The Ghosts of Rotherwood MansionSouthern Haunt and Appalachian Folklore
Man they sure are a bunch of haints in northeast Tennessee! Man they sure are a bunch of haints in northeast Tennessee! Origin
The mansion was built in the early 1800s by Frederick Augustus Ross, a wealthy plantation owner and Presbyterian minister known for both his power and his strict rule.
His daughter Rowena fell deeply in love, but the man she cared for drowned mysteriously in the river beside the property before they could marry. Rowena never recovered - and after losing a second love and then a child, she died young, her grief carving a mark into the house itself.
Later owners included a notoriously cruel slave owner nicknamed "Peck" who, according to legend, brought darkness and punishment into those walls - and whose wickedness is said to echo there still.
Notes
- A woman’s soft sobbing drifting from empty rooms
- Cold winds swirling on still nights beside the river
- The feeling of hands pushing near the stairwell
- A black hound with burning eyes prowling the grounds - Peck’s spectral companion
Legacy
Today, Rotherwood remains a private residence shrouded in legend - a place where heartbreak and cruelty linger in equal measure.
Porch lights flicker, curtains sway when the air is calm, and the Lady in White still keeps her sorrowful watch over the Holston River.
In the quiet of a Tennessee night, the living try not to look too long at the windows - just in case someone looks back.
Kin Topics
Related Pages
- Folklore: Raw Head and Bloody Bones - Southern Bogeyman and Appalachian Folklore
- Folklore: The Bell Witch - Famous Southern Ghost Story and Folklore
- Folklore: The Haunted Chester Inn - Southern Ghost Story and Appalachian Folklore
- Folklore: The Moon-Eyed People of the Appalachian Mountains
- Folklore: The Old Greene County Courthouse Ghost - Southern Haunt and Appalachian Folklore
How to Cite This Page
- APA (7th edition)The Hillbilly Dude. (2025, October 26). The Ghosts of Rotherwood Mansion
Southern Haunt and Appalachian Folklore . HillbillySlang.com. https://www.hillbillyslang.com/folklore/rotherwood-mansion-ghosts-kingsport-tennessee - MLA (9th edition)"The Hillbilly Dude." "The Ghosts of Rotherwood Mansion
Southern Haunt and Appalachian Folklore ." HillbillySlang.com, 26 Oct. 2025, https://www.hillbillyslang.com/folklore/rotherwood-mansion-ghosts-kingsport-tennessee. - Chicago (17th edition)The Hillbilly Dude. "The Ghosts of Rotherwood Mansion
Southern Haunt and Appalachian Folklore ." HillbillySlang.com. October 26, 2025. https://www.hillbillyslang.com/folklore/rotherwood-mansion-ghosts-kingsport-tennessee.
Dislaimer
What you're reading here is old Southern folklore and storytelling - not medical advice, and not meant to guide health, or pregnancy decisions (especially pregnancy decisions!). These tales are part of how folks once made sense of the world, passed down from grandparents and midwives.
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