Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary: Where Ghosts, Moonshine and History Collide

Does it seem a little out of place that I included June 5: National Moonshine Day on the Weird Holidays & Observances page? Maybe. But it does involve spirits after all…

And it also gives me a great reason to write about my jaunt to Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary since I haven’t yet.

Last November my husband and I headed to the Historic Brushy Mountain in Petros, Tennessee, after our neighbors raved about it.

I had heard about it thanks to a couple of stories I’d included in Haunted Headlines. (Specifically the 3/16/18-3/23/18 and the 3/30/18 – 4/6/18 posts.)  Until I talked with our neighbors, however, I wasn’t aware it had opened to the general public.

Not only had the history and atmosphere of Brushy Mountain impressed them, but so had the fact it was so open about their ghosts. (It’s really exciting when new haunted places open, isn’t it? Brushy Mountain was one of two in 2018 that I was aware of. The other being Sweet Springs Sanitarium.)

Anyway, my neighbors knew ghosts would appeal to me, and history would appeal to Wayne. It all sounded good, so when an opportunity presented itself to visit, I was raring to go.

Admit One (Well, Really Two)

Before proceeding to the prison proper, we stopped in the building where the Gift Shop and Restaurant (which is aptly named The Warden’s Table) are. That’s where you buy your tour tickets.

The atmosphere in that building instantly impressed me. It was modern, yet still had a correctional institution feel. I guess you could call it a “prison chic” vibe. (Which I never expected to dig, but we learn new things about ourselves all the time, don’t we?)

But let me back up a sec, because that wasn’t the first thing that had made an impression. The prison itself, which we hadn’t quite gotten to yet but had seen looming against the mist-shrouded hills, also struck a chord.

End of the Line Moonshine

Okay, back to the starting point. If you like spirits –and in this case I mean of the moonshine variety, not so much the paranormal kind (although they have ghosts too)– Brushy Mountain’s got you covered with their End of the Line Moonshine.

They have all kinds of flavors, including Apple Pie, Blackberry, Lemon Drop, Honey, Fruit Punch, Peach Cobbler, Frosted Orange, Butterscotch, Cinnarum, and Scared Straight. They even offer Moonshine Tastings!

We didn’t do a tasting, because I was there for the other spirits. I didn’t need any liquid courage to go looking for them.

Or did I? I hadn’t seen the sign posted outside the entrance to the jail yet…

Warning: Ghosts Ahead

You know how I said at the beginning that my neighbors were so impressed about how open Brushy Mountain is about its ghosts? No joke. They even include them in their warning of possible hazardous conditions you might encounter.

In case you can’t read exactly what’s posted on the sign above, here’s a close up of it:

Right on! This is my kind of place! Well, except for the snakes. I’m not scared of them, but my husband is. He might’ve had a heart attack if we came across one.

Speaking of heart attacks, it was in the Hole where he felt like he was having one…

The Hole

We had just made our way down to the Hole area with the tour group when my husband asked if I had any Advil. We were standing in a space outside the guard room and the entrance to the three solitary confinement cells.

He didn’t look quit right. I figured he might have a headache from the driving (we had been on the road a couple of hours by then), or maybe the weather (it was rainy that day), or maybe both.

Only later did I learn that he had felt a wave of nausea followed by chest pains the moment we’d gotten down in the Hole. (We ended up having to take him to the ER a few days later. Luckily it turned out he was fine.)

But I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d had a reaction to whatever was down there.

While we were in the Hole our guide, a former tour guard now turned tour guide, shared the first ghost story with us.

Note: He was not a ghost tour guide. We lucked out and got a guard who was open to talking about the paranormal activity many have reported experiencing.

He’d never had anything happen, but he did share an EVP a female paranormal investigator had gotten while spending the night alone in one of the solitary confinement cells. It was downright chilling.

The whole area felt…heavy. That’s the best way I can describe it. I believe an angry soul is stuck there. Which would be awful, right? Bad enough to have to be in there while you’re alive. At least you know you’ll likely get out one day. But to spend all of eternity trapped there? Brutal.

 

The Cafeteria

The other place I felt something was the cafeteria. From the moment we walked in, well before our guide told us it was the scene of many fights and a very gruesome murder, there was just something about the way it felt.

There was kind of a sadness about it.

Our guard showed us where the inmates would line up to get food –or in some cases get pounded and sliced if they tried to cut the line.

The Laundry Room

The laundry room felt eerie because of the weird green light glowing from within. Heck, maybe even without the greenish glow it still would’ve felt creepy. Maybe I just have a natural aversion to laundry rooms. I hate doing it. (Which is why it piles up every week –both to wash and fold.)

I didn’t hear any ghost stories while on the tour about this area, but I decided to include a few photos to give you an idea of the atmosphere. I did my best to try and capture it.

MLK’s Assassin?

 

Okay so I’ve covered some of the prison’s haunted places, but it’s not called Historical Brushy Mountain for nothing.

Perhaps one of its most infamous prisoners was James Earl Ray, the man convicted of assassinating Marin Luther King Jr.

He served time at Brushy Mountain. He even escaped for a few days in 1977.

The most interesting thing I learned while at the prison concerned him.

Ray claimed he was framed and professed his innocence until his death. I was stunned to learn the King family actually believed that too –and had met with James Earl Ray and tried to draw public support to appeal his case.

So did James Earl Ray take the fall for someone else? Did the FBI actually coordinate the hit on King? Or did someone else, but the FBI worked to help cover it up?

You conspiracy theorists are probably more plugged into all of this than I am. I had no idea any of this had gone down. Neither did my husband.

We’ve toured a lot of prisons. We always learn something. Some are more jaw dropping and enlightening than others, but what we learned at Brushy Mountain was that it was a harsh place and was definitely the End of the Line for many.

It’s no wonder those who didn’t make it out alive may still be serving time there.

For More Info

Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary is a fascinating place. And if you’re a shutterbug, it offers plenty of photo opportunities. (To see some more shots I took, visit the Brushy Mountain album on HJ’s Facebook page.)

It’s open to visitors April through the end of November.

Visit their website for tour hours, ticket prices, and directions: https://tourbrushy.com

Check-In

Are you a moonshine drinker? Whether you’ve tried it or not, which of the End of the Line Moonshine flavor(s) appeals most to you?

While I love anything blackberry and would’ve likely tried it first, the Scared Straight was my favorite “flavor” name. If we had done the tasting, I would’ve had to try some of that!