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Last week, my wife and I took our two kids down to the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge area for a few days. It was our last little family getaway before back-to-school season really goes into full gear, and I am happy to say that, overall, everyone enjoyed the trip.

One of the main reasons we decided to go to Pigeon Forge was to take the kids to Dollywood. Neither one had been before, so we figured now would be a good time since they are both big enough to go on rides and enjoy most of the offerings there. We all did a rollercoaster together, and while I think it was the smallest “real” coaster in the park, I still screamed in absolute terror the entire time that the ride was in progress. Needless to say, I don’t do rides too well.

Other highlights of our visit to the land of Dolly included a pleasant tour around the premises on an authentic steam engine, and just generally taking in the sights and sounds on a day that was mostly perfect weather-wise.

The highlight of the entire trip, for me, was probably when we decided to stop and check out the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tennessee while on our way back home. Despite seeing and hearing about it for years, I had never visited, and while I was pretty certain that my wife and I would find it interesting, I wasn’t too sure about the kids, who are ages five and ten.

As it turns out, we all thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the museum. It was well worth the price of admission, featuring a ton of interesting artifacts and several structures to walk through. There were old cabins, furnished with items that would have been commonly used during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as an old log church, a one-room school house, and barns, among many other exhibits.

While making our way through the museum’s Appalachian Hall of Fame section, one exhibit in particular caught my eye. It was dedicated to a Dr. O.E. Ballou, who lived between 1907-1973, and, as you might have already guessed by the last name, had ties to our local area here in Whitley County.

A summary of Dr. Ballou’s life accompanied the exhibit, which also included photos and a Holy Bible that once belonged to him. The summary, written by Dr. Ballou’s daughter, Nancy, said, “Despite his inauspicious birth on June 11, 1907, in an obscure and impoverished mining camp in eastern Kentucky, O.E. Ballou later became a prominent and revered physician and community leader.”

According to the re-telling, Ballou and his family eventually moved from Bell County to Williamsburg, where he and his brothers worked their way through college. After attending Cumberland College, the future doctor would earn his B.S. degree from Lincoln Memorial University in 1928, and then his Masters from the University of Tennessee in Memphis in 1932.

Ballou began a private practice in Clinton, where he lived and worked for fourteen years. His daughter recounted house calls all over the area where her father would commonly accept payment for services rendered in the form of chickens, corn, potatoes or firearms.

“During World War II, with the influx of people coming to build Oak Ridge and men needing physical exams for the draft, he was declared essential to the war effort,” Nancy wrote of her father, saying he was given citations by the president, and was able to remain a civilian.

Eventually, Ballou left his general practice due to some issues relating to his physical health, opting to move to Memphis to do a residency in eye, ear, nose and throat medicine.

I read that Dr. Ballou was an “avid golfer and sportsman,” and that he was also a supporter of the University of Tennessee, holding memberships in the U.T. Century and Faculty Clubs.

Dr. O.E. Ballou suffered a fatal heart attack while dove hunting in early September, 1973. If any of our readers have additional information about Ballou that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear it. Please, feel free to contact me via e-mail at [email protected].

For more information on what all the Museum of Appalachia has to offer, visit them online at www.museumofappalachia.org. If able, you should definitely take the time to visit. You won’t be disappointed!

The disappearance of Chadwick Carr has family members puzzled two years later.

Credit: WBIR

CLINTON, Tenn. — Family members reported 32-year-old Chadwick (Chad) Carr missing almost two years ago. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance are troubling to Chad's loved ones. Authorities have generated a few leads in his missing person case. They also said need the public's help to move forward.

Chadwick is just one of 690 people who are unaccounted for in the state of Tennessee. His family joins almost 700 others who have no idea whether their loved one is alive or dead.

In two years, Chad's mom, Christa Carr, has grown accustomed to waiting.

"I do not wish this pain on any parent. Especially somebody's mom," Christa said.

She has photos of Chad spread throughout her home. Most are in frames, some in scrapbooks, and others hung on the wall.

