The Haunted Pillar of Augusta Georgia
Lydias Assistant April 27th, 2007
At the corner of Broad and Fifth streets stands one of Augusta Georgia’s most famous relics. A humble 10 foot tall piece of concrete Augustans call The Haunted Pillar.
The story of the pillar got its start way back in 1830. That year a new Farmer’s Market was built over what was then called Center Street. The pillar was part of a row of columns that held up the large front Greek portico. And so it stood, until a freak tornado struck downtown Augusta in February of 1878. The entire farmer’s market was destroyed, except for the one remaining column.
Shown above – The Haunted Column
Now tornados are rather rare on the east coast, especially in February. The legend began…Local lore claims that if you happen to touch the pillar, you will be struck dead.
The most commonly heard tale is that a traveling preacher, angry at being prevented from giving a sermon at the market, cursed the building, “A great wind will destroy this place except for one pillar… and whomever tries to remove this remaining pillar will be struck dead!”
Others claim that slaves were sold at the market, and that the slaves were chained to the pillar and whipped. A slave woman cursed all the market, causing it’s destruction, and the stain of that curse remains in the haunted pillar. However, there is no evidence that any slaves were ever sold at the market.
At any rate, most Augustans of the time were glad to see the market gone. The decor had not fit the tastes of the time. Even worse, the building had blocked off what is now Broad Street, causing exasperating traffic jams as horse-drawn buggies slowly made their way past huge freight wagons loaded with produce. As one local newspaper put it, ”It was, at best, an unsightly edifice and marred the grand boulevard upon which it was mistakenly located.”
Strangely enough, the pillar we see today is neither ‘real’ nor is it in the original spot. It was destroyed in 1935 in an automobile incident. The column was rebuilt by local business owners, and a year later was moved to the corner of 5th and Broad street, where it can be seen today.
Friday the 13th, 1958, a cotton bale fell off a passing truck and knocked the pillar over. It was quickly re-erected. No one was injured on the truck or on the construction crew. That we know of, anyway.
- Historical
- Comments(57)
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This is really creepy. I think that the rich history and lore that surrounds the pillar may have been inflamed to unrealistic proportions though. I am amazed however at how something that supposedly brings death with it, was destroyed but then reinstalled. I guess the business owners wanted the pillar there, to get some cash in all the urban legend that accompanies it. Talk about making it some sort of tourist destination. Lol.
Anyway, still very interesting. Hmmm, I wonder when my mother in law will want to pass by Augusta? I’d surely like to have her touch that pillar and see. Lol, kidding of course…
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i live in augusta and have all of my 53 years. there have been different construction projects, all tried to knock the pillar down in some form or the other, to no avail, and to death. so say what you wann’a say, the pillar is cursed. the city has tried having it removed, the people are dead, today, do you understand what i am telling you? if not, then offer your assistance, remove it. you won’t know it, but your family will bury you. i heard from my great grandmother the stories about the slave market and how blacks were beaten and sold on broad streeet.
okay i know this story seems really scary and it is true what happens to people who try to remove it but me and plenty of other i know of have touched and leaned on this pillar and no harm has ever came to any of us so what i’m trying to say is as long as you don’t try to remove it and you respect it nothing will happen to you.
Ok be crazzy and try to move it or do something to it
that gone to damage the pillar and see jest what will
happen to you.
mr neither real or ture we would love to see you go and move the pillar because people has tryed and fail dead
and i dont belive it ever was rebuilt or destroyed to many
people wanted the pillar tooken down in the past and no
one was able to do it.
I was told that there were four pillars and three of them were torn down. When it came to moving this exsiting pillar they could not. It was said that the city tried to bull doz it down and the the operator of that bulldozer fell dead with a hear attack.
It was also said that it was cursed by a slave and they were sold in that area.
I believe this because there is a slave grave yard on Watkins Street which is actually in walking distance of this pillar. The name and address is below:
Cedar Grove Cemetery
(706) 821-1748
120 Watkins St, Augusta, GA
i hope no one touched this pole becauser i heard you can die if you do
ummm im scared to even look at that pole.. but i think the story behind it is tragic but interesting to know…. DONT TOUCCCHHH!!!!
