{"id":1177,"slug":"carter-house-franklin-tennessee","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["At four o'clock on the afternoon of November 30, 1864, twenty thousand Confederates attacked a similar number of entrenched Federals across Fountain Branch Carter's farm south of Franklin. The Carter family — Fountain and Polly, their children, the neighboring Lotz family, and several enslaved people — sat out the next five hours in the north room of their own basement while thirteen Confederate charges broke against the Federal line running through their yard. The farm office and brick smokehouse still stand with more than a thousand bullet and shrapnel holes in them; preservationists call them the two most heavily damaged buildings of the war to survive.","The house itself, a Federal-style brick farmhouse built in 1830, had been seized at dawn that morning as Major General Jacob Cox's headquarters. It remains the center of the battlefield and the file: a National Historic Landmark whose wounds were never plastered over."]},{"heading":"The documented record","paragraphs":["The battle's accounting is in the state file: roughly 6,600 Confederate casualties against about 2,300 Federal, and the greatest single loss of general officers in the war — six Confederate generals dead or dying, Patrick Cleburne among them. The Federal army slipped away across the Harpeth in the night, leaving Hood a field of dead generals and a tactical success that bought nothing; two weeks later the same army was effectively destroyed at Nashville. The Confederates killed at Franklin went to ground at the McGavock plantation — some fifteen hundred markers, still the largest private Confederate cemetery in the country.","The Carters' entry is narrower and worse. Captain Tod Carter, twenty-four years old, serving with the 20th Tennessee Infantry and home for the first time in three years, was shot down on his family's own property, found the next morning, and carried inside. He died in the house on December 2, surrounded by the family that had sheltered beneath it. He is buried at Rest Haven Cemetery, north of town.","Tennessee bought the house in 1951 to keep it from becoming a gas station, opened it to the public in 1953, and now operates it through the Battle of Franklin Trust. Recent acquisitions have reclaimed portions of the field where the charges fell."]},{"heading":"What witnesses file","paragraphs":["The house's spirits are filed as family. Tod Carter is the most-reported apparition — figures matching his account seen on the grounds and inside — and his sister Annie is named beside him in the visitor reports the tour companies collect. A Ghost Research Society investigation documented its own report from the property; what witnesses describe most consistently is less spectral than somatic: sudden nausea near the museum's displayed coffin and in the old hospital room, a rocking chair moving in the parlor, clothing tugged, voices in empty rooms, and a woman standing in an upstairs window.","None of it is asserted by the state site itself, which keeps its interpretation on the battle. The haunting is filed the way the file prefers: as testimony attached to a documented body count."]},{"heading":"What remains","paragraphs":["The Carters' house outlasted the battle, the cotton gin that anchored the Confederate advance, and a mid-century proposal to replace it with a filling station. What remains is a battlefield that kept its bullet holes, a basement that kept its family, and a roster of reported ghosts that happens to be exactly the same list of names the casualty report already printed."]}],"name":"Carter House","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_HOUSE","type_label":"Historic House","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","PARANORMAL_INVESTIGATION_SITE","HISTORIC_HOUSE","HAUNTED_BATTLEFIELD"],"groups":["dark-history","hauntings","historic-sites"],"desc":"Site documented in a Ghost Research Society investigation report.","full_desc":"The Carter family sheltered in their cellar on November 30, 1864, as some of the war’s fiercest fighting swept their farm; the farm office carries more than a thousand bullet holes. Captain Tod Carter, a Confederate officer and the family’s son, was mortally wounded on his own doorstep and died in the house two days later.","address":"1140 Columbia Avenue","city":"Franklin","county":null,"state":"Tennessee","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":35.9175,"lon":-86.8711,"coord_kind":"EXACT","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":"https://boft.org/carter-house/","phone":null,"year_built":1830,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"This source proves the report exists, not a supernatural cause. Historic backstories, old visitor details and inferred technology validity are not accepted without independent evidence. Historical investigation date is not a present permission to enter.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"HIGH","score":80,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0.85,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":456,"type":"ELECTRONIC_VOICE_CLAIM","description":"A Ghost Research Society report interprets three electronic-device outputs at the Carter House as responsive communications, alongside notes from a separate 1992 visit — the modern EVP file on a house already famous for its bullet holes. The results are investigator claims; the building they were recorded in needs no embellishment.","evidence":"PARANORMAL_INVESTIGATION_CLAIM","evidence_label":"Investigation claim","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.85,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Ghost Research Society: Carter House investigation","url":"https://www.ghostresearch.org/Investigations/carter.html","publisher":"Ghost Research Society / Dale Kaczmarek","type":"PARANORMAL_ORGANIZATION","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":1066,"type":"REPORTED_ANOMALIES","description":"Staff and visitors report footsteps and a sensed presence in the Carter House and its bullet-pocked farm office — the outbuilding that still holds one of the densest concentrations of Civil War bullet damage in existence. The reports attach to real scars: the most-shot building of the Battle of Franklin doesn't need to invent an atmosphere.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Battle of Franklin Trust — official","url":"https://boft.org/","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The house was built around 1830 and became a Union command post during the November 30, 1864 battle. The house's past is on record — this entry belongs to the verified layer of the site's file. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. Sources including 'Carter House: History' carry the record. It anchors the timeline the rest of the file hangs from.