The Lady in the Lake

I can't resist.  I know I should, but I can't.  I have too many wonderful ghost stories from Chattanooga to not write at least a little about one of them.  So here is my favorite.   There is an old cemetery on a mountain in Chattanooga.  The cemetery is called Greenwood Cemetery and the most remarkable ghost stories from this cemetery aren't really from the cemetery at all.  It is the quarry across the road from the cemetery that has the most remarkable ghost stories.  The quarry looks more like a small pond than a quarry, but according to local legend, this pond is deep with caverns that drift off into nowhere lurking beneath its murky depths.

There are many stories associated with this quarry.  There are tales of spectral green lights and drownings.   But the most poignant story is the story of a young woman afflicted with polio.   Apparently the disease crippled her and reduced her to a shell of a woman.   Her husband was left to care for her, but he wasn't really up to the job.   He took her out to the quarry and rolled her into the water and watched her drown.

Many tell the story of this young woman.  They say she comes out at night.   She drifts across the water dressed in white.  She is beautiful, like she was before the disease.  She comes with the mist and when the mist touches the ground, the footprints she leaves behind aren't footprints at all.   They are wheelchair tracks.