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A Haunted Tour of East Tennessee: Cleveland's 'bloody' mausoleum

The marble of Nina Craigmiles' mausoleum is stained red, leading many to believe there is blood coming from it.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — For over 150 years, a marble mausoleum has sat in front of St. Luke’s Church in downtown Cleveland.

Inside the structure lies the sarcophagus of Nina Craigmiles, but something outside has made this monument a destination for ghost hunters and fans of the paranormal.

Nina was the daughter of John and Adelia Craigmiles, an affluent family in Cleveland in the 1800s.

“Her grandfather was Dr. Gideon Thompson, a very well-known physician in the community, and that was Nina's best bud. He would take her for buggy rides,” Cleveland History Branch Manager Margot Still said. 

On Oct. 18, 1871, Nina and Thompson were out for one of their routine rides when they crossed the railroad tracks in front of a stopped train.

“When suddenly the train lurched forward and struck the buggy," Still said. "Dr. Thompson was thrown clear, but Nina was caught on the cowcatcher on the front of the train and she died almost immediately."

The town of Cleveland mourned and flooded the local newspaper with tributes. Nina's father felt the best way to honor his daughter was to build St. Luke's Church. 

In front of St. Luke's lies Nina's final resting place: A marble mausoleum. 

Over the years, the outside of Nina’s mausoleum has been stained red, leading many to believe that blood is coming from the marble. St. Luke’s receives multiple calls a year from paranormal investigators who want a look.

“There has been a lot of inaccuracies in the pretext of ghost stories and people's imaginations run wild, and the story is that that's blood coming out of the marble—I'm sorry that is incorrect information," he said. "Limestone is the basis for marble and the imperfections in the limestone, that's what people are seeing that they call it blood, but it's not, it's just imperfections in the stone.”

So, it seems that the legend of the “bloody” mausoleum is nothing more than faults in the marble it’s made from, but those in the town of Cleveland hope that those who visit it can appreciate it for its beauty and historical significance rather than an urban legend.

Due to past vandalism and the influx of requests to view it, Nina’s mausoleum is only open to the public on Easter Sunday.

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