"He was just the most loving, outgoing person you'd ever want to meet. He always greeted me with hugs and a kiss," Christa said. "This was the type of mom-and-son relationship where we were really close. I always knew what was going on with him good or bad. And I was always willing to help."

Chad lived with her for a while during his adult life. The 32-year-old didn't always have it easy, Christa said.

"Drugs, in a nutshell. Had it not been for that, you know? I think he'd still be here," she said.

Chad's sister Whitney Blue echoed that.

"He kept it away from us for so many years. We got a big gist of it maybe a year and a half before he went missing," Whitney said.

However, things were turning around for Chad. He was introduced to a sober-living community in Clinton called the Foundation Recovery House. The home is off rural Dutch Valley Road. The program is three months long and Alan Roberts runs it.

"I wanted to kind of have my own way to help people. It's so important to break that cycle of addiction, and to have a place to do that in a recovery community," Alan said.

Alan said through the recovery house, Chadwick got connected to employment. He even saved up enough money to buy a van.

"Everybody really liked him a lot. He's really outgoing, hard work. And he was serious about his recovery," Alan said. "He had money saved up, he had bought a vehicle. He was really progressing and working towards moving out."

Christa said her son was doing well.

"The transportation was surprising to me," Christa said. "He was really working toward a lot of stuff and doing really well."

On May 1, 2021, everything changed. A phone call between Chad and his sister Whitney would become the last known communication with him.

Whitney said she was just calling to check in on him.

"It wasn't a long conversation. He walked outside and was talking to somebody outside … I'm not sure who it was," Whitney said. "But, I heard him talking to somebody. I kept calling his name, but he wouldn't reply."

Whitney said Chad remained on the line but seemed to have put down the phone. His voice was faint on the other end. She said he was clearly talking to somebody else, so she hung up the phone.

"So I hung up and called back. He didn't answer," she said.

That phone call was around 8 p.m. at night, Whitney said.

She also said, the next day around 3 p.m., one of Chadwick's friends at the recovery house called her to say Chad hadn't shown up for a group meeting in the morning. He also didn't show up for work that afternoon.

Alan said Chad left his phone, wallet, van keys, van, and one flip-flop in the grass at the front of the house. But, Chad was nowhere to be seen.

"I did get kind of scared. I got really scared," Christa said.

Allen said the Anderson County Sheriff's Office, alongside other agencies, came out to the recovery house property to search. He said they questioned everyone at their multiple times, including him.

"There were probably 15+ police cars there. Over a three-day span, they had cadaver dogs. They had Morgan County, Campbell County, and Anderson County deputies who had all come together. They had drones, divers and people searching everywhere," Alan said. "No trace."

That the family knows of, Chad's last call was placed to his sister. Nobody else.

"I think somebody did something to Chad. I can't get past that. He's somewhere. You don't just vanish. Whether it's him, or just the remains, he is somewhere," Christa said.

She's spent two years waiting to figure out where he is.

"He's still not here. I'm still going through that. I wake up in the morning and he's still not here. That memory is still fresh," she said.

Whitney agreed. It's been hard without her brother.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever encountered in life. Period. It's numb. I'm to the point where I'm I've numbed myself to it," Whitney said.

All they want is closure.

"I can't explain to you how I feel, there's an empty space that needs to be filled," Christa said, "And, I can't fill it."

The Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue in Anderson County have made it its mission to rescue and protect East Tennessee’s wildlife.

The Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue in Anderson County have made it its mission to rescue and protect East Tennessee’s wildlife.

CLINTON, Tenn. (WVLT) - In Clinton, the Little Ponderosa Zoo is dedicated to taking care of Tennessee’s wildlife.

They are not just rehabilitating animals, but they’re educating everyone on the wildlife East Tennessee has to offer.

The owner Corbin Cox said this is the zoo’s busiest time of the year for native wildlife rehabilitation.

So far just in 2023, they have brought in 194 birds, 249 cottontail rabbits, 280 opossums, 88 raccoons, 12 various reptiles, 37 skunks, 40 squirrels, 10 groundhogs, 6 fox pups and a bobcat. These numbers go up daily.

In 2019 the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency made them a certified wildlife rehab facility. Now, they rescue and rehabilitate most of the native wildlife in Tennessee.