THE STORY IS REALLY SAD. IT IS KIND OF SCARER BUT ALSOFUN TO HEAR
OK I WAS TOLD THT LONG AGO BACK IN SLAVERY DAYS, SOMEONE BURNED DOWN THE BUILDING THE SLAVES WERE STAYING IN AND ONLY A FEW GOT AWAY… MEANING ALOT WERE KILLED, AND THOSE WHO DIED ARE NOW HAUNTING (protecting) THE PILLAR,THAT REMAINED STANDING,TILL THIS DAY!!! IT HAS BEEN REPORTED THAT THOSE WHO TRIED TO KNOCK IT DOWN (because of their safety) HAS BEEN KILLED IN DIFFERENT WAYS…. SO IF I WAS YOU… I WOULDNT DARE TRY TO KNOCK IT DOWN….OR EVEN TOUCH IT…. DUH DUH DUH DUUUHHH
wow Ive lived in augusta georgia all my life and i have never heard of the pillar. we are doing a big essay on an myths and legends and one of the topics was “the haunted pillar (downtown Augusta)’so i mite just do my essay on this
ok well 1st thing is that wen i was 13 i leaned on ti carved it with a pen and chipped it coause i never knew the story…and ya im still alive so im guesing that the whoel “pillar”is full of crap cuz i kno i damaged it and im 35 now
it aint honted cause i touched it
I have lived in Aug all my life(30 yrs) and every year ’round Halloween my family and I go to the Pillar, I and my oldest son have touched it, but with great respect. I would not be dumb enough to go and try to knock it down or damage it in any way….but thats just me.. the rich history of Aug is interesting and I have heard most of the stories…. So touching it should not be a problem , but to go there with malicious intent, could very well prove to be fatal…So all the tough guys out there go ahead …lets see what happens
I live in George Walton’s Home. My house was the gates into what once was summerville. When they dug up our pool, they did find artifacts from the war. Also there are crypts From the university that just might be under here.
I am not sure about the pillar, but my house& the university across the street has ALOT of history. They soldier they say from the universitie’s cemetary, its true.
Interesting, I too would wonder if any one believes the legend, would they rebuild the Pillar. All things are possible. Maybe it is haunted. I do not plan to see. Did touch a few years ago but with respect. Did not push. Ooooooh Maybe they are compelled to rebuild if perchance it was destroyed. i too hear trying to remove it intentional or accidentally results in death
psh ive tried to push it down…ive carved things in it…im still alive
I gave it a big hug and it hugged me back. Apparently it will not harm a true southerner. God save the south and its glorious people.
goosh goit!!!
i also live in augusta and have a project to do about historic place, and used this as one of my places. i went to take pictures of it and was scared to touch it, but one of my friends went and kissed it, the next day she woke up with scratches all down her neck and back. scary huh.
to all of the people who have said they touched it and didnt die, that doesnt prove it isnt haunted, you have to try to move it or knock it over to be killed
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i’ve hugged it, and i seem to be fine. i think it’s only if you try to move it.
Ive took girlfriends to Augusta,my hometown,and I have pictures of all of them leaning on the pillar,There all as beautiful as ever.The story we grew up with is not to try to move it or something will happen to you.know one I knew would ever try to move it,not even on a promise of big bucks to give it a try with a big truck or something to that affect………..If its just a tale its certainly a good one that deserves some credit..
I just moved here and was looking up Augusta Haunts. This is very intresting. Im going to have to take a trip to see the haunted pillar.
I’m in the military and just got stationed here to Ft. Gordon (again). I’ve seen the pillar once before and touched it and got my picture taken with me leaning on it. Plan on taking my wife to go see it. Maybe this time I’ll kick it, but I should probably up my life insurance pollicy first.
Having struck the pillar in 83′ I was a student at T.W. Josey and I’m still alive. As far as the legend goes I’ve also heard that the pillar was part of the slave trade where the slaves were held during auction. So there are different stories to this myth with different endings. You be the judge.
my family has lived in Augusta 100′s of years. My grandmother would tell us kids the story of the hunted pillar. From how she told it, every time someone tried to REMOVE it they would die. That slaves had put a curse on it and infact this was the pole they were sold from. She told us that her parents had told her that the the slaves were separated and taken away from their families, and how badly they were treated….ect, and the curse was put in place because they wanted to be remembered…. I believe it with all my heart. Ppl leave a mark on everything…this was their mark. You should not try and deface this pillar, it holds to much hardship and meaning to many ppl. My grandmother passed a couple of years ago. She passed this story on to me and I have to you… Believe it or not… It’s up to you….
wow how creepy i have lived here in Augusta now for alittle over a year after me and my husband moved here from my home state Texas for his job!and this is the 1st i have heard of the pillar i have heard all about the hauntings in Savannah been to the famous MOON RIVER BREWERY and that place just being inside makes my skin crawl so i think i will definately have to take a trip down to broad st and take a look at this place!!!
