A Historic and Haunted Line
Founded in 1836, the Western & Atlantic Railroad continues to connect Atlanta, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. In the 1860s, during the Civil War, an effort to sabotage rail passage led to what’s come to be called the Great Locomotive Chase. In the 1870s, a ghost appearing along the line was reported in Georgia newspapers. (A thorough overview of that railroad haunting is here.) But in the 1880s, not far outside Dalton, a phantom locomotive was witnessed charging along the tracks. It’s this apparition that I’ll focus on here.
Let’s begin with this 1881 article from The Marietta Journal:
A Subsequent Witness — or Old News?
There’s not much to go on here. For instance, there was only one witness — that is, unless the phantom train was encountered again in October of 1883. That’s the month the North Georgia Citizen reported that an apparition previously mentioned in another newspaper “has been seen again.” Yet the facts of this “new” sighting suspiciously mirror those related in 1881. In both articles, the witness saw a headlight coming around a curve. He stepped to the side of the tracks, where he became puzzled by the absence of sounds. He then watched the apparition rush by him.
The two articles end a bit differently, though. In 1881, the witness claims to have seen two spectral trainmen. In 1883, the train is described as having been semi-transparent: “objects on the opposite side of the railroad were distinctly visible.” Still, I can’t help but wonder if somehow the Marietta Journal and the Citizen are describing the same encounter.
Locating the Encounter Now
Only the earlier report gives a hint of where the sighting might’ve happened. It says: “about two miles from town.” While this seems pretty vague at first, it actually narrows things down considerably. The article first appeared in a Dalton newspaper called the North Georgia Citizen, so presumably “town” is Dalton itself. (I haven’t been able to find that original article, but — as does the Marietta Journal above — the Savannah Morning News credits the Citizen.) Now, according to The Official Railway Guide for 1881, the Western & Atlantic stops before and after Dalton were Tunnel Hill to the north and Tilton Road to the south. These days, I-75 runs parallel to and east of the tracks. A ghost hunter can use these locations to chart an expedition along both stretches of track, two miles top and two miles bottom, so to speak. Needless to say, be extremely careful when investigating railroads. Keep your eyes up rather than on your equipment. After all, physical trains far outnumber phantom ones.
If no semi-transparent locomotive with a panicked engineer and fireman onboard speeds silently by, Dalton is still a great destination for railroad and history lovers. First, there’s a restored depot that now serves as a Visitor’s Center. Second, up the line a way, there’s the Tunnel Hill Heritage Center & Museum. According to their website, visitors can enjoy “a number of railroad and Civil War artifacts that tell the story of Tunnel Hill from the days before the city was chartered to the renovation and reopening of the historic Western & Atlantic Railroad tunnel in 2000.” And I bet that tunnel has a few tales to tell.
As always, regardless of the results, please let us know in the comments below if you do any ghost hunting in Dalton.
Discover more “Railroad Hauntings You Can Still Visit” at the page for
After the End of the Line: Railroad Hauntings in Literature and Lore.
BROM BONES BOOKS 