“Are ghosts more active during a full Moon?”

“Do you have a better chance of seeing ghosts at night?”

“Are ghosts more likely to be seen on the anniversary of their deaths?

After studying paranormal history, exploring local ghosts stories and leading groups through countless reportedly haunted locations in Nashville for many years, I have developed a few theories about ghosts through my own observations.

One core belief I have about ghosts is that how we perceive them and how they interact with us or show themselves varies from one ghost story to the next.  It makes sense that just as each individual person on this earth is unique, so too are the ghostly manifestations of those that have remained in the afterlife.

Some are aware of our presence and interact with us, sometimes even speaking or touching directly. Others seem unaware of our world at all, completely ignoring us as their phantoms walk right by. Some can be comforting and gentle, and some unfortunately can be dark and menacing, even violent in some rare cases I’ll write about in the future.

But one thing I have come to firmly believe about ghosts over the years through personal experience is that ghosts do work in patterns. Because of the nature of my work as a ghost tour guide, I will visit the exact same haunted sites for years on end. I have learned that when I have a sighting or paranormal experience at a location, I am very likely to have several at that same location over the next couple of months. Conversely, one spot can go “cold” for a long time, where I may have no or very few sightings for a long period of time, before that location goes “hot” again sometime in the future.
 
For example, starting in January of 2023 through March of the same year, I have had 3 families on my tour (seven guests in total) all see the same ghost on separate tours at the Tennessee State Capitol building.

If you have been on our Haunted Downtown Nashville Tour, you know our second location is the grounds and tombs of the Tennessee State Capitol. It’s my favorite stop on the tour with several fascinating ghost stories.

One of those is that of Rachel Jackson.  Rachel is a famously tragic, historic figure in Tennessee state history. She was married to future U.S. President, Andrew Jackson. Their marriage was not one of political convenience (as was often the case in those days), but Andrew and Rachel were very much in love. His heartbreak over her death many decades after her passing is well documented.

Rachel had been married once before, and had been divorced, but the paperwork was not filed properly. Because of this, unbeknownst to Rachel, when she married Andrew Jackson, she was still technically married to her first husband.  It is of course illegal to be married to two people at the same time. When Andrew began running for the Presidency, this scandal made its way into the newspapers badly damaging Rachel’s reputation in the community. She lost her friends, and polite society turned its back on her. The last several months of her life were sad and lonely. She spent months at her home with crippling depression. She ended up dying of heart failure the night before Andrew left Nashville to be inaugurated in Washington, DC, so she never got to become first lady, or see her husband become President.

This brings me to my second theory on ghost stories. I have come to believe that the vast majority of ghost are here because of unfinished business. A life cut short, regret, revenge, war, murder, redemption, and such are all common traits with ghost stories. Rarely do ghost stories center around people that have lived full, robust lives passing on at an advanced age.

With the tragedy of Rachel, her ghost manifests itself in a few ways. One, is that she haunts her former estate The Hermitage by playing the piano there. Second, she haunts the State Capitol tower.

ThIs is by far and away the most reported ghost in all of Nashville. There have been thousands of sightings of her over the years.

Will the ghost of Rachel stay active? Will we continue to see her on our tours, walking silently by the tower windows, looking down on our crowds below? Or is she soon to go dormant for a period? It’s hard to guess, but only time will tell how long this current streak will last.

When do you think ghosts are most active?  Have you noticed any patterns with ghosts in your life?  Comment down below.  We would love to hear your stories and theories.

Until next time, my friends!

Happy Haunting,

Frank

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