The Fairyland Club is rumored to be inhabited by some visitors who never left.

The haunting of Lookout Mountain

By Jennifer Crutchfield

Photo courtesy of Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library

Mist, marvels, magic and mystery—all have lived on a mountaintop above our valley. Even now, spirits may waft in ghostly shapes on nights lit by a bright moon, floating over boulders whose very shapes and precarious placements defy our understanding and expand our idea of the nature of time.
One of the most famous ghost stories of the mountain comes from its earliest inhabitants. Some say the haunting souls of a young couple hover above the waterfall at Rock City’s Lover’s Leap, or “High Falls.” According to legend, a Native American man loved a woman from another tribe. Her people, blinded by the rage of their intolerance, threw him from that ledge—and then watched in horror as their own daughter jumped to her death, honoring her vow of love. Families driving up the Ochs Highway extension may still hear the screams of that lost couple, whistling through the crevices between the rocks on Lookout Mountain.

“Dark and bloody” history

The birth of the mountain was, itself, violent. Imagine though the terrible roar as tectonic plates crashed over 200 million years ago, earthquakes sending the bed of an ancient sea rising to the sky, forming that mountain with crevices and fissures that would erode to become the waterfalls, caves and marvels that have enthralled and educated generations of people.
Native Americans called the valley below Lookout Mountain the “Dark and Bloody Ground”—and that was long before the Civil War soaked the soil with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Native people considered the valley a land offered by their gods as fertile hunting ground, not a place to dwell; it was, they thought, inhabited by the spirits of their ancestors, who would guide hunters to feed ongoing generations. The people respected and feared the spirits of their Dark and Bloody Ground.
Looming above the valley, Lookout Mountain and its famous profile were a destination point for travelers through many ages. They followed paths worn deep by buffalo, hunters, warriors, families and, later, trains, cars and more families. The panoramic view lured men in moccasins, pioneers and soldiers. Were they drawn by the strategic advantage of the view of seven states, or enraptured by the breathtaking vista?

Caves link past, present

The area’s haunted past extends from Lookout Valley to the mountain’s peak—and even to within Lookout Mountain itself. In the miles of caves that honeycomb the mountain,
native shamans and chiefs held tribal conferences, and warriors hid caches of weapons and loot from their bloodthirsty raids.
Some of those caves, now part of Rock City, are stages to gnomes and figures depicting European folk tales. These scenes, whose appeal has spanned generations of children, are set in caves that took millions of years to create. Those caves were preserved and, since 1932, made public by the caretakers of the land, Garnet and Frieda Carter.
Mrs. Carter relished the natural beauty of the mountain and was passionate about sharing it with others. Her imagination was inflamed by the almost fanciful way some boulders, heavy enough to crush a car, seemed to balance on their tips. The shapes she imagined in other boulders—monolithic examples of geological upheaval and eons of erosion—are a testament to the engaging spirit of a woman who preserved part of a geological heritage that few Americans are lucky enough to share.
Mr. Carter dreamed of developing a residential neighborhood on top of the mountain at a time when air quality was sending people to higher land. His indulgence of his wife’s love of the flora and natural art of the mountaintop became more acute as word spread about the beauty of their property. A natural salesman, he saw entrance fees in the eyes of the people who asked to visit “Miss Frieda’s garden.”

Haunted Fairyland

The community Garnet Carter developed is still called Fairyland, a neighborhood built around its natural wonder, not through it. Since 1924, the epicenter of the community has been The Fairyland Club, a building in the English Tudor Revival style that is now included in the National Register of Historic Places. Some may think ghosts and ghouls frolic on the mountaintop only in October, when Ruby Falls and Rock City celebrate Halloween, but rumor has it that The Fairyland Club has at least two year-round ghosts of its own.
Built from local stone, with stucco and steep timbering, The Fairyland Club is a fascinating building, riddled with nooks and crannies; its walls and grounds have been haven to generations of families whose fortunes guided the future of Chattanooga—and to several visitors who never left.
There is a ladies’ room that is tucked under the massive stairs that is haven to Bobby, a persnickety ghost said to lurk there, his antics raising the hair of the most beautiful guests. Reputedly the thwarted lover in a deadly romantic triangle, Bobby announces his presence to ladies by breathing down their necks, the smell of his cigarette smoke acrid in their nostrils. Women for several generations have reported him slamming doors, flapping restroom stalls, causing rolls of tissue to spin, turning on water faucets and throwing tissue boxes. His persistent spirit is joined by a more feminine sort of ghost, a quiet and more ladylike presence reputed to frequent the upstairs office area. Prom guests have been known to place a setting for her, so as not to rile her with bad manners
At the Fairyland Club, as on all of Lookout Mountain, there are plenty of ghosts to go around. The history of the ages is etched in the boulders and alive for generations to come.