{"id":1225,"slug":"the-read-house-chattanooga-tennessee","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Room 311 at the Read House in Chattanooga is kept locked with a physical key, period furniture, a clawfoot tub, a pull-chain toilet, and no television — restored to the condition the hotel says it was in when Annalisa Netherly stayed there. Annalisa, as the legend is told, was a guest from San Francisco who was beheaded in the bathtub by a jealous husband in 1927, or possibly 1929, or possibly never — the archive notes that no one has produced a police report, a death certificate, or a newspaper item for the murder.","What is documented is that the hotel tells the story anyway, and has built something rare in American hospitality: a crime scene you can book."]},{"heading":"The documented record","paragraphs":["A hotel has stood on the site since before the Civil War — the Crutchfield House, left in rubble by the war, was where Dr. John T. Read and his wife Caroline built their hotel, opened New Year's Day 1872 with rooms from a dollar a day, a restaurant, café, grill, Turkish bath, and an in-house railroad ticket office. Their son Samuel took over in 1879 at nineteen and eventually replaced the old pile: in 1925 most of it was demolished for the present ten-story building.","The guest register is unusually quotable. Winston Churchill stayed, as did Gary Cooper and, later, Oprah Winfrey. Al Capone passed a stretch in the hotel in the early 1930s while in town for a federal matter, and custom iron bars were fitted to the window of the room he occupied — the iron survived into the modern building as a talking point, the only amenity in the archive credited to a federal prosecution — room 311, which is either a coincidence the archive declines to explain or the room's second famous tenant."]},{"heading":"The legend layer","paragraphs":["As the accepted version goes — hotel management's own phrase for it — Annalisa was, shall we say, getting around; her husband took exception and ended the relationship in the bathtub, taking her head with the gesture. Variants put the year at 1927 or 1929 and trade the husband for a jealous lover. The hotel tells the story with a straight face and a wink at once; general manager Ken Merkel delivers the line that the husband ended her life in the bathtub, then declines the details, on grounds of taste. Local researchers have noted that the city's ninety-year-old records appear never to have yielded the crime, which is the sort of detail that would end most legends and has not ended this one."]},{"heading":"What guests file","paragraphs":["The claims for 311 are the standard suite, filed consistently for decades: unexplained noises, flickering lights, running water, and shadowy figures, plus the harder-to-catalogue sense of not being alone in the bathroom. Guests report feeling Annalisa's presence; some claim to have seen her.","The hotel's 2018 renovation under Avocet Hospitality — roughly twenty-five to twenty-eight million dollars, depending on the count — deliberately restored 311 to its 1920s state rather than updating it, and the room now books as the Room 311 Experience, seasonally, at a premium. The dead, it turns out, can be excellent for occupancy. At least one guest interviewed by the local paper reported arriving as a disbeliever and leaving as a paying convert — the hotels preferred ratio."]}],"name":"The Read House","aliases":["Read House Hotel"],"type":"HOTEL","type_label":"Hotel","cats":["DISPUTED_LEGEND","HAUNTED_PLACE","HISTORIC_HOTEL"],"groups":["hauntings","legends","lodging"],"desc":"Hotel in Chattanooga; research record.","full_desc":"A hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee, built in 1927, The Read House is filed here for what the record attaches to it. Hotel in Chattanooga; research record. The name the accounts keep returning to is Annalisa Netherly. The dossier holds 3 reported claims, 2 legends and 2 documented facts, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. It still takes guests.","address":null,"city":"Chattanooga","county":null,"state":"Tennessee","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":35.045,"lon":-85.3097,"coord_kind":"EXACT","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":1927,"year_opened":1927,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Discovery pass. Precise location, historical chronology and current visitor conditions require independent enrichment. Confidence concerns provenance only.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"HIGH","score":75,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.6,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0.85,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":506,"type":"HAUNTING","description":"Tennessee Tourism recounts apparitions at the Read House associated with Annalisa Netherly — the woman said to have been murdered in Room 311 by a jealous lover in the hotel's early decades. The room is kept intentionally 'authentic' — old-fashioned, no TV — and remains Chattanooga's most requested haunted room.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Annalisa Netherly","where":"Room 311","first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.65,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Fright: Tennessee’s Creepiest Haunted Locations","url":"https://www.tnvacation.com/trip-inspiration/articles/fright-tennessees-creepiest-haunted-locations","publisher":"Tennessee Department of Tourist Development","type":"TOURISM","authority":3},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":1061,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"Room 311 lore describes Annalisa Netherly, allegedly murdered by a lover in 1927 — the Read House's named ghost, said to react badly to male visitors, smoking and strong perfume. The hotel keeps her room deliberately dated, and it's booked solid every October on her reputation. The room stays dated on purpose.","evidence":"DISPUTED","evidence_label":"Disputed","entity":"Annalisa Netherly","where":"Room 311","first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":"The murder is repeated in tour and paranormal sources but documentation is elusive.","source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":1619,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"Room 311's murdered woman is the Read House's named ghost — the guest reportedly killed there in the hotel's early decades. Staff lore says she dislikes men, cigarettes and perfume; the hotel preserves the room in period style, which keeps both the legend and the bookings alive. October books her solid.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The woman","where":"Room 311","first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"A hotel named Read House has operated on the site since 1872; the current building opened in 1927. The Read House's history is documented rather than told — this entry is part of that spine. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The detail is preserved in 'Read House Hotel'. The detail belongs to the verified spine of the entry.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1927","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}},{"description":"Opened 1927 on the Crutchfield House site. A hotel with this much documented history gives the dossier real substance underneath the lore. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. The record appears in 'Read House Hotel'. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1927","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Tennessee Tourism recounts apparitions at the Read House associated with Annalisa Netherly — the woman said to have been murdered in Room 311 by a jealous lover in the hotel's early decades. The room is kept intentionally 'authentic' — old-fashioned, no TV — and remains the most requested haunted room in Chattanooga.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Fright: Tennessee’s Creepiest Haunted Locations","url":"https://www.tnvacation.com/trip-inspiration/articles/fright-tennessees-creepiest-haunted-locations","publisher":"Tennessee Department of Tourist Development","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}},{"name":null,"summary":"Room 311's murdered woman is the Read House's named ghost — a guest reportedly killed there in the 1920s-30s era, now said to react badly to male visitors. Staff lore says she dislikes smoking and strong perfume; the hotel keeps the room deliberately dated, and it's booked solid every October. Her legend anchors the hotel's October season.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"Annalisa Netherly","claimed_identity":"Annalisa Netherly","verified":null,"summary":"Annalisa Netherly is the Read House's named ghost — the woman said to have been murdered in Room 311 by a jealous lover in the hotel's early decades, now said to dislike male guests and the smell of smoke. The room is kept deliberately dated, and her lore is Chattanooga's most-requested.  The account stays in the file — reported, retold, unresolved.","behavior":"Tennessee Tourism recounts apparitions associated with Annalisa Netherly.","area":"Room 311","first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Fright: Tennessee’s Creepiest Haunted Locations","url":"https://www.tnvacation.com/trip-inspiration/articles/fright-tennessees-creepiest-haunted-locations","publisher":"Tennessee Department of Tourist Development","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}},{"name":"The woman","claimed_identity":"The woman","verified":null,"summary":"The woman of Room 311 is the Read House's named ghost — the guest reportedly murdered there by a jealous lover in the hotel's early decades, now said to react badly to men, smoke and strong perfume. The hotel keeps her room deliberately dated; she remains Chattanooga's most-requested dead person.  The telling survives; the proof stays folklore.","behavior":"Room 311’s murdered woman is the hotel’s named ghost.","area":"Room 311","first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[{"name":"Crutchfield House fire","type":"FIRE","date_start":"1867","date_end":null,"description":"The Crutchfield House — Chattanooga's premier Civil War-era hotel, which had hosted Jefferson Davis and quartered officers during the war — burned to the ground in 1867. From its ashes rose the Read House, making the corner one of the longest continuously operating hotel addresses in the South and layering two hotels' worth of history into one site.","evidence":"FIRE","source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}},{"name":"Read House opened","type":"OPENING","date_start":"1872","date_end":null,"description":"The Read House opened in 1872 on the Crutchfield House site and reigned as Chattanooga's grand hotel for a century — hosting presidents, generals and, by legend, Al Capone en route to federal prison. Room 311's permanent 'guest,' a woman reportedly murdered there in the hotel's early decades, makes it the city's most haunted address.","evidence":"OPENING","source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Room 311 can be requested for overnight stays.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-15T21:12:57+00:00","source":{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}},"sources":[{"name":"Fright: Tennessee’s Creepiest Haunted Locations","url":"https://www.tnvacation.com/trip-inspiration/articles/fright-tennessees-creepiest-haunted-locations","publisher":"Tennessee Department of Tourist Development","type":"TOURISM","authority":3},{"name":"Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_House_Hotel","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},{"name":"The Read House — official site","url":"https://www.thereadhousehotel.com","publisher":"The Read House","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":4}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"Hotel in Chattanooga; research record.","incoming_value":"Chattanooga’s grand hotel keeps Room 311 booked as its haunted room.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"Discovery pass. Precise location, historical chronology and current visitor conditions require independent enrichment. Confidence concerns provenance only.","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."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"Discovery pass. Precise location, historical chronology and current visitor conditions require independent enrichment. Confidence concerns provenance only.","incoming_value":"Event enrichment; VERIFY task auto-queued.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":{"title":"The Read House Hotel","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Read_House_Hotel","desc":"United States historic place","extract":"The Read House Hotel is a historic hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee, founded in 1872.  The 141-room main building dates to 1926, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for Hamilton County. The 100-room rear wing was added in 1962, originally as a motel.","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/ReadHouseChattanooga.jpg/960px-ReadHouseChattanooga.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":88,"lat":35.04611111,"lon":-85.31083333},"counts":{"claims":3,"history":2,"legends":2,"entities":2,"sources":3}}