Tennessee High School is said to be haunted by four very different spirits, though all might stem from a single story involving a girl who was supposedly killed when a train collided with her car.Charles Edwin Price documents the mysterious story of the ghost called “Agnes” in his book Haunted Tennessee:Until a few years ago operettas and plays were performed at Tennessee High School, and [teacher Frank Maple] was always in the thick of the productions, acting as stage manager. Preparing for a play required students to work on the sets late at night. It was then that weird things happened. Foremost of these was the ghost called “Agnes.”“Agnes is the ghost of a young girl who was supposed to have been killed during class night,” Maple told me. “Class night was when juniors were installed as seniors, and the seniors were given a farewell salute from the school. It was always a very formal affair. However, students sometimes threw rowdy parties after the ceremony.“The next morning, after one of these class nights, they found Agnes dead in the school’s swimming pool.”Nowadays Agnes roams the original part of the building – she has never been seen in the new section.“The hallways in the old part of the building were once tiled, “Maple said.“Sound would bounce all around. At night, when walking down the hall, you could hear footsteps behind you. Then you’d turn around and there would be no one there.”. . . Agnes is not only heard, she is seen – and her appearances are, as Maple explains them, as regular as clockwork.“When the chorus was producing an operetta,” Maple said, “me and some of the students would be on the auditorium stage until eleven or twelve at night working on the sets. And at twelve midnight, every night, Agnes would come floating down out of the attic entrance and sit on the rail above the clock, swinging her legs back and forth.“She always wore a long white evening dress – the kind of dress she would have worn during class night. She’d watch the stage for a while, and everyone down there would see her. Then she would turn and begin to walk back to the attic, gradually fading to nothingness as she walked away.”. . . Other things happen in the school that have never been explained – at least, logically. So they’re connected to Agnes. (Price, pgs. 14 – 15)Former students on an open discussion on Tennessee High School’s Facebook webpage throws doubt on the ghost of Agnes. A former student named Jenn explains that the story about a girl drowning in the pool is complete folklore; construction on the pool did not even start until 1981. Tom Hite said that when he went to school, he has heard that Agnes was a student that tragically died when her car was hit by a train on her way to Class Night. A former student named Jeff said that when he was in school in the late 1970s, he had heard stories of a nameless female ghost wandering the halls late nights. He continues by posting, “The Class Night story we heard involved students who went to a train trestle outside town late at night after the ceremony, and whose ghosts haunt the area. In the story, I think the girl was found hung from the trestle.” A former student that attended Tennessee High School from 1954 and 1955 posted that during his time there, there was no mention of any ghosts.This purposed spirit connection to trains could explain the mysterious sound of a locomotive running through the halls. Charles Edwin Price documents this legend in his book Haunted Tennessee:. . . Maple, whose chemistry lab was once located where the principal’s office is now, said he and his students would be working late there. Suddenly he would hear a sound coming from the auditorium – the sound of an old-time steam locomotive coming towards him at top speed.Then the sound would emerge into the hallway, roar [passed] him, and fade away as it entered the old gymnasium. “The sound of the passing train was very loud,” Maple said. “Even the floors vibrated when the ghost train passed.” (Price, pgs. 15 – 16)Still, the ghost of Agnes might very well be a variation on the old “hitchhiker ghost” motif. This urban legend most of the time involves a young lady who is picked up by a motorist and says she has to be at an important function and then vanishes from the car. Did Agnes’ spirit actually reach the school after her supposed death? The third ghost said to haunt Tennessee High School is that of a former athlete. Teacher Frank Maple reported to Charles Edwin Price that the boy was struck by a car when walking home from a ballgame. Maple reported the anonymous spirit resides in the Field House.The story that students found the hanging body of a female under a train trestle might have given rise to another ghost story at Tennessee High School. Another former student posted on the Facebook discussion board: “The one and final story I've heard is the bell tower ghost what happens is every so many years a student will find their way up to the bell tower and hang themselves up there.” (Facebook)If Tennessee High School is indeed haunted, we may never know the true identities of those who still roam the halls long after their deaths.