- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by... - [Narrator 1] Some of our biggest checks have also made the biggest difference.

The Tennessee Lottery, proud to have raised more than $7.5 billion for education.

Now that's some game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Narrator 2] Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways, where adventure, cuisine and history come together.

With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect.

Trips can be planned at TNTrailsandByways.com.

- [Narrator 3] The Co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned Co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states.

More at ourcoop.com.

- [Narrator 4] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living.

More at mtsu.edu/cla.

- This week on "Tennessee Crossroads", we'll go racing in Hermitage, find the hot dog of your dreams, meet some of Santa's best friends and go ghost hunting in Spring Hill.

Buckle up, "Crossroads" fans.

You're in for a wild ride.

(laid-back music) Our first story is about fierce competition that will warm your heart.

Cindy Carter hits the track to tell the tale of the Music City Quarter Midget Racing Association.

(engines growl) (epic music) - I'm excited that I might win.

We don't win all the time, but we wanna try to.

Just pass on the inside, but if they're too slow, I have to pass them on the outside.

That's what I did at Huntsville a week ago.

- [Cindy] If you're thinking 9-year-old Grayson Smith sounds like a seasoned race car driver, you'd be right.

- [Grayson] I just like winning.

It feels good.

- [Cindy] It's better than the alternative, right?

- Duh.

- [Cindy] Clearly one must learn how to keep up if they want to step into the fast-paced, fun and family-oriented world of Music City Quarter Midget Racing.

- Imagine a rollercoaster and then imagine it being you're controlling the rollercoaster.

Like, it's just so much fun.

- [Cindy] The action at this Hermitage track attracts young drivers ages five through 17 who compete in this NASCAR-sanctioned sport.

The drivers are ranked in age groups and weight groups.

As they get older, the cars get faster.

- Well, it's all speed.

The lighter the car is, the faster it is.

So with making 'em all weigh the same, that removes an unfair advantage for one that may be super light.

- [Cindy] And the pace isn't too fast or too furious.

Car speeds are governed with restrictor plates that only allow so much air to the engine.

Beginners will max out at 15 miles per hour and eventually build to the advanced 45 miles per hour limit.

- Y'all ready to race?

- [Drivers] Yeah!

- [Cindy] Steve Hadley is the Music City Quarter Midget Racing Association track president.

He understands that, to many, the racing experience may seem a bit intimidating.

How do you start?

Where do the cars come from?

How do the young drivers train?

But Steve says there is a supportive community ready to lend a hand.

- All these chassis manufacturers, they will work with their customers.

Even if you buy a used car and it's their chassis, you can reach out to them and they will help you.

They're there.

They'll give you information.

- [Cindy] And once you've got the car, drivers can start getting in practice reps at the track as the whole family, including pit crew moms and dads, learns and builds confidence toward that first race.

- I'm excited.

I hope I'd be safe and don't wreck and I just, I hope I don't wreck my car.

- [Cindy] 8-year-old Maggie Blankenship is making her racing debut.

The nerves are there, so for this first heat, Maggie's strategy is simple.

- Do the right thing, not be so mean and wreck other people.

- [Cindy] You could say Maggie's onto something.

Her competitive game plan includes some pretty good life goals and that's kind of the point.

- It teaches them work motivation, to go and work hard for something, because they will come out here and practice and practice and practice throughout the week, just like a kid that plays ball and bats for it.

- [Cindy] And once they take off, drivers circle the 10th of a mile asphalt track, dozens of times trying to outmaneuver their competitors, hoping to avoid the yellow flag until they cross the finish line in front of their peers, friends and family members who encourage them, win or lose.

- To be able to handle those losses along with the wins, I see a lot of good sportsmanship being developed here.

- Okay, parents, I know what you're thinking.

Is this safe?

Well, these cars come with safety features including roll cages, head and neck restraints.

The drivers wear fireproof suits.

So yes, it's a safe, great way for them to fulfill their need, their need for speed.

- [Wyatt] It's a bunch of adrenaline you're getting from it, 'cause you're passing.

You could wreck.

The adrenaline is what makes you not scared.

You're doing it for the thrill.

You're not just doing it to do it.

This sport is all about fun.

- [Cindy] And for 14-year-old Wyatt Robinson, the thrill of racing is equal to the thrill he gets running around the track with his friends.

- It's mostly the long-lasting relationships you have.

I love hanging out with some of these kids out here and, like, playing after the races.

- [Steve] The kids have just as much fun down here making friendships and playing with one another as they do racing on the race track.

- [Cindy] The association invites new fans to check out the word of mouth on this somewhat hidden Hermitage gym, but also hopes more kids, teens and parents give Music City Quarter Midget Racing a shot.

