Spirits of Servants

Two spirits haunt the kitchen area of the mansion, and sometimes move to other parts of the house.

The head of a cook who worked for the family during the Civil War years was seen floating in the hallway, near the kitchen.

The cook is often also heard bustling around in the kitchen, doing her various duties, going about her business, letting the living know that she is still there.

The spirit of the murdered servant girl is a mischievous spirit likes to play tricks on the living, when not doing chores like washing the dishes in the kitchen.

Hearing some noises from the small, enclosed porch off the back of the house, the curator went to investigate. She found two old panes of glass, on either side of the back door, which had been taken down from a box of panes, located on a shelf.

Three Other Spirits.

A spirit of a soldier – A soldier’s spirit has moved into one of the bedrooms. He has his own decor tastes!

Perhaps he died there, or close by outside, and decided to move into the mansion and stay there, perhaps not quite ready to leave.

A picture of the mansion mysteriously crashed to the floor in this bedroom, and was found on top of the floor heater, a place that it couldn’t get to by itself.

A spirit of a lady – She is dressed in white, and haunts the back porch area, sometimes floating into the backyard.

A spirit of a girl – She has been described as being  a beautiful young girl, with long brown hair.

She has appeared to a workman on the second floor hall way, inspiring his hasty retreat down the stairs.

Workmen now go upstairs in pairs.

Activity During the Autumn

Spirits of the fallen are especially active in the Autumn months, at dusk.

One general isn’t able to rest, because he knew that his men wouldn’t hold up too well and is still fretting about the coming battle he knew would be a bloodbath.

This spirit, General Pat Cleburne, a man with a mustache, a short beard and piercing eyes, paces the back porch, walks around the outside parameter of the mansion, and on occasion talks to lone persons.

Spectral Conversations

A man, Mr. P, who had an ancestor fight in the Franklin battle came at just after 5:00 PM to see Carnton Mansion, but it was closed, so he walked around the place, on a path that led to the back of the mansion, trying to soak up the atmosphere, and thinking about his relative who fought here and survived.

Near the porch, he saw the silhouette of a man that he thought was about to get on a horse, but the horse vanished.

Noticing another man on the porch, Mr. P asked him what had happened to the horse. The man explained that the horse was shot from under the other soldier, like his horse had been earlier.

This mysterious man, standing on the porch, dressed like a Civil War Confederate Officer, went on to explain that whether on horse or on foot, they would be at the mercy of the enemy tonight.

Ill-Prepared For Battle

Furthermore, if Mr. P was coming with him, P had better have a pistol, or he wouldn’t last long. This Civil War officer further predicts in an angry voice that not many men were going to make it through the night, and it was the fault of that fool, Hood, who had ordered his men into this soon to be slaughter. He then hums a line or two of a rallying song.

Mr. P was thinking that this officer must have been part of a Civil War enactment, and must have thought that Mr. P was part of it. Mr. P asks this officer what kind of carbine he was carrying. “It’s an Enfield .577. What do you have?”

Mr. P confesses that he doesn’t have any, and wouldn’t know how to use it. His comment astonished and alarmed the officer, who urgently told him to quickly leave and go to either the Carter house or to town, out of harm’s way.

The officer then talks to another spirit by his side. “Well, Govan, if we are to die, let us die like men.” The officer then throws his hat up in the air, in an angry, forceful way, and melts into the air.

A surprise Mr P! Though this general was solid and life-like, he was a spirit!

Mr. P’s Battle Experience

Mr. P then heard the sequence of the sounds of battle. The officer’s voice, yelling “Charge men! Charge.”

Then a swell of the sound of shots, shells, muskets and cannons fill the air.

He heard the music of a regiment band, playing “Annie Laurie.”

Then he heard a whole army of rebel yells, which were fierce, nerve-jolting cries.

Terrified, Mr. P tried to run toward his car, surrounded by the unearthly din of battle, as he felt the cold, creepy feeling of death surrounding him. He found himself stumbling around in the graveyard near the mansion.

The next day, Mr. P went back to Carnton Mansion when it was open, and found out that the officer he had talked to was indeed the much loved Irishman, General Pat Cleburne .

Still another officer paces back and forth in heavy boots on the front porch.