THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The historic Cowee Tunnel is associated with the deaths of 19 Black convict laborers who drowned in the Tuckasegee River in 1882. Local folklore calls it the Crying Tunnel, claiming that the water perpetually dripping from its stonework represents the tears of the men who died.
Cowee Tunnel is a historic railroad tunnel in western North Carolina associated with one of the region's most tragic convict-labor disasters. In December 1882, a boat carrying Black convict laborers across the Tuckasegee River overturned while the men were being transported to work on the railroad. Nineteen prisoners drowned. The tunnel later became known in local folklore as the Crying Tunnel. Water continuously seeps and drips from its stone interior, and legend says the moisture represents the tears of the men who died during construction of the railroad.