Est. 1927 · Mineral Spring Resort History · Tennessee Heritage
Red Boiling Springs flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a mineral spring resort destination in rural Macon County, Tennessee. Local entrepreneurs Zack and Clay Cloyd constructed the original Cloyd Hotel in 1890 — a two-story white weatherboard structure with long two-story verandas — to serve the growing therapeutic tourism trade. That first hotel was destroyed by fire in 1924; the surviving hotel was built in 1927. Visitors came from across the South to drink and bathe in what were marketed as curative sulfur and salt springs.
The property changed hands several times, passing through Joseph H. Peters in 1916 and eventually taking the Thomas House name. Through the early 20th century, the hotel hosted US Presidents and entertainment figures alongside ordinary travelers seeking the springs' alleged health benefits.
The hotel site's history includes fires, several accidental deaths, and at least one drowning. In 1961, a seven-year-old guest named Edwin Rush drowned in the hotel's swimming pool. The pool area has carried a persistent folklore association with his presence since.
Room 37 on the upper floors became associated with a guest named Sarah, whose circumstances and date of death are not documented in publicly available records but who appears in local oral tradition as one of the hotel's more persistent presences.
In 1988, the hotel was purchased by the Anzara Corporation and briefly operated as the Anzara Hotel. During this period, a guest reported witnessing unusual ritualistic behavior by residents in the dining room. The property has been described in some accounts as having hosted a religious cult during this period, though the specifics are not independently documented.
CNN's published list of the most-haunted locations in the United States placed Thomas House at number two, which significantly increased the hotel's paranormal tourism profile.
Sources
- https://thomashousehotel.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_House_Hotel
- https://www.ghosthuntweekends.com/thomashouse
- https://nashvilleghosts.com/thomas-house-hotel/
- https://besthauntedhotels.com/hotels/united-states/tennessee/red-boiling-springs/thomas-house-hotel-red-boiling-springs-tn/
ApparitionsCold spotsPhantom footstepsPhantom voicesDoors opening/closing
Edwin Rush's drowning in 1961 generated the most consistently reported phenomenon at Thomas House: guests and staff in the vicinity of the former pool area describe a child's presence — footsteps, a slight cold shift in temperature, and in some accounts, a visual impression of a small figure near the pool's edge. The reports have continued across different ownership periods and different staff, which is notable.
Room 37 on the upper floor carries Sarah's association. Unlike Edwin Rush, Sarah's historical identity is unclear — the records of her death are not in publicly accessible documents. She appears in local oral tradition as a woman who died in the room, and guests staying there report cold concentrations and the sense of being watched from within the room rather than from outside it.
The hotel's broader activity includes door movement, voices in empty rooms, and several guest accounts of figures in period-appropriate clothing on the upper verandas. Ghost Hunt Weekends has operated regular events at the property, contributing documented investigation records to its paranormal file.
Ghost Hunters investigated the property and aired the resulting segment, which introduced the Thomas House to a national audience for the first time.
Notable Entities
Edwin RushSarah
