Allen Sircy’s latest book in his series “Southern Ghost Stories” delves into the haunted history of Brentwood.
When Sircy visited Savannah, Georgia, a few years ago, he realized history is hidden all around — from forgotten grave sites underfoot, to historic battle fields paved over with roads. Since then, he has set out to discover these secret histories around his home in Middle Tennessee and beyond.
Described as a “hauntstorian,” Sircy uncovers textbook history and colloquial stories of the places he visits.
“I’m the weird guy that walks into your business and says ‘Hey, you got any ghost stories?’” Sircy said. But his historic research is Sircy’s priority; the hauntings just keep it interesting.
“History is like the cake and the ghost stories are just the icing on top,” said Sircy. “If something’s haunted, I want to know why it’s haunted. That’s why I dig in and find out what happened.”
While he has written books on cities across the country, Brentwood and Middle Tennessee are special to Sircy. He first began his journey into paranormal research while staying at his grandparents’ house near Travellers Rest historic house. As he heard more inexplicable stories from the area, he realized he had to write them down.
“Southern Ghost Stories: Brentwood, Tennessee” follows Sircy’s previous book in the series on Franklin. While Franklin’s history is often more obvious and apparent than Brentwood’s, Sircy said he found a lot of interesting stories hiding in Brentwood.
“There’s a lot of old houses [in Brentwood], a lot of real quiet history with the Civil War,” Sircy said. His book explores former battle fields, historic estates and the countless cemeteries scattered around the town.
For anyone interested in a thrilling take on their hometown history, “Southern Ghost Stories: Brentwood, Tennessee” and other books in the series are available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble. More information can be found at www.southernghoststories.com.
