Baker Peters House

In 1863, Union troops shot Dr. James Baker through his own barricaded bedroom door. The house is a restaurant now, and his son's ghost reportedly still roams the rooms.

Dr. James Harvey Baker, a Confederate supporter, built this two-story Greek Revival mansion in 1840 on what was then rural farmland along Kingston Pike. In June 1863, raiding Union troops marched down Kingston Pike and entered the home, mortally wounding Dr. Baker by shooting through the barricaded door of his bedroom -- the bullet-scarred door remains in the building today. His son Abner, a Confederate soldier, returned in 1865 and shot a man named William Hall in downtown Knoxville. An angry mob of Unionists overran the jail that night, dragged Abner outside, and hanged him from a tree.

These violent deaths left an indelible mark. Staff and visitors report seeing Abner's ghost leaning on the staircase railing and in upstairs windows. A cold hand grabs shoulders from behind, glasses fall from shelves, lights switch on and off, objects move, and whispered voices echo through empty rooms. The basement, which once served as slave quarters, produces particularly intense feelings of unease.