Augusta, Georgia - The Cursed Pillar

I am an Augusta native (born and bred) and have heard the "stories" (yes, multiple) about the "Cursed Pillar," although I have NEVER heard it referred to as a former whipping post. The pillar does exist and it does reside on a corner of Broad St. It was originally part of the downtown market; city records show that they have attempted to move it a couple of times. It is documented that each time the move was attempted an "accident" occurred and someone died (not exactly surprising or "mystical," considering the pillar is about 8 ft. high and appears to be made of solid concrete). The stories are interesting but I figure if you've seen one 8 ft. tall pillar of concrete, you've seen them all ... of course, the fact that I have seen this one a million times may be the reason why it doesn't hold much mystery for me. [Teresa Cheadle, 05/20/2007]

Actually the post is called The Haunted Pillar. It is the last standing part of the old Market where slaves were likely bought and sold. The curse was supposedly put on the pillar by an African Voodoo Priestess. It was moved a small distance from it's original site (due to traffic accidents). [Iain, 05/06/2003]

I am a resident of Augusta, and the whipping post was not a whipping post at all. It is actually a pillar that was part of the old Lower Market which stood in the middle of Broad Street. The local legend is a black preacher, upset that local authorities prohibited him from preaching at the market, placed a curse on the actual pillar, which stood directly behind where he was trying to preach. Shortly thereafter, in 1878, a rare cyclone struck and leveled the entire market excluding the pillar. A year later, when construction on a new market began, a local grocer bought the pillar for $50 and moved it to the corner of 5th and Broad. The two men moving the pillar were struck by lightning. [LB, 12/20/2000]

There is what is called The Whipping Post. It was used in the Old South to punish slaves that misbehaved and such. Every attempt to remove this post has ended with the post still standing and the person dead or severly injured. One story I heard was that a slave chained there was into voodoo and cursed it, saying it would remain there forever as a reminder of the wrong done to his people. It's quite interesting to see, and the people will readily tell you the stories about it if you ask. [Doodle Bean, 04/30/2000]