Why People Are Afraid of This 100-Year-Old Restaurant in the Smoky Mountains
Why locals both love and fear this 100-year-old restaurant in the Smoky Mountains
There’s a fine dining establishment in the heart of the Smoky Mountains where the prices aren’t the scariest thing. Welcome to The Greenbrier, one of the best restaurants in Gatlinburg, the Smoky Mountains and all of East Tennessee.
The Greenbrier is well-known for its historic location in the community for which it is named. It is an interesting mix of mountain history and modern flair, serving wild game like venison and duck alongside oysters, halibut and a variety of steaks. But The Greenbrier is home to a little more than its menu implies. For instance, some are sure that some of the restaurant’s guests have been on the “waiting list” for quite some time.
Who is this ghost?
Most believe she is the spirit of a young woman who was madly in love when she visited the lodge with her betrothed back in its early days. A Gatlinburg wedding was planned, and the bride got in her gown and went to the chapel, awaiting her groom who never showed. She returned to the lodge – still in her gown – and hanged herself.
The man who left her was said to be found within days following Lydia’s passing. He appeared to have been mauled by a mountain lion, which had supposedly gone from the mountains at least 20 years earlier. Could it have been a mountain lion? It’s possible. A rogue big cat could have returned to the mountains, or never left and remained until it took the groom’s life and disappeared again. How good was forensic tech back then? Could they have accurately determined a mountain lion mauling from say a bear? I can’t speak to it.
But some believe it was neither mountain lion nor bear nor, I suppose, a pack of vicious raccoons that took the life of the wandering groom. They believe it was the spirit of the bride exacting horrible revenge. Can a spirit do that much damage? Some believe that she took the form of a
mountain lion to do so. If that’s the case, she returned to her human-like form when she came back to haunt the lodge-turned-restaurant.
Although, I must say if she’d wanted to spice up the whole haunting thing, she could have retained her cat-like appearance and really freaked people out. On the scale of frightening things, a ghost cougar capable of mauling the living is much scarier than a sad but pretty bride knocking the bullion off the shelves.
