1890 pedestrian bridge over the Tennessee River and the site of two lynchings — Alfred Blount in 1893 and Ed Johnson in 1906 — whose memory anchors the bridge's haunted reputation.
Walnut St at Tennessee River, Chattanooga, TN 37403
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public pedestrian bridge connecting downtown to the North Shore
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved pedestrian deck; gentle approach ramps on both ends; benches along the span
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1890 · First non-military highway bridge across the Tennessee River · Site of two documented lynchings (1893, 1906) · United States v. Shipp — only criminal trial before the Supreme Court · Ed Johnson Memorial (2021)
The Walnut Street Bridge opened in 1890, designed by chief engineer Edwin Thacher. At 2,376 feet, it was the first non-military highway bridge to span the Tennessee River and one of the longer wrought-iron bridges of its era. According to the Historic American Engineering Record, the bridge was an early and ambitious example of long-span wrought-iron truss engineering.
The bridge became the site of two documented lynchings of Black men. On February 14, 1893, Alfred Blount was abducted from the Hamilton County jail by a mob and hanged from the bridge's first span. Blount maintained his innocence — he was alleged to have attacked a white woman — and replied 'I didn't do it' when urged to confess. According to Jerry Summers' Chattanoogan.com account, after he stopped twitching his body was shot more than 100 times.
On March 19, 1906, Ed Johnson — a 24-year-old laborer convicted on flimsy evidence of attacking a white woman named Nevada Taylor — was likewise dragged from the county jail by a mob of approximately 75 men and hanged from the bridge's second span. The U.S. Supreme Court had stayed his execution while reviewing the case. The mob's defiance of that stay led to the only criminal trial ever conducted before the Supreme Court — United States v. Shipp — in which Sheriff Joseph Shipp and others were convicted of contempt of court. Johnson was posthumously exonerated by a Hamilton County judge in 2000.
The bridge closed to motor vehicles in 1978 and was at risk of demolition until a community campaign secured funding for a major restoration completed in 1993, reopening it as a pedestrian bridge. A second restoration ran from December 2009 to May 2010. The Ed Johnson Memorial — honoring Johnson and the two Black attorneys, Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins, who appealed his case to the Supreme Court — was dedicated at the south foot of the bridge in 2021.
Sources
The Walnut Street Bridge's haunted reputation is rooted in the documented violence of the 1893 Blount and 1906 Johnson lynchings rather than the embellishment typical of ghost-tour fiction. Chattanooga Times Free Press columnist David Cook's 2015 piece 'Why some Chattanoogans won't walk across Walnut Street Bridge' documented that many residents — particularly older Black residents — avoid the bridge as an act of remembrance and unease, rather than belief in classical haunting.
Ghost tours conducted by Exploring Chatt and other operators report EMF activity detected near the southern end of the bridge, in the vicinity of the spans where the lynchings occurred. Tour participants commonly describe a sense of cold, unease, or pressure on the approach to the bridge.
Multiple ghost-walk accounts also describe a woman in a long white dress reportedly seen walking the bridge in the late evening or early morning, described as sad and lost and sometimes standing at the railing looking down into the Tennessee River. The figure has not been tied to a specific historical individual.
Haunbound treats this site with editorial care: the foundational events are documented racial-violence trauma, not entertainment, and the Ed Johnson Memorial at the south foot of the bridge is the recommended starting point for any visit.
Notable Entities
Walk one of the world's longest pedestrian bridges, 2,376 feet of restored 1890 wrought-iron truss over the Tennessee River, with views of downtown Chattanooga and the Hunter Museum bluff. Visit the Ed Johnson Memorial at the south foot of the bridge.
The bridge appears on Chattanooga ghost walks, which frame the haunted reputation in the context of the 1893 and 1906 lynchings.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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