The Peach State has its own share of urban legends and myths. The historic state besides its natural landscapes and beauty, is filled with haunted cities and towns. Many locations around here are well-liked by ghost seekers. There are ghost stories associated with several historic sites in Atlanta and Augusta, and Savannah is considered to be one of the most haunted cities in the South.
However, there are reports of paranormal activity outside of our larger cities as well. Despite having less than a thousand residents, Andersonville is one of Georgia’s most haunted little towns. You don’t have to be a fervent believer in the paranormal to sense that spirits may easily lurk here as the location has a very tragic past!
Tragic Past of Andersonville
“Andersonville” has become a byword for the atrocities of the American Civil War. The largest of the 150 military prisons built during the war was located in the city of Camp Sumter.
Camp Sumter held more than 45,000 Union soldiers over its 14-month tenure. Almost 13,000 of them perished as a result of the appalling conditions at the camp. A shortage of supplies, illness, and extreme congestion all played a part in the high death toll.
The conditions are horrifying, according to reports from the time, with feces and dirt all over the place. It was usual to see rats, lice, and maggots. Without housing, prisoners had to live with whatever they could create. Numerous people slept in earthen pits, using pine as shade against the sun and rain.
Even centuries later, it’s tempting to believe that spirits could still be hiding here due to the horrors and misery this location has witnessed.
The ghosts of Union soldiers are said to be seen by visitors walking aimlessly across the region where they were once imprisoned.
The National Prisoner of War Museum, which houses artifacts from POWs from the Civil War onward, is located at Andersonville.
Before the post office opened in November 1855, the hamlet of Anderson was known as Anderson Station. To avoid confusion with the post office at Anderson, South Carolina, the government renamed the station from Anderson to Andersonville. The village of Sumter functioned as a supply depot when the Confederate army built Camp Sumter to hold Union prisoners of war during the Civil War.
Read More: One Of Pennsylvania’s Creepiest Places Is This Abandoned Asylum.
Andersonville National Cemetery
The purpose of Andersonville National Cemetery is to provide a lasting place of respect for individuals who lost their lives while serving their country in the military. Starting in February 1864, the first graves were trench burials for the inmates of the military jail nearby who had passed away. There are currently close to 20,000 burials in the cemetery.
These grounds saw the deaths of about 13,000 men, and the location gained notoriety long before the Civil War was over. Veteran interments still take place at Andersonville National Cemetery, which was once their final resting place. The National Prisoner of War Museum is located here, and it also acts as a memorial to all American prisoners of war. Tens of thousands of people endured in captivity here so that others could be free.
Andersonville Prison
Officially known as Camp Sumter, after the county in which it was situated, Andersonville was the colloquial name for the military jail institution. After it was determined to move Union captives to a more secure location, construction on the camp started in early 1864. This move was taken to get a larger supply of food and in response to the fighting occurring in the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia, where a large number of captives were being detained.
Sergeant Samuel Corthell, Company C, 4th Massachusetts Cavalry said,
“The camp was covered with vermin all over. You could not sit down anywhere. You might go and pick the lice all off of you, and sit down for a half a moment and get up and you would be covered with them. In between these two hills it was very swampy, all black mud, and where the filth was emptied it was all alive; there was a regular buzz there all the time, and it was covered with large white maggots.”
This quote is enough to understand the plight of the prisoners in the Andersonville Prison.
Conclusion
Andersonville is deemed to be the creepiest town in Georgia because of its tragic and horrific past. The shadows from the past still haunt the residents of the town and anyone who visits there. This town speaks for those brave soldiers who were forced to embrace a very tragic death. The spirits of those victims are still alive and question the brutal nature of human actions.
Due to these reasons, Andersonville is termed as the most haunted place in the state of Georgia. If you ever visit the place, you have a fair chance that you will encounter a ghost and will deeply feel the atrocities of the Civil War.