THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Knoxville folklore associates the historic First Presbyterian Church Graveyard with the restless spirit of Abner Baker, a former Confederate soldier lynched by a mob in 1865 and buried in the churchyard beneath a distinctive monument.
The graveyard beside First Presbyterian Church is Knoxville's oldest surviving burial ground and contains the graves of many important early residents, including William Blount and city founder James White. It is also the actual burial place of Abner Baker, whose ghost is sometimes mistakenly assigned to Old Gray Cemetery. Baker, a former Confederate soldier, shot and killed Union veteran William Hall near the courthouse in September 1865. A mob removed Baker from jail that night and lynched him from a tree in downtown Knoxville. His body was later buried in the First Presbyterian graveyard. Generations of Knoxville storytelling subsequently connected Baker with a restless apparition around the old cemetery, although historical research shows that some of the earliest ghost traditions may instead have centered on the location of his hanging. The haunting should therefore be presented as evolving local folklore.