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David Moon Developing New Documentary On Underground Chattanooga

  • Sunday, August 25, 2019
Underground Chattanooga is a part of local history that leaves more questions than answers.  
A new documentary by David Moon, a Chattanooga historian and founder of the Picnooga project, said he "aims to connect the dots and filter the truth about Underground Chattanooga from the misconceived myths."

Back in the late 1970s, Dr. Jeffrey L. Brown, a professor of archaeology at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, postulated a theory that sometime during the last few decades of the 1800s, a consensus of local influencers, business owners, and citizens united to hatch a large scale effort to entomb the first stories of up to 40 blocks of valuable real estate in Chattanooga’s downtown commercial district.  Brown passed away in 1980 leaving local historians to further speculate on the mystery.
 

“Forty years later we’re no closer to a definitive interpretation of Underground Chattanooga’s history,” said Mr. Moon.  “This documentary will look at it from all angles rather than deliver a rehash of Dr. Brown’s concept.  Expect to see new information.”  

He said $14,750 is being crowdsourced over the next two months to pay for the production of the 20-30 minute film.  It will take a little over a year to complete, and he said he plans to debut it at the 2021 Chattanooga Film Festival. Sponsors and supporters of the documentary will get an online preview of the completed piece before its live premiere.  

The public can learn more about the film by visiting https://oldtn.org/digging-deep/
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