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Fentress County's barefoot ghost boy
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Inspired by the fact that June 1 is National Go Barefoot Day, here's the story of Fentress County's barefoot ghost boy.Legend has it that one Fentress County family lost a husband and father during the Civil War Siege of Petersburg, and the family was notified that the soldier's body would be returned to Tennessee via train. Since they were only farmers and couldn't afford more, this meant the war widow would have to drive herself and her sons to nearby Cookeville and bring their loved one the rest of the way home in the family wagon.
On the day they were to leave to meet the train, Jamestown was hit with a terrible snowstorm and deadly cold temperatures. The widow faced a difficult trip and keeping a 3-year-old boy calm, warm and safe while dealing with her other sons, her grief and the weather was a bit more than the poor woman could fathom, so she chose to leave her baby in the care of a grandmother. Well into her 80s, the grandmother had begun to exhibit signs of senility, but she seemed to be doing well that day, so the boy was left toasty and comfortable in her home.
As the mother had feared, the trip was grueling. The snowstorm raged, the winds howled, and the poor woman brought her husband's body home with nearly a foot of snow on the ground. Fighting exhaustion, the widow stopped at the grandmother's place to collect her baby, but the little boy was nowhere to be found. At some point during the mother's absence, the child had wandered off into the snow, leaving behind his coat and shoes.
The frantic mother immediately ran out into the cold and began searching for her baby, calling his name, even as her other sons fetched the neighbors to assist. A massive search was undertaken, and many thanked God when the wind died, allowing the trackers to follow any signs the child might have left behind.
One of the neighbors soon found the small boy's bare footprints in the snow, and he fired his rifle to alert the rest of the search party. Repeatedly calling the child's name, the farmer followed those tiny footprints as long as he was able, until the wind returned and erased them away into the drifts. By this time, the search party was all over the area, and they fiercely hunted for the little boy, until they were forced indoors by the weather. Another snowstorm was upon Jamestown, and everyone was compelled to return home for their own safety.
As soon as the storm subsided, the search was resumed, but no sign of the 3-year-old boy was ever found. Even after the snow melted, the boy's body wasn't found, and what happened to the child remains a mystery to this day.
Many rural areas of Fentress County remain today much as they were 145 years ago, heavily forested and stream-fed, and sometimes, when those areas are covered in snow, you'll find a tiny set of bare footprints, walking off into the drifts.
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