The book Pioneers in Paradise by V. N. “Bud” Phillips might explain why so many people believe that the old Bristol Train Station on State Street in Bristol, Tennessee is haunted. Apparently, Joseph Chalmers King, grandson of Reverend James King for whom King College is named after, fell in love with a girl. She was too young to marry him, and her family moved to California. Lovesick, he turned to drinking and would sway into the old train station for every southwestern train coming in just to see if his beloved was onboard; she never was. Joseph died at his sister’s house on 1880 and continued to appear in the form of a ghost when southwestern trains would stop at the depot. Only those who knew him in life knew they had seen a ghost in those days. When the newer train station was built in 1902, he still made appearances for southwestern trains, but over the years his appearance was more pronounced and out of place. He appeared wearing black pants, a white shirt, bow tie and a derby hat. Bud Phillips declares the last time this specter was seen was when the last train pulled into the station in 1969.
