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As Seen on the Travel Channel, Jonesborough was listed as one of America's Top Ten Most Haunted Towns!!
On this tour, you will find out why!!!
| What former U.S. President still walks the haunted and historic streets of Jonesborough? Hear about this former President's encounter with the infamous Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee! Where do our guests hear the footfalls of a horse? What mysteries lie on or near the train tracks of Tennessee's oldest town? Discover the answers to these and many other mysteries on the |
| Haunted Historic Jonesborough GhostWalk!! Jonesborough was established in 1779 being laid out as a North Carolina Settlement. On these tours, our guests will get a real "feel" for the charm and mystery surrounding the |  |
 | history and lore associated with both recent as well as past extraordinary and mysterious encounters with the unexplained. Tennessee's most historic and haunted streets are rich in early frontier history and mystery!! Our tour of |
| Main Street will thrill you with many buildings that pre-date the Civil War, with the appearance of an old country-western ghost town! On Jonesborough's darker side, guests will wander the back streets of the town's |  |
| historic and haunted properties covering Jonesborough's railroad history as well the documented tragedies and unexplained phenomena surrounding the train tracks as well as other historic properties. |
The Jonesborough Ghost Tour Departs From:
117 Boone Street, Jonesborough, TN 37659
| Appalachian GhostWalks' "Haunted Historic Jonesborough GhostWalk" Lantern-Led Tour operates year-round by request. Advance reservations online with a minimum of two participants in your party are required to reserve as follows... |
March through October  RESERVE NOW
Evening Lantern-Led Jonesborough Ghost Tours Begin at 8:30 PM DST |
November through February RESERVE NOW
Evening Lantern-Led Jonesborough Ghost Tours Begin at 6 PM EST |
| Tours and dates are booked on a first come first served basis so it's a good idea to reserve your date as soon as possible. Keep in mind that if you book a tour and need to change the date, or even postpone your tour indefintely, you may do so as often as needed without limits, or change fees for up to one year from the date of purchase. By reserving your tour in advance, you're worry free knowing you will have the tour and date of choice for you and your travel companion, family, or tour group. |
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Here Are a Few Reviews From Past Tour Guests
My husband and I and two of our friends went on your Jonesborough ghost tour last Friday night and had a GREAT time. I just wanted to let you know that we thought you were a fantastic guide and very knowledgeable. I have been on ghostwalks in St. Augustine, Wilmington, and Arlington and Appalachian GhostWalks is BY FAR the best! I was particularly fascinated by the dowsing and hope to learn more about it. I am more comfortable with it knowing that you do it from a Christian standpoint. - Mrs. Stanley
Our Ghostwalk was Jonesborough. It was a great time! Stacey was super knowledgeable about the town's history and had a lot of stories about experiences that he and others had in the town. Photos were taken and we were able to see orbs in them, which was more than we were expecting. If you have any interest in the Paranormal, I would highly suggest this tour. - TripAdvsior - ForestFaye1022
I just wanted you to know that we all had an awesome time in Jonesborough. We got some great pictures of orbs!!!!! We are going to plan on going on the Erwin Ghost Tour soon and I'm still thinking about your class!! - Kathy Hughes, Office Manager, Department of Surgery
Stacey Allen, I just wanted to thank you for the awesome tour of Jonesborough. We had the best time with you as our tour guide. What a great way to spend a beautiful East Tennessee spring evening, enjoying the unparalleled beauty of Jonesborough and listening to your spellbinding stories. Your knowledge of the area's history is very impressive and adds so much to the tour. We couldn't stop talking about the encounter with the crazy jukebox. It was a long drive home in the dark after we heard those stories!!! I hope that we will be able to go on another tour soon, we would love to take all of them! Thanks ever so much. - Mrs. Brandi Lane
After going on your tour I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful time as well as your professionalism. I also wanted to say, you are a true testiment of what a paranormal investigator should be! I enjoyed Jonesborough as well as your company as a tour guide. I am so glad that I was able to meet such a wonderful and skilled person! I am hoping to bring my husband down for a tour from you! I was telling him how much I enjoyed it and hope to maybe bring my crew as well. I am seriously going to be attending your classes! I will bookmark your web page for future reference. - Cheryl Meyers
These are just a few of the many kind words expressed by our past guests. Read hundreds of other testimonials on the Guest Review page of our site. Many thanks to our wonderful past guests who we have toured with for more than twenty years. We appreciate you sending us your gracious feedback. We hope to see you again soon for another simply SPOOK-tacular good time!!! |
A Brief History of This Very Haunted and Historic Town
| HISTORY: Jonesborough is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. Its population was 5,860 as of 2020. It is "Tennessee's oldest town". Jonesborough is part of the Johnson City metropolitan area, which is a component of the "Tri-Cities" region. Jonesborough is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States and was the first county in America to be named after the Nation's first President. |
| Its population was 5,860 as of 2020. It is "Tennessee's oldest town". Jonesborough is part of the Johnson City metropolitan area, which is a component of the "Tri-Cities" region. Located in the far northeast corner of the state, Jonesborough was founded by European Americans in 1779, 17 years before Tennessee became a state and while the area was under the jurisdiction of North Carolina. It was named after North Carolina legislator Willie Jones, who had supported the state's westward expansion across the Appalachian Mountains. |