“Since receiving our certification for native wildlife rehabilitation a few years ago, we have helped thousands of East Tennessee native animals,” Cox said.

“Anything you see running wild, we’ve had it at one time or another,” said Cox.

The zoo has rescued animals from all across the United States and found their forever homes. Cox said the animals are either surrendered by the owners who couldn’t take care of them anymore or they’re rescued because of an injury.

In some cases, the zoo becomes the animal’s forever home.

“We have two raccoons, one of them is albino, that came here when my dad was still here and he saw that if we turn him back out he’s going to be a target. He stands out, and so he took it upon himself to jump through the hoops and finally TWRA said, ‘Okay, it’s educational. You might as well keep him because you’re right, if we turn him out, it’s over with,’” said Cox.

Cox said helping the animals is one part of it but the overall goal is to teach people how to take care of the wildlife and nature.

“I want people to know that there’s still good in the world and that we’re a big part of that, and as far as nature goes and preserving that, that’s preserving wildlife and educating children and educating adults. Anybody that wants to know about it, we’re here for that,” said Cox.

The zoo is a non-profit so they rely solely on donations and admission costs to pay for the animals’ health care, food and upkeep. All summer long, the zoo will be open for anyone to go and visit and play with the animals or maybe even adopt one.

For more information about the zoo, visit their website.

Copyright 2023 WVLT. All rights reserved.

CLINTON, Tenn. (WATE) — This time of year we hear all kinds of stories about haunted houses and buildings. In Clinton — those types of stories lead you to the J.R. Daugherty building on Main Street.

It was a furniture store and apartment complex for half a century. Today — the walls and ceilings are peeling apart, the stairs and floor creek with every step, windows are broken, and some say — this building is also the home of a ghost.

“Back here is where a lot of people feel people touching them. Chills. Hair on their arms,” Melissa Kay said.

Kay has spent a lot of time in the old J.R. Daughtery Furniture Store building. She has had some unexplained incidents happen while inside the 85-year-old structure.

“Just about right about here and I heard somebody come running up the stairs behind me — so, I just moved to the side … I jumped to the side to let whoever it was past, but no one was there,” she told WATE.

Kay said she can’t explain what happened.

“I think there is a lot we don’t know. Even though we may say it’s a ghost or something — we don’t know or we don’t have the equipment to understand or the intelligence to understand.”

Kay explained her experience as just one of many that people have reported at the old building. According to her, the paranormal is normal — a window opening on its own. Lights turn on and off on their own. Furniture moving around on its own.

Kay said the former owner of the store — J.R. Daugherty — died in his upstairs apartment 35 years ago.

She has come to believe that his body was removed, but he never left. “The activity has come and gone. And it seems when Craig Hansen first bought the building and was working on it — they were experiencing a lot of things. Furniture was moving around on its own. Footsteps were everywhere, but no one was in the building.”

She said when Mr. Hansen — the current owner of the building and the owner of the Cadence Craft and Trade store inside — moved Mr. Daugherty’s belongings out of his apartment and locked up the building, someone or something didn’t like it.

“He comes down here and all the lights are on. All the alarms are going off and all this stuff was smashed and broken everywhere. And there was no sign of a break-in or anyone coming in.”

Kay wonders if that was J.R. Daugherty and wonders if he was behind the constant opening of a closed window.

“I kept my eyes on it and watched the window because I wanted to see it actually open on its own … I for 20 minutes watching and watching and we got distracted and looked away for 20 seconds and looked back over and it was open,” she said.

She continued, “Somebody couldn’t have run by and opened it and disappeared in that amount of time that we weren’t looking.”

Some things in the old store – like this doll case that Kay set up – just add to the curiosity of the building.

“Dolls are creepy. Who doesn’t like a creepy doll,” she said. “The one with no hair and spider on its head … that was a special touch.”

But stories about the ghost of the former owner reacting to what he was seeing in his store really make you wonder.

The old building is being sold and will be remodeled. There will be a store on the lower level and apartments on the other levels.

Kay said it will be interesting to see if the paranormal activity will come to an end or continue when that happens.