10/22/2026
Spirits, a secret knock, and things that go bump in the night! Join Blount Mansion for a spooky pop-up Halloween speakeasy experience in one of Knoxville's most haunted houses. Stop by before or after your other Halloween plans for haunting prohibition-era fun.
When you arrive on the evening of October 30, you will receive a map to our secret check-in location where you will obtain the password and learn the secret knock to gain entrance to the Craighead-Jackson House Speakeasy.
Knoxville has a rich history in the bootlegging industry as distilling was big business during the prohibition era. Knoxville didn’t wait for the rest of America to go dry. In 1907, it became the first big city in Tennessee to close its saloons, thirteen years before the 18th Amendment made booze illegal nationwide. But shutting the bars just sent the whole business underground, giving Knoxville’s bootleggers a head start on everyone else.
East Tennessee's remote mountain hollers allowed farmers to turn their corn into moonshine far from the prying eyes of the law, and Knoxville became the crossroads where product flowed as far as the speakeasies of Chicago.
Even when the rest of the country celebrated repeal, Tennessee kept its dry streak going. The state didn’t lift its ban on making alcohol until 1937, and Knoxville held out even longer: you couldn’t buy liquor by the bottle until 1961.
Today, the outlaw trade has gone legit. Moonshine is now a multi-million-dollar spirits industry, and East Tennessee, where the stills once hid in the hollers, is a pillar of the booming moonshine industry.
Join us for a glimpse into the prohibition era in Knoxville and our unique speakeasy experience! This event is 21+.
Get tickets:
https://blountmansion.org/spookeasy-a-spooky-pop-up-halloween-speakeasy-experience/
