“ [Today] there are almost no traces of the once-growing populace [...]. Yet some say that on starlit, moon-filled nights you can hear the sounds of the once-raucous residents partying into the early morning hours, shooting off their guns, and yelling at the top of their lungs.””
A Preacher’s Curse…A Ghost Town
In 1952 the Georgia Historical Commission erected a marker to commemorate the ghost town of Jacksonboro, Georgia, that many believe met its fate as the result of a preacher’s curse.
Established at the seat for Screven County in 1797, it would be gone within fifty years. Known as a rowdy, lawless pioneer town the Jacksonboro, Georgia met its match in Lorenzo Dow, one of the country’s first ‘celebrity’ evangelists.
It was a community that bawked at the thought they needed spiritual saving and refused to let Dow preach in town. In response to their evil ways, Dow layed a curse on the town…Jacksonboro would wither and die from its wickedness. He was right.
Additional Links From This Episode:
Sources:
Brown, Alan. Haunted Georgia: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Peach State. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008.
Dominey, Craig. “Lorenzo Dow’s Georgia Curse.” The Moonlit Road (blog.) Accessed November 22, 2022. https://www.themoonlitroad.com/lorenzo-dows-georgia-curse/.
Federal Writers Project. The WPA Guide to Georgia: The Peach State. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press, 2013.
Fitzhugh, Pat. Ghostly Cries from Dixie. Ashland City, TN: Armand Press, 2009.
Hollingsworth, C.D., Sr. “The Seaborn Goodall Home.” Briar Creek Chapter, NSDAR. Accessed November 22, 2022. Daughters of the American Revolution. http://briercreek.georgiastatedar.org/theseaborngoodallhome.php.
Malone, Tom. Essentials of Evangelism. Greenville, SC: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1958.
Rhodes, Don. Georgia Myths and Legends: The True Stories Behind History’s Mysteries. Guildford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2015.
Stuart, Bill. “Jacksonboro GA - A Cursed Town???” William L. Stuart (blog.) October 20, 2020. https://www.williamlstuart.com/jacksonboro-ga-a-cursed-town/.
Wells, Jeffrey. “The Jacksonborough Curse.” Georgia Mysteries (blog.) April 27, 2008. http://georgiamysteries.blogspot.com/2008/04/jacksonborough-curse.html.
White, George. Statistics of the State of Georgia. Savannah, GA: W. Thorne Williams, 1849. GoogleBooks.
In the city of Cleveland,Tennessee is a legendary mausoleum haunted by the spirit of young girl killed in a tragic accident at a railroad crossing. Legend says if you circle the tomb seven times and then approach it's entrance, the metal door will swing open and invite you in. Yet this legend isn’t what made the ornate marble mausoleum the basis of one of the most infamous ghost stories in East Tennessee— it’s that the marble tomb seems to bleed.
