1892 Union Gospel Tabernacle and 'Mother Church of Country Music,' home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974 and the focus of long-running ghost stories about Hank Williams and Patsy Cline.
116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, Nashville, TN 37219
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Self-guided daytime tours, guided backstage tours, and ticketed concert events all available.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic auditorium with ADA-accessible entrances, seating, and tour routes
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1892 · National Historic Landmark (2001) · National Register of Historic Places (1971) · Home of the Grand Ole Opry 1943–1974 · Mother Church of Country Music
Captain Thomas Ryman (1843–1904) operated a fleet of saloons and steamboats on the Cumberland River before attending an 1885 tent revival led by evangelist Sam P. Jones. Ryman financed construction of a permanent revival hall, designed in the Gothic Revival style by Hugh Cathcart Thompson. The Union Gospel Tabernacle opened in 1892. Ryman repeatedly refused requests to name the hall after himself during his lifetime; at his memorial service in 1904, Jones proposed the renaming and the gathered crowd assented.
The Confederate Veterans of Tennessee built a gallery for their 1897 reunion, adding the upper-level seating still in use. Through the early twentieth century, the auditorium hosted touring vaudeville, opera, lectures, and political speeches.
The Grand Ole Opry, broadcast on WSM Radio since 1925, moved into the Ryman in June 1943 and remained until March 1974, when the show relocated to the new Grand Ole Opry House in northeast Nashville. The Ryman sat largely idle and was nearly demolished. Comprehensive restoration completed in 1994 returned the hall to active use.
The Ryman was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated a National Historic Landmark on June 25, 2001 for its role in the popularization of country music. It remains an active concert hall, with backstage and self-guided daytime tours available year-round.
Sources
According to nashvilleghosts.com and Ghost City Tours, Captain Thomas Ryman is reported as a Victorian-clad gentleman who appears briefly in the rear of the hall or in the lobby and is sometimes associated with sudden cold drafts during performances of secular acts — a wink at the building's original purpose as a revival tabernacle.
The Hank Williams reports cluster backstage and in the alley behind the building. Frank Harris of Nashville Ghost Tours, interviewed by WKRN, attributes the lore to Williams's late-life ban from the Opry: 'Hank, of course, is a legend at the Ryman Auditorium and was not allowed to come back at one point. So for that reason, people think he has wanted to linger here backstage.' Performers and staff have described a thin man in a white suit and cowboy hat watching from the wings and disappearing when addressed.
The Patsy Cline reports center on after-hours staff describing a woman heard singing on the empty stage, often with the scent of her signature perfume. Wide Open Country notes that 'female staff members report the scent of her signature perfume in empty corridors, and others describe feeling a comforting maternal presence when alone in the building late at night.' Cline died in a March 1963 plane crash that also killed fellow Opry performers Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.
Ghost-tour operators sometimes refer to an 'Opry curse' tying together the deaths of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Stringbean Akeman, and Texas Ruby; this framing is folkloric and is not endorsed by the Ryman.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Guided backstage tour of the 1892 Union Gospel Tabernacle, taking visitors past Confederate Gallery seats, the historic Opry stage, and the dressing rooms used by Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and other Grand Ole Opry performers.
Self-paced tour of the main hall, museum exhibits on the Opry years, and the building's history as a 1892 revival tabernacle.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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