For well over a century, a 19th century relic stood on lower Broad Street; however, in 2016, an automobile did what an 1878 cyclone failed to accomplish, and the relic was destroyed.
Today, the “Haunted Pillar” has largely faded from public memory.
The storied pillar was once a support column for the Lower Broad Street Market, which was built in 1830, but later it would become the subject of legend and lore, and the lore was created by an Augusta politician who wanted to spur tourism to the pre-Masters Tournament era town.
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By the 1930s, Augusta had ceased to be the winter mecca for wealthy Northerners, and Augusta leaders thought that a morbid legend attached to an old brick and concrete pillar might bring the throngs back and stimulate the local economy.
It didn’t work.
One of the legends surrounding it, which evolved over the years, was that an African-American minister came to Augusta intent on decrying slavery on the steps of the market. When he was told by the police that he was not allowed to preach at the market, the lore has it that he touched the pillar with his right hand, pointed to the sky with his left hand shaking the Bible and cried out that God would destroy the building all but that one column.
The tale that was passed down included a warning from the minister that anyone who tried to move the pillar or even touch it would incur the wrath of God and would be damned. Depending on who you talked to you might get a different version of the story.
People began pass along to other generations the notions that the Lower Broad Street Market was a slave market and that the pillar was once used as a “whipping post.”
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As the tale evolved, the story included instances where people had been struck by lightning while attempting to move the pillar, although there is no evidence that any deaths ever occurred.
There is, however, evidence that the entire legend was made up by Augusta Mayor William Jennings to spur tourism. According to travel writer Marisa Roman, Jennings hired a public relations firm in 1931 to plant the story in newspapers all over the United States.
The Augusta Chronicle reported at the time that most Augustans saw the column as a “commonplace object which arouses in them no more curiosity,” but Williams defended his publicity stunt and said he had received letters of interest from as far away as Colorado and New York.
While people eventually accepted the legend of the minister as being real, there are more holes in the story than in the death car of Bonnie and Clyde.
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The timeline of the curse does not add up. The legend has the evangelist issuing his curse during the time of slavery, but the market was destroyed in a freak storm in 1878, long after legal slavery ended and before legal segregation began.
Over the years, the pillar was likely moved several times as its final location was the intersection of Fifth and Broad Streets. Period photographs of the old market show that it straddled the median on Broad Street before it was destroyed.
In December of 2016, a driver lost control of their car and demolished the column. At first, city leaders said that the debris was being stored in a warehouse and that the pillar would be rebuilt. However, not too long after, the historic marker that stood near the pillar was quietly taken down.
Perhaps it is for the best if the pillar is relegated to the trash heap and never rebuilt. After all, such a legend is certainly hurtful to people in the modern age, and it never reflected real Augusta history.
…And that is something you might not have known.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
