Today, we’re going to explore East Tennessee and head to Western North Carolina, specifically Bryson City. Bryson City is a little town in the Great Smoky Mountains, and like all the nooks and crannies of Appalachia, it too has a rich history behind it.
In Bryson City, there’s a six-mile scenic drive that abruptly ends; because of this, it has been named ‘the road to nowhere.’ This road ends at a 1,200-foot deep covered tunnel that is now completely covered in graffiti.
While the tunnel now is well on its way to ruin in the 1930s, at one point, there was a plan for it. The government decided to build a road in the national park for different towns to reach each other easily without displacing communities. The government promised to build a road for these communities, specifically for them to have easier access to family cemeteries.
In the 40s, construction was stopped. This was due to environmental issues that made it difficult to reach completion, including pyrite, which is extremely toxic when it hits the streams and turns into runoff. For the well-being of everyone involved in construction, it was decided that the tunnel would remain unfinished.
Due to the creepy nature of the tunnel ending so jarringly, it is said that the area is haunted, but there is no specific being behind the hauntings. As I mentioned earlier, this tunnel is marked by human activity, showing that it is a very popular spot for people to visit, especially the younger generation. While people come to explore the tunnel, they have reported seeing dark figures off in the distance, met with eerie voices.
Almost everyone who visits the site has reported an overwhelming sense of dread, and many seem to believe it is because the hauntings are actually from the displaced families who never got closure by seeing their families from other towns. Once again, while there is no origin to the hauntings, many people believe wholeheartedly that there is something in these tunnels that does not want you there.
