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Strange happenings in Tennessee


karisma_29

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My husband told me when he was stationed many years ago in Tennessee that he and his fellow soldiers heard strange tales of a piece of land that affects your mind. They were told it was the Bermuda Triangle on land!He decided to check this out with 2 other soldiers because they thought it was a joke? They thought some guys were going to try and scare them. They went deep into the forest or woods and found the piece of land as they were told that there was a very large dead tree there. It was in the middle of no where.The tree was described as very tall and black. There was no leaves or anything. It looked like it should have fell down years ago. It looked very old? They noticed a big difference when they got to this part of the woods as it was very quiet? They said there were no birds chirping? No sounds of any insects or animals. But on the way there they heard and saw many? Also the land around the tree looked dead? They brought some folding chairs as they were told to watch and they would see strange amazing things? They sat about 200 feet from the tree about an hour went by when they saw a bird flying. The bird landed on the tree and immediately dropped dead on the ground? They were still not convinced that anything supernatural had happened. They dared it other to sit by the tree! One took the dare and placed a chair under the tree and sat down. After less than 15 minutes went by when the soldier in the chair started to look strange. His eyes looked pale his skin color went very pale? Then he gripped the chair sides with both hands and his face was all contorted or unnatural looking. The other two soldiers were scared. They decided to put him from the chair, when they grabbed his arms they said that they felt a cold strange feeling a kind of evil? Remember they didn't believe in these things! They said they started to feel their energy draining? It was not easy to pull their buddy from the chair, but why? They finally got him and put him on the ground a few hundred feel from the tree. He was in a daze like he was unconscious? After some water and about 10 minutes he came around. He asked why they did not stop the chair from spinning? They said what are you talking about? The chair never moved? He insisted that the chair was spinning like a hundred miles per hours? They said it never happened. They went back to the tree and were the chair sat was a fresh circle in the dirt under the chair legs about 2 or 2 1/2" deep like the chair had been spinning! Also the dead bird was gone? They were really shocked and decided to get out of there fast.

They had to carry their buddy and they left the chairs ect... when they got about 3 miles away their friend was now able to walk but scared to death! They kept quiet about this for some time and a few months later after being questioned about what happened finally told a few soldiers. They also did not believe and wanted to see this tree. My husband and his friends took them there but something changed? There was a new fence put up that surrounded the tree in a square? There were signs on the fence that said NO TRESPASSING U.S. PROPERTY? Has anybody ever heard of this piece of land or of any strange tales that have a large dead tree in them??? This is no joke please let me know! I told this story exactly the way I heard it and no one was laughing. They were very scared. I have tried to find out about this but I have found nothing.

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Karisma, welcome to UM. I've never heard this story before, but there are a number of natural explanations for a place making somebody feel weird or even hallucinate. There might have been excessive gases seeping up from the ground, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, or radon. Toxic chemicals might have been spilled in the area, accounting for the dead tree. I wouldn't jump to any supernatural explanations until you've exhausted all natural ones.

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That's a lot of freaking question marks.

Somebody in Tennessee go take a picture of this place.

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Those details are little vague. Tennessee has 42,169 square miles and probably even a few trees so you may have to help narrow it down bit. Do you know the general location or does the base where he was stationed have a name? Failing that, can you tell us in which branch of the service was he enlisted?

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Sorry for the excessive question marks. I am not much of a writer. My husband was stationed at NAS Memphis(Naval Air Station) located in Millington,Tennessee,it is in Shelby County. He rented a home by a large Drive In Theater said it was Tipton County. So maybe Shelby & Tipton boarder each other. He was in the U.S.M.C and stationed there in the early to mid-seventies. The base have been re-named since then to Naval Support Activity Mid-South (NAVSUPPACT) naval base.Millington is approximately 10 miles south of Memphis,Tennessee. It was over 30 years ago when this happened. They did have photos but they were lost many years ago during a home burglary. The tree was suppose to be approximately 60 to 80 inches thick and approximately 5 stories tall. They heard about the tree from a many different people in town. But the one that peaked their interest was a Native American in town. He was described as about 80 years old and he said he was a medicine man. The native medicine man said he remembered the tree when he was a youth and it had not changed in many decades. He said it was an dark place.

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Sorry for the excessive question marks. I am not much of a writer. My husband was stationed at NAS Memphis(Naval Air Station) located in Millington,Tennessee,it is in Shelby County. He rented a home by a large Drive In Theater said it was Tipton County. So maybe Shelby & Tipton boarder each other. He was in the U.S.M.C and stationed there in the early to mid-seventies. The base have been re-named since then to Naval Support Activity Mid-South (NAVSUPPACT) naval base.Millington is approximately 10 miles south of Memphis,Tennessee. It was over 30 years ago when this happened. They did have photos but they were lost many years ago during a home burglary. The tree was suppose to be approximately 60 to 80 inches thick and approximately 5 stories tall. They heard about the tree from a many different people in town. But the one that peaked their interest was a Native American in town. He was described as about 80 years old and he said he was a medicine man. The native medicine man said he remembered the tree when he was a youth and it had not changed in many decades. He said it was an dark place.

