Tales of the Night
The bars on the windows of the Walker Building are reminiscent of the prison-like way patients were once treated. People sent to Central State before the reform in the 1960s could have been admitted for anything from epilepsy to postpartum depression. Lobotomies, which permanently left patients like the walking dead, were performed freely. Straight jackets were used openly and frequently. People residing in the hospital often took desperate measures to escape. A common method was to make door keys from anything patients could get their hands on including spoons, pens and razor blades. In fact, if a patient could escape successfully, no matter his ailment, he was deemed sane and no longer in need of treatment.
The Old Governor’s Mansion
The Old Governor’s Mansion served as the home of Georgia’s governors from 1838 until 1868. Until 1879, it served as a boarding house. When it was purchased by Georgia Military College, it served as a dorm. After 1890, it served as the home of the presidents of what is now GCSU.
A widely told ghost story about the mansion involves a former cook who spent most of her life preparing meals there. Her name was Molly, and she worked in the mansion when it was part of the dormitories owned by Georgia Military and Agricultural College, now Georgia Military College. She also served as a cook there for the first few presidents of GCSU. According to Barbara Duffey, in her book “Banshees, Bugles, and Belles: True Ghost Stories of Georgia,” people who have been in the mansion often report smelling blueberry muffins cooking. On one occasion, visitors reported smelling burned potatoes. The smell grew so strong that the local fire department was called to investigate. Although all of the firemen could smell the odor of burned potatoes, the source could not be found. It was suggested that the smell was issued from Molly’s cooking.
Stories are also told of a servant who after preparing and cleaning an upstairs bedroom was startled by someone (or something) throwing the bed linens off the bed. After this happened several times, the servant decided not to enter the bedroom again.
Lawyer shootings>/b>
Upstairs from the Campus Theatre downtown there used to be office spaces for doctors and lawyers. In 1953, Marion Stembridge, a local grocery store owner/loan shark was indicted for a 1949 murder as well as tax evasion and was awaiting sentencing. Two lawyers involved in the case were murdered; one of them, young Marion Ennis, was shot in his 2nd floor office in this building. Stembridge committed suicide immediately after the murders. Stembridge lived in the house pictured here, located on the corner of Montgomery Street and Columbia Street.
The Historic Preservation Commission wants to preserve the building’s historic integrity because it was the home of the infamous Marion Stembridge who shot two lawyers in 1953. Stembridge had mental instability and hyperactive behavior. His mother was forced to send him to Central State several times.
“The Little Georgia Magnet,”
Dixie Annie Jarratt Haygood was born in 1861 and died 1915. She was known as Annie Abbott, and her nickname, “The Little Georgia Magnet,” was her stage name. She performed acts for royalty around the world. It is said that Annie Abbott’s “power” was to lift a chair with four men on it off the ground by merely touching the chair. She could stand upon one foot and resist the united efforts of four strong men to move her. She is said to have been a witch.
The tale goes if you leave a roll of dimes on her grave she will grant you any wish you want.
Memory Hill Cemetery
Memory Hill Cemetery on the corner of Liberty Street and Franklin Street contains the graves of Milledgeville's many founding fathers. But the cemetery contains more than meets the eye. Many legends and ghost stories surround the famed final resting place. The above photo shows one such intriguing grave site.
The story goes that J.A. Fish's family died of disease and is entombed in the old Savannah-style crypt. Legend is that Fish, being out-of-his-mind over the loss of his family, went inside the crypt with his rocking chair and bricked himself in. It is said that if you knock on the grave he will knock back.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 24 2008. Filed under Features.
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