| Main Street is part of the Jonesborough Historic District that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The town was renamed "Jonesboro" for a period of time, but it took back its historic spelling. Jonesborough was originally a part of the Washington District. In 1784, it became the capital of the autonomous State of Franklin (ostensibly named after American founding father, Benjamin Franklin). Congress, however, never recognized Franklin, which was reclaimed by North Carolina in late 1788. Elihu Embree of Jonesborough founded the Manumission Intelligencier in 1819; he renamed it as The Emancipator the next year. The town was considered a center of abolitionism. The newspaper is the first American periodical to be dedicated exclusively to the issue of the abolition of slavery. |
| Tennessee and other border states into the 1830s were strong centers of abolitionist activity. The Tennessee Manumission Society was founded in 1815. East Tennessee was especially an area of Unionist leanings, made up of subsistence farmers who raised tobacco as a market crop. They had small holdings that also produced family needs. They held relatively few slaves compared to landowners in Middle Tennessee or the plantation areas of the Delta near the Mississippi River. Many became Republicans and continued to vote with that party after the war, when the other two regions of the state were dominated by Democrats. |
| In the 1840s, the Jonesborough Whig was published here. Its publisher was William G. "Parson" Brownlow, who relocated it from Elizabethton, Tennessee, after about two years, under his own name. Brownlow and rival editor Landon Carter Haynes, who was also a Methodist preacher and circuit rider, brawled in the streets of Jonesborough in May 1840. Over the next several years, the two newspapermen bashed one another in their respective papers, each managing at times to thwart the other's political ambitions. Haynes left the newspaper business in 1845, and Brownlow, who later was elected as governor, moved the Whig to the larger city of Knoxville in 1849. From 1865 to 1873 the town was served by The Union Flag. In this period, the Jonesboro Herald & Tribune, and the Jonesboro Tennessee Echo, the latter edited and published by Colonel George E. Gresham, were also published. |
| Cholera pandemic, 1873: During the summer of 1873, a cholera epidemic spread throughout the Mississippi River system, having originated in New Orleans. Part of the fourth cholera pandemic that started in India and spread west into Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean, it was believed to have been introduced to the Louisiana port by immigrants or other travelers. It spread to river towns visited by steamboats, and among neighboring settlements. None of the towns had adequate sanitation systems. |
| With a mortality rate of 99 percent and no understanding of how the disease was contracted, people dreaded an outbreak. (It was variously attributed to poor diet and miasma.) While residents of Jonesborough heard about cases in Knoxville and Greeneville, which was about 24 miles away and hard hit, their first case was not seen until July 14. Mrs. A. C. Collins died after caring for two refugees from Greeneville, who recovered. The Herald & Tribune had already published a warning about cholera, and many people had left the town for what they thought were healthier locations. The newspaper did not publish again for weeks, as cholera spread rapidly in town. |
| Of the estimated 75 people left, 30 died by early August and another 30 contracted the disease but survived. Victims included publisher Col. George Gresham, who had devoted himself to caring for victims, and G.C. Thrasher, one of four ministers who also remained in the town during the crisis. The town received help and monies from other localities, and within a month, the disease had mostly run its course. Residents began to return to the depleted town, shaken by the disastrous month. |
| Modern tourism: The Chester Inn, built in 1797, still stands in downtown Jonesborough. Today, Jonesborough attracts heritage tourism because of its status as Tennessee's oldest town and its rich architectural fabric, protected by local historic preservation efforts. The town's museum describes the local heritage of small-scale tobacco farming. The historic Chester Inn, built in 1797, still stands in downtown Jonesborough. The Jonesborough Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. The oldest surviving building in the town, the Christopher Taylor House (built in 1777 about a mile outside of the original town limits), was relocated to a lot within the historic district. |
| Jonesborough is the home of the International Storytelling Center, which holds the annual National Storytelling Festival on the first full weekend in October. The festival builds on the Appalachian cultural tradition of storytelling, and has been drawing people from around the world for more than 35 years. Large tents are pitched in parks around town, and storytellers sit on stages or at the head of the main tent to perform. Occasionally, performances are interrupted for a moment by passing Norfolk Southern Railway trains. Past storytellers included Carmen Agra Deedy, Syd Lieberman, and Kathryn Tucker Windham. The festival inspired the development of a successful storytelling graduate degree program at nearby East Tennessee State University. |
| GEOGRAPHY: Jonesborough is situated in an area where the watershed of the Watauga River meets the watershed of the Nolichucky River. The Watauga passes about 10 miles (16 km) to the northeast of Jonesborough, and the Nolichucky passes roughly 10 miles (16 km) to the southwest. The town's principal stream, Little Limestone Creek, is part of the Nolichucky watershed. Jonesborough is surrounded by low hills and elongated ridges that are characteristic of the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley Province. The main crest of the Appalachians rises just a few miles southeast of Jonesborough. The Jonesborough Repertory Theatre produces community theater and hosts educational workshops for aspiring actors. The current artistic director is Jennifer Schmidt. |
| Jonesborough is centered on the junction of Andrew Johnson Highway (which is part of both U.S. Route 321 and U.S. Route 11E), which connects the town to Greeneville to the southwest and Johnson City to the northeast, and State Route 81, which connects Jonesborough to Interstate 81 to the northwest and Interstate 26 at Erwin to the southeast. The southern Appalachian Mountains are home to numerous outdoor activities, such as hiking/backpacking, cycling (road and mountain), hunting, fishing (streams, rivers, and lakes), whitewater rafting/kayaking, golf, disc golf, ATV/motocross, rock climbing, zip lining/canopy tours, and caving. |
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