Scares In The Sensabaugh Tunnel

Scares In The Sensabaugh Tunnel

Scares In The Sensabaugh Tunnel

(As heard in the Weird Darkness episode, “Unveiled Under Hypnosis: The Alien Secrets of Steve Kilburn” from July 30, 2024.)

Picture yourself going for a peaceful drive late at night. In front of you is a graffiti-stained, cracking cement tunnel that looks like it needs major repairs. You head on through anyway, only for the car to suddenly conk out. You attempt to fire it up, but no dice. In the rearview mirror, you see the shadow of a woman sitting behind your seat. This is a possible outcome of driving through the Sensabaugh Tunnel.

Sensabaugh Tunnel near Allendale, shown here in 1902, is said to be haunted, but according ot legend there’s an even more haunted smaller railroad tunnel not far from there. | Photo: Rodney Ferrell collection

Sensabaugh Tunnel is located off Big Elm Road in Kingsport, Tennessee. This dam was built in the 1920s on land owned by Edward Sensabaugh, who assisted in its construction along the Holston River. To provide for the railroad tracks of the C.C.& O. Railroad, which ran across and over it, a hill had been blown out to make room for both the road and the tunnel.

The tunnel, which is more than twelve feet tall and stretches three hundred and eighty feet long, often fills up with water from the Holston River during heavy rain, resulting in a constantly wet and slippery floor. Now the facade is cracked and graffitied, with some laundry hanging outside windows on a recent weeknight.

Right up the road is one of the ten most haunted places in Tennessee and a nationally recognized urban legend: The Sensabaugh Tunnel.

The legend goes that Edward was a good Christian man who opened his home to a homeless man. But he did not anticipate that the homeless man was also a thief. The homeless man pocketed what money and jewelry he could find. When Edward caught him, he pulled a gun on the man, but that wasn’t enough to stop the thief. The homeless man took Edward’s baby daughter hostage as he ran away from the house.

The homeless man fled, but he was not going to be able to keep the toddler, especially with Edward right behind him. As he came to the Sensabaugh Tunnel, he saw an opportunity and released the baby to distract Edward, allowing him to escape into the darkness.

Another version of the legend tells that Edward Sensabaugh went insane and murdered his family, moving their bodies to the tunnel before committing suicide himself.

The third legend of the Sensabaugh family, and the one most likely closest to fact, is that the family lived in the area until at least the 1950s, with the children grown and gone, leaving Edward alone near the tunnel.

By that time, the tunnel had already become a popular spot for teenagers to hang out. It was a hotspot for hoodlums. Edward, now an old man, grew upset with the kids for using ‘his’ tunnel. He took to lying in wait at one side of the tunnel, screaming and shouting to scare them away.

That’s when the rumors began to spread that a ghost of some kind was wandering at night, searching for lost souls and bodies.

Another story holds that a woman was driving home from work one night during a thunderstorm when her car died as she arrived at the Sensabaugh Tunnel. She set out to the Sensabaugh residence but never arrived.

The last legend tells of a young pregnant woman who was run out from her home. As she walked up to the tunnel, she yelled for help, but no one came. In that tunnel, she and her baby lost their lives together.

It is said that if your car gets stuck in the tunnel, whether you voluntarily turned the engine off or were unlucky enough to get stuck, you will find the ghost of Edward Sensabaugh approaching from behind while you keep trying to get the car started. The car will start back up just as he’s about to reach you.

People who have been stuck in the tunnel have reported hearing Edward’s footsteps and seeing a woman’s shadow in their back seat at times. Some have even reported seeing her in the rearview mirror despite never getting stuck in the tunnel.

Next, the wails of a newborn.

These days, the tunnel only serves local traffic, and few above 1st Street would drive that way if they could avoid it. If you are ever in the area, check it out and see for yourself whether or not the legends hold some truth.

(Source: TheScareChamber.com | Cover photo: ThisIsKingsport.com)

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