About the Film

CHEST is a 2022 found footage horror film written and directed by Aaron Irons. The film is based on the true story of a mysterious box, or chest, that was discovered in a cave behind a waterfall in East Tennessee in the wilderness area known as Jeffrey's Hell. Two hunters discovered the chest during a significant dry period during the 1980s and were able to enter the normally flooded cave entrance. The chest was said to be wrapped in chains and old locks. Upon returning with tools a couple days later, the hunters were unable to find the cave or the chest again. To this day no one has been able to find the chest and this film is about a film crew who set out to locate it and the legend behind it, only to never be seen again.
From the director: As a kid growing up in East TN, my uncles would tell the story of the chest and they would often give their opinions of what was inside. My uncle Stanley "Shag" Witt believed it to be a box where the Devil had been locked up inside. My friends and I would often go out into the mountains on weekends looking for the mysterious cave and chest, only to come up empty every time. This chest and the countless other local horror stories and mysteries were the inspiration for CHEST, and bringing these stories to life has been a dream of mine for years.

The Folklore

While the narrative story presented in CHEST is fictional, it is based on legends and stories from the East Tennessee area where I grew up, most notably the story of the titular "chest". As a kid I was always obsessed with legends and folklore. Where I grew up the stories were just...special. And moving away and going to college and meeting people from all over the world I never realized how special they were until I would tell stories to people who just could not believe the things I was telling them. Some I experienced myself, some were told to me by various people but there is something unique about the stories from the Appalachian south and they are as unique as the people who tell them. My goal with making this film was to try and capture some of these stories and the people and really put a spotlight on how verbal storytelling is a truly unique artform. It is the one form of art that continuously changes over time. We can listen to music, watch films, look at paintings, read books and they always remain the same, no matter how many times we consume them. Verbal storytelling is unique and you never know where the story will go by the time it reaches you, and I find that to be very special and very exciting. Below are a few of the stories mentioned in the movie and their history. Originally there were lots of other, even more disturbing stories that didn't make the cut (don't get me started on "rabies kid"), but maybe those will work into a sequel?

The Story of the CHEST

This story was told to me by an eccentric uncle named Shag who used to tell all of us wild stories ranging from mummified "hell princesses" in the hull of the Titanic to the mysterious box that was found by some hunters back during a drought in the 1980s in Monroe County, TN. The story goes that these hunters were out doing their thing during an unprecedented dry season, and they came upon a spot in the river where normally there would be a large waterfall. Upon inspection they noticed there was a hole in the rock where the water would normally flow. The went back into it several hundred feet where they discovered a large wooden box, or a "chest" as he described it. It was said to be wrapped in large, heavy chains that were attached and secured with large and very old, rusty locks. Having only their rifles, they decided to go back home and come back later with tools in order to open the box and see what was inside. Now, as to why they never went back is unknown, but supposedly the night after it was found the drought ended and brought about massive flooding to the area, and the waterfall that had kept the secret so many years returned, blocking the entrance. As a kid and teenager growing up there, I was intrigued by this story and me and my friends used to go out into the mountains and search for this waterfall and the cave where the mysterious box was said to have been found, but we never found anything and usually just ended up spending the night camping and drinking beer, telling our own stories and making up new ones. This journey stuck with me for years until nearly 20 years later I sat down and wrote this movie, and was my way of bringing the mystery into the light through film. But there is a box out there somewhere, and the idea of that still excites and terrifies me all the same.

Jeffrey's Hell

The story of Ebenezer Jeffrey is one story that is well documented in the Tellico Plains areas of East TN, but the details can vary from person to person. Basically, there is an area of the Citico Wilderness Area—adjacent to the Cherokee National Forest—called "Jeffrey's Hell" that gets its name from a man named Ebenezer Jeffrey who went missing in the area nearly 200 years ago. He was said to have been searching for his hunting dogs and told people who warned him not to go out there alone that he would "go into hell after those dogs". The details here are what change depending on who you talk to. Most people will tell you he just got lost in the thick forest and never found his way out, but the story I was told by my family was he was out with a friend who was a Cherokee native, and the dogs took off after something and disappeared into a nearby cave. The Cherokee friend warned him that it was a cave with an evil history, and his people spoke that it would change and alter as you went through it and present "false bottoms", as if it was trying to deceive and confuse anyone who came within its walls in order to consume them. Here Ebenezer spoke his famous "go into hell after those dogs" line and disappeared into the cave, never to be seen again, seemingly finding hell in the process. This version of the story was of course the most alluring to blend with the story of the Chest. This cave, too, was another landmark we would search for as kids, also never turning up anything to write home about.