OK, I found the base. If anyone else is interested, it actually about 20 miles northeast of downtown Memphis. Is anybody here in the area?

Edited by sinewave
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Correction I meant to say approximately 10 miles North of Memphis. Below is the technical information.

Geography

Millington is at 35°20′12″N 89°54′8″W / 35.33667°N 89.90222°W / 35.33667; -89.90222 (35.336566, -89.902132)[3].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.6 square miles (40.4 km²), of which, 15.6 square miles (40.3 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.13%) is water.

The city is located in the Memphis Metropolitan Area, about 9 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee.

Millington is situated on the southeastern edge of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, an area with a high earthquake risk.

The city is close to Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, Fort Pillow State Park and the Mississippi River

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As soon as I started reading your post, I knew it had to be Millington you were talking about. Was the place in Shelby county? Or was it near Ripley TN? There are still a lot of Choctaws in that area. I've never heard that story before and I lived in Memphis while attending college in the early 90's.

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It was definitely in Shelby or Tipton county as both were close to the NAS base in the 1970'S.The house he rented was close to HWY 51. They never mentioned Ripley.

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I am absolutely tongue tied...If it is a US property then there definetly must be a reason behind why the government took up the land

Thanks

B???

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I would absolutely have to see this and sit in the chair myself to begin to take this as legitimate. It honestly sounds like some "goodies" and group suggestion was going on. It makes no sense for the guys to be watching their friend and finally get him out of the chair, but then later there is evidence of it spinning - one or the either happened, not both, and for what possible reason could the bird be gone? That's like people on acid reporting this - maybe there was no bird to begin with, nor circular pattern, but heightened anxiety and expectation got the better of everyone. Too bad they fenced off the area.

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No one was drinking anything other than water. There was no drug use of any kind. They were never told any specific story other than that strange things happened in this area.There was no group suggestion, how could there be as know one knew what would happen or if anything would happen at all! Honestly they said that they expected nothing to happen as they believed it was just local stories to keep children out of the woods. At the time they thought if they told anyone that they would be locked up. Also during that time the military took constant surprise drug tests. Their tests were always negative. If they had been taking anything they would have been caught and brought up on charges for violation of the U.C.M.J. My husband has been praised many times through the years for his honesty. So I have no reason to doubt him.

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Could be gases coming up from the ground causing hallucinations, or the government might have been conducting some kind of chemical testing there, hence the fence. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'd lean towards testing all possible causes not of a supernatural nature first before thinking there was a haunted spot in the woods.

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First assuming the Native American being in his 80's in the early 1970'S was telling the truth then the Government would of had to do chemical testing in the 1880's to 1890's. Did the U.S. Government perform these type of tests then? Second if were a gas that causes hallucinations would it not have been discovered many years earlier than the 1970'S? Third the photos taken would show nothing if just hallucinations but even though these photos are now gone they clearly showed a deep circle in the dirt under the chair legs. They also clearly showed a dead bird on the ground. Then they showed the bird was gone and a indentation in the dirt. The spot was indented.In other words when the bird hit the ground it left a mark. The camera used was a inexpensive 35mm camera. No one ever referred to this place as haunted. No one ever mentioned seeing ghosts.It was simply said that strange things happened there and it was a dark place by the Native American gentlemen.

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The main reason I posted this story is because our 13 year old son has heard the story many times and is very interested in finding out if other people know of this place. He is also very interested in the Bermuda Triangle.Anytime a child is interested in something other than TV, games or goofing off these days I am proud to help them do research.He now asks me everyday since I posted this occurrence.

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Sorry for the excessive question marks. I am not much of a writer. My husband was stationed at NAS Memphis(Naval Air Station) located in Millington,Tennessee,it is in Shelby County. He rented a home by a large Drive In Theater said it was Tipton County. So maybe Shelby & Tipton boarder each other. He was in the U.S.M.C and stationed there in the early to mid-seventies. The base have been re-named since then to Naval Support Activity Mid-South (NAVSUPPACT) naval base.Millington is approximately 10 miles south of Memphis,Tennessee. It was over 30 years ago when this happened. They did have photos but they were lost many years ago during a home burglary. The tree was suppose to be approximately 60 to 80 inches thick and approximately 5 stories tall. They heard about the tree from a many different people in town. But the one that peaked their interest was a Native American in town. He was described as about 80 years old and he said he was a medicine man. The native medicine man said he remembered the tree when he was a youth and it had not changed in many decades. He said it was an dark place.

Wait - I am calling out a few problems here :

1. You husband was stationed at a NAS but you identify him as a "Soldier". I was in the Navy and that is a pet peeve of mine - we are NOT "Soldiers" - that is Army. We are "Sailors". That also technically is what you call Marines.

2. You provide some more specifics here, but wouldn't it be simpler to say exactly where it is?

I will accept you as telling the truth for now... But to be honest, the discrepancies are making me doubt your veracity...

