Ruby Falls is celebrating its 95th year of letting the public explore its caves and underground waterfall.
Throughout its history, the site has had its fair share of death, tragedy, sickness and folklore, according to Ruby Falls' Jaclyn Lewis.
In fact, she says that many believe Ruby Falls is haunted with the ghosts of its turbulent past.
Now, and through select dates in October, you can learn all about the ghostly encounters at their after-hours guided Haunted Lantern Tour. Hear about the history of the caves, the ghosts that may linger within, about Ruby Falls and its limestone castle.
Ruby Falls is a cave that sits on top of Lookout Mountain Caverns, Lewis said.
The caverns served as a campsite for Native Americans. During the Civil War it was used as a hospital and during prohibition it was frequently used by moonshiners.
Researchers unearthed mammal bones which dated back to the ice-age, meaning the lower caverns are roughly 240 million years old.
“That’s how old this cave is,” Lewis said.
Ruby Falls was discovered by accident.
Lookout Mountain Caverns was sealed in 1905 by the Southern Railroad Company to build a railway tunnel. In 1928, chemist and cave explorer Leo Lambert, worked to reopen the caverns for tourism. While drilling the elevator shaft, he discovered a second set of caves, where they discovered the underground waterfall he named after his wife.
For a long time, the elevator provided visitors access to Ruby Falls and the lower caverns. But Ruby Falls proved to be more popular. The lower caverns were eventually sealed. However, it remained accessible to researchers until 2005 when the State of Tennessee's elevator inspectors required it to be sealed for safety reasons.
“The cave that is sealed used to have a natural opening,” Lewis said adding it was once accessible from the roadway. She said researchers have found endless miles of tunnels, and running streams in the lower caverns.
Throughout the years people have shared their stories of unexplainable happenings.
“This building has been here, that elevator shaft has been here…that is a lot of time to pass for inexplicable things to be seen, to be heard, to be felt,” Lewis said. “In the 95 years of being here we have collected a plethora of different ghost stories and inexplicable tales. Guests have told us things. Our staff has told us things that we just cannot explain and lean on the side of paranormal.”
Lewis said people have seen a lady in white roaming the premises. Many believe it’s the spirit of Ruby herself. She said a team of paranormal investigators claimed they held an entire conversation with Ruby via a spirit box, a machine used by investigators to communicate with the “other side.”
She said people have heard the laughter of children as well.
Leo and Ruby had six children, but only two lived to adulthood.
Employees reported toys and magnetic rocks being moved and thrown around the gift shop.
People reported hearing footsteps. Others reported having their hair tugged or “something,” brush by them.
Lewis recalled one incident where a ghost allegedly saved an employee.
She said years ago, two maintenance workers went into the cave to replace a lightbulb.
“One of the workers was at the top of the ladder changing the lightbulb,” she said. “The second worker got distracted and walked away.”
According to the lore, the worker on the ladder started to fall back as the ladder slipped.
“And all of a sudden, he felt someone push him back up and push the ladder back in place as well,” she said. “He thought it was his co-worker and he looked back and there was no one there.”
For a few years the caves were used to host their annual Haunted Caverns attraction. Lewis said they used a newer section of the cave that offered alternative exits, created for safety.
“We don’t have tours in there regularly and that is the area where there has been the most paranormal activity, the most documented,” she said.
She said one year, they hung a row of mannequins as props for the haunted attraction.
“One of the mannequins keep swinging back and forth despite not being touched by anyone,” she said recounting the story. “At the end of the night, that year especially, none of the staff wanted to be down there by themselves.”
She said two teams of paranormal investigators checked that area twice and captured an apparition. Lewis described it as a white shadow ducking around a corner.
The Haunted Caverns attraction moved in 2017, to a new location reopening as Dread Hollow.
But, if any of the stories about Ruby Falls are true, you’ll be in for a ghostly good time, especially in the dark.
“Like we do in our regular tours, we will turn off the lanterns for a bit,” she said. “It is dark down there.”
This popular experience sells out fast, advance online ticket purchase is required and not appropriate for children under the age of 12. Tickets are $39.95
Ruby Falls
- 720 S Scenic Highway, Chattanooga, TN
- (423) 821-2544
- www.rubyfalls.com