Stretching from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, the Natchez Trace is one of the oldest, most historically significant routes in American history. Beginning as hunting ground for natives, the Trace became the favored path back home for early settlers who floated down the Mississippi River to sell goods in Natchez. Yet the Trace was riddled with bandits, marauders and other perils, and today troubled and tortured voices from the past still echo along the road. Travel to Grinders Stand where famed explorer Meriwether Lewis met his untimely demise, and onto Kings Tavern, built in the late 1700s, and haunted by the ghost of the innkeeper's mistress. Author and ghost expert Bud Steed recounts these tales, and more, all lurking in the shadows of the Haunted Natchez Trace.

Bud Steed is investigation manager for TOPS, The Ozarks Paranormal Society, based in southwest Missouri. Author of Haunted Natchez Trace and Haunted Mississippi Gulf Coast, Steed is an accomplished photographer and he writes a weekly column about ghosts and hauntings. Hope Steed Kennedy is a Baton Rouge native.