Downtown Chickamauga, Georgia – www.southernshadows.com
Chickamauga in Northwest Georgia is full of American, Southern, Cherokee history, with a lot of supernatural tales being the site of one of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles, mysterious fires, Cherokee legends and railroad heists, and Southern Shadows is preserving and sharing all of it in some fun, unique, and memorable ways. Southern Shadows is a haunted history and ghost tour company founded by historian, lecturer, and author Courtney McInvale. The company offers lantern-lit walking tours, paranormal investigations, scavenger hunts, and events exploring North Georgia folklore and Southern history. We had the good fortune to take a tour this summer, and here are some of the highlights (we would not dare spoil any of the exciting stories and their twists, interesting points of interest we visited, or the spookiness of a few of the places we visited!) Before our walking tour we visited Wise Antiques in downtown Chickamauga, and had a snack and beer at the nearby restaurant and bar Railhead Station, which had great selection of beers and menu. Then as the hour drew near for our tour, we walked for just a minute over to the Southern Shadows offices, the starting point of the tour. The tour is rain or shine, and we luckily brought umbrellas, as it did storm near the end, which actually added to the spookiness of the close of our tour.
We met our tour guide, Nate Tucker (historian, cryptid expert and founder of the Chickamauga “Green Eyes Festival” in October), at the Southern Shadows offices (where you can also purchase t-shirts and Southern history books), and began our walking tour of Chickamauga. During the whole tour we appreciated Nate’s knowledge, openness for questions, insight, humor, and story telling that kept us engaged as we visited different points of interest and landmarks Chickamauga. The Civil War Battle of Chickamauga was the second-bloodiest battle of the Civil War, Gettysburg first, so there is a lot of information that will fascinate history enthusiasts, and there is also all the Cherokee Nation history of Northwest Georgia that is woven into the tour, as well as 19th and 20th century mysterious and unsolved tales and stories related to various locations in Chickamauga. One special highlight for us was our stop at the railroad tracks for some ghost detecting (that we can’t explain and you must experience yourself), and a wild Civil War train and railroad heist story that was adapted into a short Disney film! We are Disney enthusiasts (unbeknownst to Nate), so that small detail was a delight.
The tour started while the sun was still up, which was ideal for some of the locations, and then it finishes after sunset, the appropriate setting for the finish of the walk. When we were driving in to Chickamauga, there are mansions and landmarks that made us say “wonder what that is” as we were driving around, and most of those downtown points of interest are part of the tour, so while the tour is about 2 hours long, we walked away with a plethora of new knowledge, stories, intrigue and interest in the history of the Battle of Chickamauga, renewed appreciation for the Cherokee Nation who first inhabited North Georgia, and a few spooky encounters that we were talking about and trying to figure out later that night when we got back to our hotel. So we highly recommend Southern Shadows if you are interested in the supernatural and cryptids, Southern and Civil War History and legend, and if you just want a good time and to do something different, fun, amusing and interesting with your friends or family one evening. Southern Shadows hosts other special events through the year and Courtney has some ambitious plans for Southern Shadows in 2027, so we also highly recommend visiting the Southern Shadows site and following them on the socials to be sure to find out about their future festivals and special events. We can’t get ahead of them, but you will be pleased to hear about their upcoming plans and announcements!
https://www.southernshadows.com
https://www.greeneyesfestival.com
