Crazy George’s Bridge and the Witch’s Cemetery

There is something very comforting about a ghost story. This statement may sound like a contradiction but I consider it more of a paradox. Being frightened or scared is a feeling that most would consider uncomfortable, but it is an uncomfortability that most embrace and enjoy. How else do you explain the fact that nearly ever town has its own ghost story and I guarantee that we all, at one time or another, have heard or told a ghost story. There is something very comforting in the uneasiness of these frightening tales, something that takes a nostalgic grip over us and brings us back to a time when we were easily frightened by the shadows with unseen sources in our bedroom nightlights. These ghost stories take us back to a time before our rationale said that’s just the house making normal noises, instead our minds told us that something more was lurking in the dark, something frightening and unusual. Perhaps this is why I am fascinated with ghost stories, specifically stories that take place in the Upper Cumberland area of Tennessee, as that is where I grew up. These stories bring back memories from my own childhood, when my biggest responsibility was deciding if I was going to spend most of the day outside or playing video games and before my innocence was corrupted by the real world.