(crowd cheers) - He's worked hard, worked hard in rookie classes.

He's now a competitive driver.

Great job Jonah.

(crowd cheers) - [Cindy] In this community, victory laps come from many milestones and a day at the track beats just about anything else.

Just ask our seasoned pro and sage, Grayson.

- It's something to do except for playing a video game.

(engine growls) - Thanks Cindy.

Now, if you remember a popular TV series from the sixties starring a blonde genie, our first story will probably sound familiar.

Now, it has nothing to do with genies or lamps, but if you're looking for delicious hot dogs, you'll definitely get your wish, as Miranda Cohen explains.

(uplifting music) - [Leslie] We are at I Dream of Weenie in our brand new brick and mortar.

We have been in existence for 17 years.

We started back in 2007.

- [Miranda] The name is unforgettable.

- Order up for Brett.

- [Miranda] A nod to a retro TV show about a genie in a bottle.

And after nearly two decades, Leslie Allen has captured her own magic in a bottle in the form of a great hotdog stand.

- I think people find hot dogs to be a nostalgic thing.

Everybody thinks about their childhood and picnics and fun times.

- [Miranda] What began as a quirky idea by the original owners turned into a long-standing roadside eatery in East Nashville.

- Hey guys, how's it going?

Yeah.

- And has recently transformed into this spacious and colorful brick and mortar on South 11th Street.

- Order up for Chuck.

- [Miranda] More space, more seating, and even air conditioning, but the whimsical menu and the hot dogs that made them famous are still the same.

- [Leslie] We grill all of our hot dogs over an open flame with wood smoke to give them flavor.

We use locally made artisan blend that's delivered fresh to us every day.

We then make as many of our toppings in house as we can and we really like to focus on a southern-inspired menu.

- It's just fun.

It's just a lot of fun.

It's good.

It's very good.

I mean, Leslie's kind of, she's a genius.

She's sort of the Julia Childs of weenies, I guess.

- [Leslie] So we have pimento cheese.

We have creamy southern style slaw.

We have Tennessee hot chow-chow, which is something that usually is served on beans and greens and things like that, but it makes an excellent hot dog topping.

We also steam our hot dog buns, which is a little bit different treatment.

We find that steaming 'em makes 'em just soft and delicious.

We think that the bun is just as important a part of the hot dog as anything, 'cause it's, like, first thing that hits your mouth.

- [Miranda] And like all really good restaurants, the regulars know there is a secret menu.

(cheery music) - Now, there is a favorite, which is not on the menu, but a secret menu item and if you come you should get it.

It's called the hot southern mess.

It's a hot dog with, let's see, it has pimento cheese and coleslaw and chow-chow on it and it's highly recommended.

- I ended up getting the Flaming Frank.

That's a hot dog with spicy salsa, chili, cheese, and jalapenos and mustard.

- [Miranda] How was it?

- [Customer] It was fantastic.

- For anyone who has visited I Dream of Weenie for the past 17 years, you know they have an iconic mustard yellow bus right outside.

Well, when they moved to their own brick and mortar, the bus made the trip.

The 1971 VW bus is still here.

- [Leslie] We wanted to make sure that we stayed true to our roots and make sure that we honored where we came from, and so we brought the Volkswagen with us.

Had to get redesigned a little bit to fit on our patio, but it's out there for a fun picnic area and photo op that people love, have always enjoyed taking photos in front of I Dream of Weenies.

(oil hisses) - [Miranda] A modern fryer has been added to the kitchen so french fries, fried green tomatoes, and even corn dogs have been added to the menu.

And even wearable weenies, hair clips, handbags, and Legos, of course all hot dog themed.

- [Leslie] Well, we really leaned into some hot dog merch, because it's just so much fun.

- [Miranda] I Dream of Weenie also serves the vegan, vegetarian, gluten- and dairy-free options as well.

- You know, the hot dogs are great.

They're all beef hot dogs, but it's not about the hot dogs.

It's about the creations that Leslie makes.

The hot dog in the bun is just a vehicle to get Leslie's pimento cheese or her chili or her mac and cheese or her slaw.

- It's always, always wonderful.

She has a new spin on hot dogs and she can create different toppings so every day can be a little bit different.

- [Miranda] Leslie Allen says the support of the East Nashville community has been beyond her wildest dreams and she hopes the magic will continue.

(uplifting music) - [Leslie] I do want I Dream of Weenie to be in the community always, because I think it is something that is unique.

I can't take credit for the idea, but I can be proud of the fact that we have kept it going through some very challenging years and come out on the other side in we hope a new and exciting way and this was such a leap of faith to buy a food truck that operated out of a VW bus and it really took a lot of soul searching, but it's one of those things that once I did it, it absolutely was the best decision I've ever made.