I touched the pillar and I am pretty sure I am going to die someday. Ed Cashin wrote so many books on the history of Augusta its hard to keep track of them. In one of his books he tells about how many times the pillar has been knocked down, moved and rebuilt. Notice how the people who believe this crap can’t spell.
I touched this pillar 20 years ago and did not fall dead. In fact, I probably hugged it. However, I can not say I have had a particularly charmed life. Whether that has anything to do with touching a piece of concrete, however, is rather doubtful. If my life was cursed, it was so long before touching a silly piece of farmers market concrete.
If you want to see a real slave market (well, sort of), jaunt off down to Louisville where they still have theirs preserved downtown. Hopefully they will forever keep it, too, for to erase history as if it never existed (as happened in Germany with Nazi landmarks after WW2) is a crime in of itself.
i lived in augusta fer like almost my whole life ! wow i need to go see it@!!!!
Back in 1993, my prom date and I went by the pillar. She was from New Mexico. I told her the story about the pillar. We noticed pieces of the pillar had fallen off. We took a piece of the pillar and put it in our car. The next day my girlfriend was in a car wreck. She was hurt in the hospital for a week. We then broke up. I later found that the pieces from the pillar were from a car wreck where there were fatalities.
Wow!
Why is it that all of the people listed above who say that they are from Augusta, Georgia seem to be incapable of spelling correctly? Long live the Richmond County Board of Education!
I lived in Augusta,Georgia all of my life and i have never seen this pillar. The stories might be true about all the things listed above but im not trying to be racist i would just like to know what was the percentage of white men to black men and white women to black women that were killed due to this pillar, because in my mind i would say if this were true about the slaves they would most likely kill a white because of their ancestors and how it could actually revolve around them.
interesting theory and one I don’t have the answer to, but makes me think….
Man…. I live in North augusta and I’ve touched it months ago and am I dead, uh no……..
Hell ill knock it down drag it over near where the city council meets maybe thete will bump agaist it…and we could see if curse is real…..if it is hell ill move if back…..boggie man crap
if u believe in cursed pillars u are a silly person, its says right thier in history that the things been moved once n knocked over twice…. i got a curse for u……..
I have lived in the csra for twenty five years now and have always heard the stories about the pillar. From what I’ve read though, the pillar was knocked down and rebuilt. I do not believe it to be haunted, however, about four years ago two of my brothers got out of my car across the street from the pillar to go touch it and they both had all of their money somehow come out of their pockets and blow across the street. Coincidence, or haunting? You decide.
I live in downtown Augusta and I have hugged the haunted pillar and nothing has happened to me. I am not skeptical, I just think that some things are suppose to happen to certain people.
Whether or not this landmark is cursed i do not know. But i do know that you shall not cause harm to it or you will die. Everybody who has touched it but not meant harm lives but those who are harmful in their ways to the pillar shall feel the wrath of the slaves. So young ones do not touch the stone with harm for you life depends on it. My grand da used to say that. But he also said dont touch it at the full moon because that is when the slave souls come to get you. Which i think he meant they harm you because he said that anyone who touched it at night ended up with long scratches and bruises like claw marks. Good luck. Dont touch it unless you feel lucky. Dont ever, ever steal, hit urinate, break, or h**p the thing either. Just ask one of my friends. Four broken bones and a concussion. Im from Agusta i would know.
Hey, I have been living in Augusta,ga all of my life and I have heard stories about a pond or lake called the deep blue see that I entire train has went down and could never be found. If you know or have heard anything about please enlighten me. Thank you
I touched it yesterday & am alive today to tell about it.
hahahahahahahaha
Amy, I’ve never heard of that story…interesting. Anyone else?
I touched it and I gave thanks to my ancestors as I touched it. I feel like if you come in dissrespect you will be in harm. I want to do a libation by it to show my complete love for those who were enslaved and wronged.
thats a good heart to have.
I TOUCHED IT AND NOW I’M DEAD.
Georgiagirl
I also heard the story about the slaves and a preacher cursing the pillar.Where there is smoke,bound to be some fire or spark of truth somewhere in this story that has been passed down through the years.
I’m from syracuse ny.i have family who live there i have visited there many times in my life.I’ve heard many stories about it.from my family and others.I’m not sure how true it is but i still would never take my chances with it.i was scared as a child as i still an now.awesome story in history.what brought me to this today i was telling my husband about it n showing him.
this is poop
well i am seen this and touched it and also climbed it and i am fin so this pole so called being haunted is just fake i believe