As a paranormal investigator I have heard hundreds if not thousands of anecdotal stories involving paranormal events and, as it turns out, every so often I get wind of one that is good enough to share with you. The story of the purportedly cursed “Pillar of Death” in Augusta, Georgia is one such tale. I have some family in Atlanta, and, since that is much closer than my home in Pittsburgh I decided to see what I could find about this sinister monument with a reputation for misfortune during a visit.

The pillar in question, stoutly built of brick and concrete measuring 2 feet in circumference and 10 feet in height, currently resides as a lone sentinel at the corner of 5th and Broad Streets in downtown Augusta. Local lore claims that the pillar is cursed and that anyone who touches it will die soon thereafter. An overstated urban legend to be sure, but why does this pillar have the reputation that has clung to it for more than a century? The origins of the legend stretch back to 1877 when the center of what is now Broad Street was occupied by two large warehouse-like sheds over 200 feet long and 100 feet wide, divided into stalls of numerous sizes, that housed a merchants such as butchers, grocers, farmers, smiths, traders and other businesses. Simply known as “The Market,” the conglomerate buildings had stood since 1830 as a place for commerce and local trade, however, that would soon change. In 1877 an eccentric traveling evangelist, described as being elderly and white haired, yet stately looking, visited Augusta but no church would host his services because he disdained organized religion.

As the legend goes it is said that the man preached in the area of the Market for some time but that the owners of the market refused him permission to “officially” speak. Whatever the circumstances may have been this Old Testament “hellfire and brimstone” preacher made a dark proclamation foretelling of future events where a storm would soon wreak devastation on the area and destroy the Market to punish the people of Augusta for their transgressions. The preacher went on to add that the only remnant from The Market that would survive would be the southwestern column and that anyone who attempted to move it would be killed.

The preacher was soon run out of town and, as fate would have it, the prediction would come to fruition on February 8, 1878. A freak tornado touched down in downtown Augusta tearing a half-mile wide swath through the area killing two people, demolishing several houses and completely destroying “The Market” in its wake – save the pillar at the southwest corner. The old preacher’s prophecy had been fulfilled, but the “curse,” – anyone who attempted to move the pillar would be killed – would not take effect until nearly a year later. Augusta City council decided to rebuild The Market where it originally stood and elected to move the original pillar from the southwestern corner to the intersection of 5th and Broad Streets.

In 1879 one of the new tenants of The Market, a grocer named Theodore Eye, paid laborers to move the column across the street, away from his store front. The men rigged cables to stabilize the pillar and began moving it, slowly, across the street. During the moving process a mischievous young boy spooked one of the horses on the team pulling the pillar. The horse broke free from its restraints and, in its flight of fear, killed one of the workmen. Years later, Broad Street was to be widened and the pillar again had to be moved. This time as the men assigned to the task of moving the pillar were working, a bolt of lightning struck the pillar and two of them were killed. Also, during the same road widening project a bulldozer operator died of a heart attack while working in the vicinity of the pillar.
Surely, as I stated earlier, the legend of the pillar is somewhat overstated owing its sinister reputation as much to coincidence as a cursed veil of darkness spread over the area by its mere existence, but, other reports insist that something is amiss with the pillar. Those who have visited the pillar in the late night stillness have said that they have heard whispered voices and phantom footfalls near the pillar and that there is a feeling that “something is just not right” around the area of the old column. Adding to the shadowy mystique of the pillar is a mysterious hand print that can not be removed and the fact that it has been struck by lightning several times over the years and hit once by a car. A local resident, requesting not to be identified, noted: “They’s people who seriously believe something evil be haunting that [pillar], but locals like myself who don’t believe the stories still don’t touch it just on account of the stories from all these years.”

Even with the superstition of increased mortality and a variety of paranormal phenomenon supposedly swirling around the pillar it still manages to retain a compelling aura, attracting hundreds of tourists and curiosity seekers every year.