- Thanks Miranda.

I'm getting hungry.

When you think of Bowling Green, Kentucky, you probably don't picture an Arctic experience, but every holiday season, one family rolls out the red and green carpet and welcomes the public to come visit their farm, a farm with a North Pole twist, as Laura Faber explains.

(uplifting music) - [Laura] From the moment you step foot on the property- - Hello, welcome to The Reindeer Farm.

- [Laura] You can't help but get into the Christmas spirit.

(children shriek) You'll see snowball fights, Santa and Mrs.

Claus, Santa's boots on the ground and reindeer.

- We're at The Reindeer Farm in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

This is my family farm, my husband, myself and our three kiddos.

This is kind of our dream.

- [Laura] Jessica Anderson and her husband Russell never thought they would actually end up owning a farm.

They both had other jobs and careers.

Then they had three children in three and a half years and everything changed.

- [Jessica] This was a mutual decision.

This was what was best for us.

He hated that I was home alone, so then it started into being more present and being more purposeful with our time together as a family and kind of, like, what our priorities were.

- [Laura] The idea of combining farming with reindeer blossomed.

- [Jessica] I love Christmas.

I always have, even before we had children.

- [Laura] The Andersons visited a reindeer farm and that was that.

- [Jessica] We started working toward all the permitting process.

We purchased some land and we bought a soybean field, so where we're standing now was once upon a time just a soybean field.

We built a home.

We built all the barns that you're gonna be in today.

Russell and I stretched all this fence by ourselves, all these fence posts.

Even the fire pit benches, we built them ourselves.

It's truly turned into a labor of love.

It started as something just to do as a family, but we traveled to a reindeer farm.

I thought there are other people in our region in this area that would love to have the ability to do this and not have to travel that far.

- [Laura] The Andersons officially opened their reindeer farm to the community for the holiday season during COVID.

- [Jessica] It turned out to be a blessing and we very much were embraced during that time of year, because folks missed companionship and togetherness and we could offer it in a unique experience where it was still safe.

- [Laura] The reindeer are the stars of the show and the chance to get up close is special.

Blitzen is Baby Anderson's mother.

Anderson is the first reindeer born on the farm.

There's also Fireball, Mistletoe, Snowball, Rudolph and Sprinkles, a female with an impressive set of antlers.

- [Jessica] Reindeer are actually a subspecies of caribou, very unique in the fact that they are the only members of the deer family where females also have antlers.

Antlers naturally shed, so that means they fall off and they grow a new set every single year.

Reindeer are naturally very docile, really passive animals.

- [Laura] Nitro Christmas is a new male the Andersons hope will sire more babies and there is pretty Clarice.

She's photographed a lot along with Santa and Mrs.

Claus.

- You're also gonna get to meet Flea.

She's our matriarch.

- All of the reindeer used in the encounter experience are females from Alaska.

This is Flea.

She's 10 years old, the oldest girl on the farm, named because she was as small as a flea when she was born.

She's actually been in a commercial for John Boat and she's beautiful.

And by the way, I think it's a rule that when you're doing a story about reindeers, you wear a reindeer sweater.

Right, Flea?

(Flea snuffles) You can visit the reindeer farm two weekends in May and not again until November through Christmas.

- [Jessica] They are our pets at the end of the day.

They're part of our family.

It is magical for people to come see them, but we do have a lot of regulations and things that we do for folks to keep our animals safe.

We want folks to have a fantastic time, but not at the expense of our animals.

- [Laura] The reindeer farm employs Western Kentucky University ag students and high school members of the Future Farmers of America organization.

Beyond that, it's truly a family operation.

Russell's mom greets you at the front window.

Jessica's mom can be found anywhere she's needed.

Her dad drives the train.

Their son Russell can be found serving up hot chocolate and donuts.

And their girls, Aniston and Ashton, are about the best ambassadors the reindeer could have.

- People ask, like, how old they are.

Like, they ask if the antlers are called horns.

They ask what's the stuff that grows on the antlers?

What's that clicking sound?

The clicking sound is a tendon in their foot that helps them stay together in blizzards out in the wild.

- [Laura] There are other animals to experience here too, like the llamas and more.

- We have donkeys.

We have cows.

We have a couple chickens.

We have bunnies and pigs too.

- [Laura] Pigs with names like Taylor Swift, Lizzo, and Notorious PIG.

- [Aniston] This is the most magical Christmasy thing ever.

- [Laura] The Andersons almost can't believe this is their life, a bit of goodness they get to share with others in the spirit of the season.

- [Jessica] There's days that sometimes after we close and we go inside and we sit down and eat dinner together as a family that this little dream that came to be sitting in our son's nursery is a reality and not just a blessing for us, but for so many people, and yeah, it's pretty spectacular.