Tellico Ironworks Roundhouse and Mine

One other aspect of the film that was blending with the story of the chest and Ebenzer's Cave is the Tellico Ironworks Mine, which operated shortly after the Civil War. Here is a brief history of this landmark, which can still be visited today and where we filmed a lot of the movie:

From Amanda Gamble:

Approximately 30 years after the Civil War had ended, the site of the former Tellico Ironworks was given new life after the Southern Slate Company purchased the land and opened a slate quarry on December 7, 1893. Strangely enough, there are no records available of the Southern Slate Company existing in the area and its existence was only mentioned briefly in a newspaper article that dates back to the Athens Post in 1901.

On June 16, 1920, a man by the name of J.B. Preston bought 300 acres of land from a citizen of Tellico Plains, Cyril F. Herford with the intent of mining in the area. Preston then made plans on constructing flume lines, houses for workers, storage facilities, machinery, and other items that were used in the manufacture of green slate and other other products. He was given permission to build a railroad leading into the quarry, roads, tramways, and a mill that was capable of crushing stone at the capacity of 3 tons per hour. The mill was said to be opened on January 1, 1921. No one knows if this quarry had any affiliation with the Southern Slate Company.

In October of 1920, Preston had given his lease on the land to the Tennessee Rock Products Company. Tennessee Rock Products operated from 1921 to 1928. The slate that was mined from this site was transported via train on the Tellico River Lumber Company’s railroad and was shipped to perspective buyers on the L&N Railroad.

The landowner, Cyril F. Herford, sued Tennessee Rock Products Company in 1922 after the particles from the quarry had washed into a creek that was on his part of the property, polluting it. In that same year, yet another lawsuit taken place, this time from an area farmer named Henry J. Fritts. The dust coming from the mines had killed vegetation and polluted the streams that flowed through his property. Eventually, the company settled with Fritts for $600.

During the late 1950s, an eccentric local physician named William A. “Doc” Rogers purchased the property with the intent of transforming the derelict quarry into a unique mountain retreat. A storage silo, which once held pulverized slate particles, was converted into a bed and breakfast. It would be known simply as “The Roundhouse”. Doc had huge plans for the area and apparently sought to turn it into a resort. However, his plans would quickly be shot down, as the local Fire Marshal had declared the silo to be unfit for habitation due to its lack of fire exits. Doc continued to practice medicine in the house that was built next to the silo up until his death in the late 1960s. In 1958, a gentleman by the name of Kenneth Saunders had briefly ran a diner on the ground floor of the Roundhouse.

The Monroe County Panther

I had to include this story because it is one that I can actually verify. In the movie the eccentric drunk at the bar keeps mentioning a big black panther that nearly "ran me off the road". And you might not believe it but this story, too, is another true story and one I witnessed myself.

I was around 10 years old and I was staying with my cousin, who lived adjacent to a very large forest and open wilderness area. One night we were all in the house watching TV when outside the sound of a cat broke us out of our television daze, screaming the way only a cat who was about to die could. My uncle opened the back door of the house, which opened out into the forest, and on the screen door there were three cats, all hanging for dear life onto the screen door, trying to climb as high as they could. On the deck outside, a large animal leapt off (nearly 7 feet down) the deck and stopped and turned back to us and let out the weirdest, mostly blood curdling cry I have ever heard. My uncle shined a flashlight at it and its eyes were massive and yellow, and its body was jet black. We watched as it looked at us, paced back and forth for a moment and then retreated into the woods.

That was the only experience I ever had with the panther (or whatever it was) but many people in the area have reported similar sightings over the years. As we grew up my cousin actually became rather obsessed with trying to find the panther and when I wrote the movie I had to include this obsession in the character of Stan Belcher, the drunk at the bar who no one believes.

Awards, Nominations and Selections

  • WINNER - Lit Scares International Horror Festival - 2022 - Best Horror Feature WINNER - Lit Scares International Horror Festival - 2022 - Best Horror Feature
  • Screen PowerFilm Festival - WINNER: Best Screenplay Screen PowerFilm Festival - WINNER: Best Screenplay
  • South America Awards - BEST SCREENPLAY South America Awards - BEST SCREENPLAY
  • South America Awards - BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS South America Awards - BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
  • Sarah of Horror Fest - NOMINEE:Best Cinematograghy Sarah of Horror Fest - NOMINEE:Best Cinematograghy
  • WINNER: Best First Time Director - Thrills & Chills Film Awards WINNER: Best First Time Director - Thrills & Chills Film Awards
  • WINNER: New Creators Film Awards - Best Horror Film WINNER: New Creators Film Awards - Best Horror Film
  • WINNER: Best Director - Vesuvius International Film Festival - XXI Edition WINNER: Best Director - Vesuvius International Film Festival - XXI Edition
  • WINNER: Best Feature Thriller - Cult Movies International Film Festival (5th Season) WINNER: Best Feature Thriller - Cult Movies International Film Festival (5th Season)
  • NOMINEE: Swedish International Film Festival - Best Horror Feature NOMINEE: Swedish International Film Festival - Best Horror Feature
  • WINNER: Best Feature Horror - Lily Indie Film Fest WINNER: Best Feature Horror - Lily Indie Film Fest
  • NOMINEE: Foreman Empire Productions TV & Movie Awards - Best Horror Feature NOMINEE: Foreman Empire Productions TV & Movie Awards - Best Horror Feature
  • WINNER: Rome International Movie Awards - Best First Time Director WINNER: Rome International Movie Awards - Best First Time Director
  • WINNER: Best Horror - Cannes Independent Film Festival WINNER: Best Horror - Cannes Independent Film Festival
  • OFFICIAL SELECTION: Doge Film Festival - 2nd Season OFFICIAL SELECTION: Doge Film Festival - 2nd Season
  • Screen PowerFilm Festival - WINNER: Best First-time Filmmaker Screen PowerFilm Festival - WINNER: Best First-time Filmmaker
  • WINNER: Best Horror Feature - NYC International Film Festival - 4th Season WINNER: Best Horror Feature - NYC International Film Festival - 4th Season
  • AWARD WINNER: Rome International Movie Awards - Best Ensemble Cast AWARD WINNER: Rome International Movie Awards - Best Ensemble Cast
  • 8 & Halfilm Awards - Official Selection 8 & Halfilm Awards - Official Selection
  • Hallucinea Film Festival - Official Selection Hallucinea Film Festival - Official Selection
  • Hollywood International Golden Age Festival - Semi-Finalist Hollywood International Golden Age Festival - Semi-Finalist
  • Hollywood On the Tiber Film Awards - Official Selection Hollywood On the Tiber Film Awards - Official Selection
  • First-Time Filmmaker Sessions By Lift-Off Global Network - Finalist First-Time Filmmaker Sessions By Lift-Off Global Network - Finalist
  • Nominee - Beyond the Curve International Film Festival Nominee - Beyond the Curve International Film Festival
  • WINNER Best Feature - Medusa Film Festival - 11th Season WINNER Best Feature - Medusa Film Festival - 11th Season
  • OFFICIAL SELECTION: 4th Dimension Independent Film Festival OFFICIAL SELECTION: 4th Dimension Independent Film Festival
  • OFFICIAL SELECTION: Paris Film Awards OFFICIAL SELECTION: Paris Film Awards
  • AWARD WINNER: Bright International Film Festival AWARD WINNER: Bright International Film Festival
  • FINALIST: Bright International Film Festival FINALIST: Bright International Film Festival
  • OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hamburg Film Awards OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hamburg Film Awards
  • SPECIAL MENTION: London International Monthly Film Festival SPECIAL MENTION: London International Monthly Film Festival
  • OFFICIAL SELECTION: Montreal Independent Film Festival OFFICIAL SELECTION: Montreal Independent Film Festival
  • SPECIAL MENTION: Seoul International Monthly Film Festival SPECIAL MENTION: Seoul International Monthly Film Festival
  • SEMI-FINALIST: San Fransisco Inide Festival SEMI-FINALIST: San Fransisco Inide Festival