Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainThe man who first published the Bell Witch legend is buried here — and reportedly brought something back from the printing.
Greenwood Ave, Clarksville, TN 37040
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Cemetery is free to visit. Ghost tours that include the cemetery charge standard tour admission.
Access
Limited Access
Historic cemetery with uneven ground, gravel paths, and older monuments on hilly terrain.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1850 · Montgomery County Pioneer Burials · Bell Witch Publishing History · Clarksville Community Heritage
Greenwood Cemetery has served the Clarksville community for over a century, functioning as the primary burial ground for Montgomery County families through the Civil War era and into the twentieth century. The cemetery's terrain reflects its age — older sections hold monuments dating to the early 1800s, with the characteristic limestone markers common to Middle and West Tennessee's antebellum burial practices.
The grave most associated with paranormal interest belongs to Martin V. Ingram, a Clarksville newspaper publisher who dedicated years to documenting the Bell Witch case from Adams, Tennessee. In 1894, Ingram published 'An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch,' the first comprehensive bound account of the legend, drawing on documents, oral histories, and the Bell family's own records. The Customs House Museum in Clarksville has documented Ingram's own account of experiencing paranormal disturbances while typesetting and printing the manuscript — phenomena he described as consistent with those reported by the Bell family.
Ingram's book established the Bell Witch narrative in its recognizable modern form and remains a primary source cited by historians and paranormal researchers alike. His presence in Greenwood Cemetery creates a direct link between Clarksville's burial ground and the state's most famous ghost story — a connection that Clarksville's tourism and historical community has recognized through walking tour programs.
Sources
The paranormal reputation of Greenwood Cemetery intersects with the Bell Witch in an unusual way: Ingram himself, the man buried here, claimed to have experienced unexplained phenomena while producing the book. The Customs House Museum cites Ingram's own accounts of type resetting itself overnight and the sensation of being watched during late-night printing sessions — reports that, coming from the publisher rather than a casual visitor, carry more documentary weight than typical cemetery ghost lore.
Independent of the Ingram connection, the cemetery has accumulated its own local ghost traditions. The Clarksville Online's October 2024 haunted Clarksville survey documented visitor reports of shadowy figures visible between the older monuments in the rear sections of the cemetery, and a recurring sound described as whispering near the historic burial rows. Photographs taken by visitors have produced a higher-than-average frequency of claimed orb phenomena, though the evidential value of such photographs is disputed.
A separate local legend involves a former resident said to have drowned under circumstances that were never formally ruled accidental — the story is attached to the cemetery without a specific grave identified in any primary source, and it functions more as accumulated oral tradition than a documented account. Clarksville Ghost Tour guides treat the Ingram connection as the cemetery's primary paranormal draw.
Notable Entities
Self-guided exploration of one of Clarksville's oldest active cemeteries. The grave of Martin V. Ingram — publisher of the first printed account of the Bell Witch legend — is located here. Historic section includes Montgomery County figures from the early republic through the Civil War era.
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