- Thanks Laura.

Halloween only comes once a year, but for the team of investigators you are about to meet, ghosts are a year-round obsession.

On our last stop, Gretchen Bates joins a group of paranormal researchers on a hunt for spirits in a pre-Civil war mansion near Spring Hill.

(somber music) - [Gretchen] Rippavilla is well known as a beautifully-preserved, historically-rich reminder of Antebellum Tennessee.

- [Chuck] The house was built by Major Nathaniel Cheairs and his wife Susan between 1852 and 1855.

- [Gretchen] But could it be that the Civil War-era mansion is a link to more than just the past?

(tense music) Rippavilla docent Chuck Burns certainly thinks so.

- I've seen Susan and Nathaniel Cheairs several occasions.

They're two of our primary spirits.

They don't like to be called ghosts.

- I came here just to take a historical tour and learn about it.

I met Chuck and Chuck told me some of the paranormal activity.

- [Gretchen] As director of Volunteer State Paranormal Research, Mike Sears is an expert on things that go bump in the night, so it was no surprise when- - A few months went by and they asked me to come in to see if we could do a full-fledged investigation.

(cool rock music) We try to specialize in historical research with our paranormal activity to try to link the past with the paranormal.

When we go into a room and do an investigation, we'll set up our equipment.

We usually set up, like, motion detectors around the doors and areas away from us in walkway areas and we use various motion detectors from light sensors to chime motion detectors.

Evidence of anything that we can capture on film or on our voice recorders.

The biggest evidence we feel that's more tangible is EVPs, which is electronic voice phenomenon.

Starting EVP session up here in Jenny's room.

- The baselines have been set.

The video recorders are rolling.

The EMF meters are on.

Now all we do is wait for something from the paranormal.

- Gretchen.

(Gretchen gasps) - What?

- Can you keep it down?

We can hear you.

- Oh, sorry.

- Yeah.

I've had people come up to me and say, "Why is there a soldier standing over by the fountain?"

Or, "Who's the child over there on the front porch?"

And there's no one there, but yet there is somebody there.

- We had one where we asked, "Can we get you anything?"

And the reply was, "Peppermint."

So when we came back with that evidence, we had asked one of the investigators goes, "I heard you like peppermint.

What kind of peppermint do you like?

Do you like tea or do you like peppermint candy?"

And we got a reply from a little girl that goes, "Candy."

- [Ghost] Candy.

- [Gretchen] As you might expect, Mike runs into the occasional skeptic in his line of work, but he understands why.

- To me, a skeptic is someone that just hasn't had a personal experience yet.

I used to be one of those people.

You know, when people say, oh, I saw a ghost, yeah, well, maybe you did, you know, maybe your eyes were playing tricks, you were tired, but I'm still skeptical when I investigate, you know.

Did I really just see that?

You know, there's times I've seen full-body apparition appear in front of me and I'll have a camera in my hand and everybody's like, well, why didn't you take a picture?

Well, your mind's going a hundred miles a minute, going am I really seeing this in front of me?

And by the time you realize it, let me get a picture, it's gone.

(groovy music) - [Gretchen] While they may share an interest in the paranormal, don't confuse Mike's team with those characters from Hollywood.

- [Mike] We don't go busting ghosts.

We don't hunt ghosts.

People go, oh, you're a ghost hunter and I said, to me, ghost hunters are people that are just going out to look and to have a personal experience, to get scared.

A cheap thrill, I call it.

We're paranormal researchers.

My whole team has had a personal experience, so we're not going out to search for that personal experience.

We're trying to figure out what's causing those personal experiences or what's behind it.

- [Gretchen] Regardless of what's behind it, these researchers will find it, whether the answer lies in this world or beyond.

(scary music) - Hey, thanks Gretchen.

Well, folks, we've come to the end of another show, but please remember to check out our website at tennesseecrossroads.org and you can watch us anytime with the PBS app.

We'll see you next time folks.

(laid-back music) - Hey, I am John Phillips from Phillips Forged Knives in Knoxville, Tennessee.

It's such an honor to be part of the canon of "Tennessee Crossroads" that works so hard to help promote the culture in our state that creates the amazing fabric that makes where we live so unique.

So thank you "Tennessee Crossroads".

- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by... - [Narrator 1] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over seven and a half billion dollars we've raised for education, providing more than 2 million scholarships and grants.

The Tennessee Lottery, game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Narrator 2] Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways, where adventure, cuisine and history come together.

With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect.

Trips can be planned at TNTrailsandByways.com.

- [Narrator 3] The Co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned Co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states.

More at ourcoop.com.

- [Narrator 4] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living.

More at ntsu.edu/cla.