Edited by Wookietim
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First again let me say forgive my poor writing skills. I was educated in the Philippines. I am a Filipino. English is my second language.

Second Yes my husband was a Marine.

Third my husband did not know the exact location as it was many years ago. It was not a marked trail. It was through the woods. There was no road or path. In other words it was in the middle of a large wooded area. He honestly said that he could not find it again without directions from someone who knew about this place. It was not easy to find even with the directions he was given.

So what discrepancies other than my language barrier are you referring to?

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First again let me say forgive my poor writing skills. I was educated in the Philippines. I am a Filipino. English is my second language.

Second Yes my husband was a Marine.

Third my husband did not know the exact location as it was many years ago. It was not a marked trail. It was through the woods. There was no road or path. In other words it was in the middle of a large wooded area. He honestly said that he could not find it again without directions from someone who knew about this place. It was not easy to find even with the directions he was given.

So what discrepancies other than my language barrier are you referring to?

I don't doubt you at all. I do think this has the sound of a local urban ledgend type of thing, or a ghost story. Interesting too. Wish there was some more information on it though.

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First again let me say forgive my poor writing skills. I was educated in the Philippines. I am a Filipino. English is my second language.

Second Yes my husband was a Marine.

Third my husband did not know the exact location as it was many years ago. It was not a marked trail. It was through the woods. There was no road or path. In other words it was in the middle of a large wooded area. He honestly said that he could not find it again without directions from someone who knew about this place. It was not easy to find even with the directions he was given.

So what discrepancies other than my language barrier are you referring to?

Sorry about that - it's a knee jerk reaction to being called a "Soldier" (I scored high enough on the ASVAB to NOT be in the Army! ;-) ).

And you explained why you can't say exactly where it was, so that explains that discrepancy.

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In the Philippines generally all military members are referred to as Sundalo or soldiers most of the time.

Also know matter what your name is when you walk around in the Philippines if people think you were in or are in the military they will call you Joe!

My husband was called Joe at least 100 times a day on his last visit in 2005 and his name is not Joe, but he didn't mind.

I can understand why you want to be called a sailor as my husband is very proud of being a Marine.

Back to the location, my husband said they parked the car and walked a few miles into the woods or forest to find this place. It was an uninhabited area and the nearest houses, businesses, ect... were at least 20 minutes away by car from this woods or forest. The woods were very dense, full of tall trees, plants, bushes, wildflowers, mushrooms, grasses ect... except a small area around this tree.

There was another area these Marines went to within 10 miles of this area in the woods to swim at night in a pool of cool fresh water with large boulders on one side of it. The boulders were about 25 to 30 feet high. They said the water pool was the size of a medium indoor swimming pool. My husband thought the water was fed by an underground spring as the water stayed fresh and did not get stagnate or smelly. There was no fish in this water. My husband says the proof he was there is he lost his wallet after a dive from the boulders. He and the Marines with him tried to retrieve the wallet but said the pit seemed bottomless. Meaning they could not touch the bottom. My husband had a aluminum S.S. card in his wallet and said it should still be there.

Does anyone know of this swimming hole?

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Do you know what road the forest was off of? I'm looking on Google Maps right now. I've been able to find most of what your talking about. Do you know the general area this forest is near?

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First again let me say forgive my poor writing skills. I was educated in the Philippines. I am a Filipino. English is my second language.

Second Yes my husband was a Marine.

Third my husband did not know the exact location as it was many years ago. It was not a marked trail. It was through the woods. There was no road or path. In other words it was in the middle of a large wooded area. He honestly said that he could not find it again without directions from someone who knew about this place. It was not easy to find even with the directions he was given.

So what discrepancies other than my language barrier are you referring to?

Your English is fine. Not many people here could speak a word of Tagalog. :)

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First assuming the Native American being in his 80's in the early 1970'S was telling the truth then the Government would of had to do chemical testing in the 1880's to 1890's. Did the U.S. Government perform these type of tests then? Second if were a gas that causes hallucinations would it not have been discovered many years earlier than the 1970'S? Third the photos taken would show nothing if just hallucinations but even though these photos are now gone they clearly showed a deep circle in the dirt under the chair legs. They also clearly showed a dead bird on the ground. Then they showed the bird was gone and a indentation in the dirt. The spot was indented.In other words when the bird hit the ground it left a mark. The camera used was a inexpensive 35mm camera. No one ever referred to this place as haunted. No one ever mentioned seeing ghosts.It was simply said that strange things happened there and it was a dark place by the Native American gentlemen.

Whoa there! No need to get so defensive. I was merely trying to throw out some possibilities; NOT discredit your husband's account. Aren't you trying to find out more info? Don't just consider supernatural ones.

Anyway, try Googling the town and any nearby towns. Most cities and towns have their own website and contact info. You could e-mail them and ask. There might even be some online community forums and you could ask people who live there.

BTW - Your English is fine.

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