Lotz House

Johann Albert Lotz was a German immigrant woodworker, and this was the house he built for his family. It stands on the Franklin battlefield and opens today as a Civil War museum.

Lotz finished the house in 1858 and used it as a show house for his carpentry. It entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, reference number 76001809.

The Battle of Franklin broke over this ground on November 30, 1864. The Lotz family did not stay: they spent the fighting in the cellar of the Carter House across the street.

The house became a field hospital for wounded men from both armies after the battle. Bloodstains remain in the floors, and so does the charred spot where a cannonball fell through the roof.

Visitors and staff describe children in the house, including a girl who stares from an upstairs window. The account identifies them as the Lotz children, and others describe men in Civil War uniform.

The Travel Channel put the house second on its 2010 list “Most Terrifying Places in America,” then broadcast “Haunted Live” from inside it in October 2018.

The museum opened in 2008 and runs guided tours daily, 9 to 5 Monday through Saturday and 11 to 4 on Sunday. A 90-minute ghost tour costs $30 for adults.