Hales Bar Dam

Built in 1913 on sacred Native American land, this Tennessee River dam was cursed from the start — plagued by construction deaths and now considered one of the state's most haunted spots.

Construction began in 1905 on what would become one of America's first major multipurpose dams. Legend holds that War Chief Dragging Canoe cursed this sacred land during the 1775 Treaty of Sycamore Shoals. The curse seemed to manifest immediately -- a boiler explosion killed one worker, a falling derrick crushed two others, drownings occurred, and murders plagued the construction camps. The dam leaked from the day it opened in 1913 despite two decades of repair attempts by the TVA, leading to its replacement by Nickajack Dam in 1967.

The abandoned powerhouse is now considered one of Tennessee's most haunted locations. Dark figures move through the tunnels, and investigators have documented ghosts of former construction workers. The second floor is notorious for encounters with the ghost of a young woman who died violently. Children's spirits are connected to a tragic tunnel flooding incident. Featured on Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters.