Thursday, January 7, 2010

The Cumberland Gap Tunnel


The uber-spooky Cumberland Gap Tunnel takes U.S. Route 25E underground, going beneath hills in the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The east portal of the tunnel is in Tennessee and the west portal is in Kentucky, making it one of only two American highway mountain tunnels that cross state lines. (The other is the East River Mountain Tunnel between Virginia and West Virginia.)

There's a lame and pointless Blair Witch-wannabe homemade hoax on YouTube that was supposedly "found in the woods" in this area. A comment someone left on the page is far more interesting than the video itself:

"It does not surprise me,if there are apparitions/ghosts,or residual paranormal activity in and around Cumberland Gap.
A lot of history and death,especially from the Am.Civil War,and car wrecks on Cumberland mountain.

Also my grandmother who would be 102, if living told me of a young blonde heaired blue eyed young man 18 yrs.old was killed on the old highway and rolled in a wool blanket and left there. Reminents of the old highway from the 1920's & 30's is still present on the mountain"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kind of reminds me of Big Hill. I don't think you've done an article on the ghosts of Big Hill.

Unknown said...

I'm glad to know I am not alone in being spooked-out by this tunnel. Every time I've had an opportunity, I could not help thinking how really bad it would be to get stuck (or stuck behind someone else) in there and wondering if they had a ventilation system for that case.

Clark Embree said...

@Melissa: next time you drive through, notice the big fans above you. It's designed to keep air moving horizontally through the tunnel.

Unknown said...

That is reassuring to know. I'll look forward to checking them out (I enjoy observing clever solutions to thorny engineering problems).
Thank you, Clark!

Anonymous said...

I just came across this blog, and have been reading through the old entries, when I came across this post.

This could have been such a better video if it were shorter, better scripted, or not scripted at all. They should have taken Nick into the woods, without telling him they were looking for ghosts, and maybe made like a makeshift hut with some tree limbs. Put some old Halloween decorations around, Dry Ice, etc. Totally scare the bejeesus out of that kid.

My favorite line:
"Lets go ahead and split up here"