Barry Thacker News Today

Spooky season is here once again, renewing public fascination with paranormal activity and other frightening urban legends. East Tennessee has no shortage of historic sites teeming with tales of ghosts and other haunting encounters.

D. Ray Smith and Carolyn Krause bring the third and final part of the series on the history of Coal Creek, renamed Lake City, now called Rocky Top.

D. Ray Smith and Carolyn Krause bring the third and final part of the series on the history of Coal Creek, renamed Lake City, now called Rocky Top.

D. Ray Smith and Carolyn Krause bring the third and final part of the series on the history of Coal Creek, renamed Lake City, now called Rocky Top.

The Fraterville and Cross Mountain mine explosions in the mountains outside Coal Creek led to the deaths of hundreds of miners. They also saved many.

Engineer Barry Thacker presents the history of Coal Creek to students and others. He tells how Welsh coal miners ended convict leasing in Tennessee

Many people believe the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlaws slavery, but thats not exactly true. The 13th Amendment bans slavery "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." A long series of nationally publicized events known as the Coal Creek War tested this concept.

Many people believe the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlaws slavery, but that’s not exactly true.