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Carter House: History","url":"https://boft.org/carter-house-history","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}},{"description":"Tod Carter died in the house on December 2, 1864. The house's past is on record — this entry belongs to the verified layer of the site's file. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. 'Carter House State Historic Site' documents the entry. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Carter House State Historic Site","url":"https://www.tn.gov/historicalcommission/state-programs/state-historic-sites/carter-house.html","publisher":"Tennessee Historical Commission","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"During the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, the Carter family and neighbors sheltered in the basement while the farm office absorbed over a thousand bullets. The documented date is 1864-11-30. The house's past is on record — this entry belongs to the verified layer of the site's file. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. Sources including 'Battle of Franklin Trust — official' carry the record. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1864-11-30","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Battle of Franklin Trust — official","url":"https://boft.org/","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}},{"description":"Captain Tod Carter was found mortally wounded on the battlefield—on his own family’s land—and died in the house on December 2, 1864. The house's past is on record — this entry belongs to the verified layer of the site's file. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. Sources including 'Battle of Franklin Trust — official' carry the record. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1864-12-02","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Battle of Franklin Trust — official","url":"https://boft.org/","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[{"name":"Battle of Franklin","type":"BATTLE","date_start":"1864-11-30","date_end":null,"description":"On November 30, 1864, Hood's Army of Tennessee launched one of the war's great frontal assaults at Franklin — some 20,000 Confederates charging across open ground into Union works centered on the Carter farm. Five hours of fighting killed or wounded roughly 10,000 men, including six Confederate generals; the Carter outbuildings still carry the bullet holes.","evidence":"BATTLE","source":{"name":"Battle of Franklin Trust — official","url":"https://boft.org/","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}},{"name":"Tod Carter dies","type":"DEATH","date_start":"1864-12-02","date_end":null,"description":"Captain Tod Carter — mortally wounded leading the charge at Franklin — was carried a few hundred yards to the house where he had been born and died there on December 2, 1864, surrounded by the family that had hidden in the cellar while the battle raged over their farm. His story is the Carter House tour's emotional center.","evidence":"DEATH","source":{"name":"Battle of Franklin Trust — official","url":"https://boft.org/","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}}],"investigations":[{"org":"Ghost Research Society","date":null,"methods":"Phasma Box sessions near the house.","findings":"GRS interprets three electronic-device outputs as responsive; the report also references a separate 1992 visit.","evidence":"PARANORMAL_INVESTIGATION_CLAIM","source":{"name":"Ghost Research Society: Carter House investigation","url":"https://www.ghostresearch.org/Investigations/carter.html","publisher":"Ghost Research Society / Dale Kaczmarek","type":"PARANORMAL_ORGANIZATION","authority":4}}],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[{"name":"Tod Carter","role":"FAMILY_MEMBER","birth":null,"death":"1864-12-02","bio":"Carter family member wounded during the Battle of Franklin. The record gives the dates as d. 1864-12-02. The dossier ties Tod Carter to Carter House as family_member. The entry is documented through 'Carter House State Historic Site'. Tod Carter is filed as a documented person — part of the record the place’s stories hang on."}],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Historic house museum or private residence; verify tour availability before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Ghost Research Society: Carter House investigation","url":"https://www.ghostresearch.org/Investigations/carter.html","publisher":"Ghost Research Society / Dale Kaczmarek","type":"PARANORMAL_ORGANIZATION","authority":4},{"name":"Carter House: History","url":"https://boft.org/carter-house-history","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2},{"name":"Carter House State Historic Site","url":"https://www.tn.gov/historicalcommission/state-programs/state-historic-sites/carter-house.html","publisher":"Tennessee Historical Commission","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Battle of Franklin Trust — official","url":"https://boft.org/","publisher":"Battle of Franklin Trust","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"Site documented in a Ghost Research Society investigation report.","incoming_value":"Farmhouse at the epicenter of the Battle of Franklin, still marked by a thousand bullet holes.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"This source proves the report exists, not a supernatural cause. Historic backstories, old visitor details and inferred technology validity are not accepted without independent evidence. Historical investigation date is not a present permission to enter.","incoming_value":"Historical enrichment pass from encyclopedia/official records; paranormal claims remain source-attributed reports, not verified events.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":{"title":"Carter House (Franklin, Tennessee)","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_House_(Franklin%2C_Tennessee)","desc":"Historic house in Tennessee, United States","extract":"The Carter House State Historic Site is a historic house at 1140 Columbia Avenue in Franklin, Tennessee. In that house, the Carter family hid in the basement waiting for the second Battle of Franklin to end. It is a Tennessee Historical Commission State Historic Site, managed by the non-profit organization The Battle of Franklin Trust under an agreement with the Tennessee Historical Commission. The house is a contributing property and centerpiece of the Franklin Battlefield, a U.S. National Historic Landmark historic district.","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Carter_House_Franklin_TN_front.jpg/330px-Carter_House_Franklin_TN_front.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":90,"lat":35.90361111,"lon":-86.86611111},"counts":{"claims":2,"history":4,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":4}}