by Dara Barnwell
In 1968 the city of Gatlinburg, TN began construction on the 407 foot tall Space Needle. It boasts glass elevators and a 360 foot view of Gatlinburg and The Great Smoky mountains beyond. In 1969 it opened its doors and many people took scenic pictures from its top.
In 1991 a local high school graduate got a coveted job on the Space Needle’s maintenance crew. He was very excited and threw himself into his job…literally.
One day, while working on the open elevator shaft, he took a misstep and fell down it onto an oncoming elevator. The people inside were terrified by the loud bang on the top of their glass elevator car…and then blood began to flow down the sides. The elevator continued up and stopped about 10 feet from the top of the shaft. Pinning and killing the young maintenance worker. The unfortunate tourists inside were stuck inside the glass elevator with the poor worker’s body pinned to the top for 3 hours.
Employees and tourists say that sometimes the elevator will occasionally and mysteriously stop about 10 feet from the top before moving on and enveloping the inside of the car with the smell of blood.
Then in 2016 a land developer by the name of David Pinyan visited one fair April day. He rode the elevator to the top and got out at the Observation Deck. Witnesses say he strolled around the deck, disrobed, and threw himself from the top rail. Witnesses were horrified when he landed on the awning and was decapitated.
He left no note. His girlfriend thought he was happy. All that was left was speculation as to why he took his own life.
Since then, Gatlinburg Police Department get the occasional reports from terrified onlookers that someone just jumped from the tower. When the police arrive there is never anyone at the base of the Needle. Whoever or whatever jumps vanishes about halfway down.
©️2021 by Dara Barnwell
Eerie Rift 