In 1775 Cherokee leaders sold most of Tennessee and Kentucky to the recently arrived white settlers, but Dragging Canoe, a proud chief, said that the sacred land should not be defiled by the white man's ax and plow. "This is the Dark and Bloody Ground!" he proclaimed to the assembled chiefs.

Perhaps it is the abundance of decaying mansions that harbor dark and sinister secrets, or perhaps it is Tennessee's tragic heritage of war and defeat, or it may just be the love of a good story that accounts for the fact that Tennessee is steeped in strange tales. Each of these 40 accounts has been exhaustively researched and is presented as accurately as possible, inclulding:

• The day in 1877 when it rained foot-long snakes in Memphis
• The arch rivals who are buried in the state capitol building; on quiet nights one can still hear them arguing
• Elvis's ghost, who visits Graceland in the early morning in his black limousine
• The mathematics professor from the University of Nashville who suddenly burst into flames
• Andrew Jackson's encounter with the infamous Bell Witch
• The vampire found in Bradley County, with a wooden stake through her heart
• The day a UFO buzzed Huntsville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville