Lotz House

An 1858 home turned Civil War museum at the epicenter of the Battle of Franklin. The Travel Channel named it America’s second-most terrifying place in 2010 and aired Haunted Live there in 2018.

Johann Albert Lotz, a German immigrant and master woodworker, built it in 1858 as a show house for his carpentry. It joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

On November 30, 1864, the Battle of Franklin broke over the property while the Lotz family sheltered across the street in the Carter House cellar.

The house served as a field hospital for soldiers of both sides after the battle. Bloodstains still mark the floors, and a charred scar remains where a cannonball fell through the roof.

Visitors and staff report apparitions of children, among them a little girl who stares out an upstairs window, told as the spirits of the Lotz children.

The story goes that a woman in white cries out for a loved one in the house. Some versions call her a soldier’s bride, others a civilian who died in the battle.

Guests also describe semi-transparent figures in Civil War uniform, in and around the house, and shouts of men that carry in from outside.

Staff, volunteers, and visitors log the quieter phenomena: phantom footsteps, disembodied voices, cold spots, and ordinary objects that will not stay put.

A working museum since 2008, open Monday to Saturday 9 to 5 and Sunday 11 to 4. The museum runs its own 90-minute ghost tour, $30 for adults, plus a cellar tour.