance the metal directing friend had stopped by and ended up finding it unscathed. Channel 5, a local news station, even did a story about it.

Renovating the Looney Jones House

To say it was a “fixer-upper” would be an understatement.

As Angie said, “We live here, but are slowly working our way forward in the restoration. We still have a lot to go, but we have to take our time because it was in horrible shape. But it does have such an amazing history that we wanted to save it.”

Luckily they know a thing or two about renovations since they’re both general contractors, so the house is in good hands.

In the tradition of other owners who have added on to the house, Carl and Angie added on a kitchen. Amazingly, no one had ever really done that yet.

Right now they’re taking it room by room, project by project. There are still parts that are very raw but that has come in very handy for something they never expected their house to be used for.

The Looney Jones House as a Film, Music Video, and Photography Location

As they wrote about in their post, Movie Location Management…For Dummies, it’s been exciting to earn extra income from their home, but there’s also been a learning curve.

Carl and Angie explained they carefully vet who is going to use it, how and why. They expect it to be left in the same condition that it was found, and they make sure whoever is renting it has insurance in case it’s not.

As I don’t have these concerns and have never met anyone in such a position, I found it fascinating.

It was also exciting to hear which country stars have been in their home. One biggie was Luke Bryan. His song, “Build Me a Daddy,” was filmed in the Looney Jones House, which has millions of YouTube views!

An Ongoing Unsolved Mystery

When they’re not busy renovating, they also research the home.

With the help of friends, former occupants, and even the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU, who included research on who lived there as part of their historic structural report of the house, they’ve gathered a lot of facts and names, but sometimes dates don’t quite match up.

They’re on a mission to try and identify everyone who ever lived in the home, from the slaves who lived there prior to the Civil War to people who rented when it was apartments.

Sometimes people who once lived in the home or know people who did stop by, as they shared in this Facebook post:

However, one mystery they’re not sure they’ll ever solve is the architectural mystery, which even has the folks at MTSU stumped.

The trouble is the architectural style. What came first? They’re pretty sure the Federal-style did, but three of the four porches are also in the Italianate style. But when exactly were they added? There’s not a similar house like it to compare with or gather more information about so that leaves them with a bit of an unsolved mystery.

Except that’s not the only one…

The Mystery of the Tunnel

Does a tunnel run under their house to the nearby Duck River?

That’s the rumor.

So far they haven’t uncovered it, but if there is one, they have an idea where it might be.

But what was it used for? Smuggling? And if so, what? Did it smuggle slaves in or out as part of the Underground Railroad?

And does the tunnel have anything to do with the alleged paranormal activity?

Is the Looney Jones House haunted?

Besides the first owner’s wife and Civil War soldiers, they know there have been some other deaths in the house. Sadly, ones involving children. One of the families who lived there had 12 children, but only three lived to adulthood.

Carl will tell you he’s aware of, but actively ignores, the rumors their new-to-them home is also haunted. He’s the skeptic in the family who sets out to debunk any odd activity. He was encouraged when a former occupant who had lived there for over a year said he had never experienced anything.

Angie, on the other hand, is open to the idea that some of the 185-year-old house’s former occupants are still there. She believes the dining room and the room directly above it are sources for the activity.

She also spotted something out of the corner of her eye when only she and Carl were at the house. Carl was outside at the time —or so she thought. She went to the room where she thought she saw him go, only to discover he was still outside. (You can read more about it on their “Who ya gonna call” blog post.)

She’s also heard disembodied voices and unexplainable music. (Carl thinks it might’ve been from passing cars or something.) Their kids have heard footsteps. Former occupants have asked them if they’ve heard the baby crying yet. (Not yet.)

But they do know, like so many houses, theirs has seen trauma so it stands to reason there could be an “imprint” of some sort on it, as Carl put it.

My favorite story was one Angie told that convinced her something is there.

The Funny Papers Incident

After they bought the house they invited friends over for an open house to show them the big restoration project they were about to embark on. Angie was sweeping in the room where they were sitting for my interview with them.

Suddenly, a crumpled-up chunk of newspaper fell out of the fireplace. She hadn’t really jostled the fireplace. She thought it was odd and, curious, she picked it up and discovered it was the funny papers from the Nashville Banner dated December 17, 1967.

Exactly 50 years to the day she was standing there getting ready for their open house, which was December 17, 2017.

Even though it had been in the fireplace, she said it was so new-looking.

Instead of getting freaked out, she just said, “Hi! We’re here!”

And she did feel something was there because of that incident, but she has never felt threatened by it.

Maybe because the ghosts don’t feel threatened by them? After all, you give what you get and Angie and Carl only want to give their house decades, maybe even centuries, more life.

They’re there to fill it with love, and if you watch or listen to the episode, you’ll see that they are.

Does the Looney Jones House offer tours?

Not at this time.

However, Carl and Angie mentioned that the Columbia Ghost Tour stops outside to talk about their home’s haunted history, as well as the other restless spirits you might encounter on on the street, like at their neighbor’s house, which is called the Doctor’s House.

Listen to the Looney Jones House Episode

Watch the Looney Jones House Episode

For More Info

Visit the Looney Jones House blog.

You can also jaunt with them socially on Instagram and Facebook.

Check-In

Do you name your houses, apartments, or maybe even cars too?