Typically when we think of ghosts and hauntings, we think Savannah. Savannah is considered one of the most haunted cities in America, so we often overlook the alleged haunted sites we have so close to home. It could just be urban myths or there could be some validity, but it is possible Statesboro has some hauntings of its own.

The Packing House

The Packing House may potentially be the most famous haunting in Statesboro. The abandoned four-story plant is riddled with graffiti and, although it is tucked behind a chain fence, people have trespassed to get inside.

“It was sort of eerie even though it was the middle of that day. All it really is, is just a building shell that feels like a maze,” Lauren Austin, senior interior design major, said. During the Great Depression, the owner boarded the up the windows, chained the doors and torched the building, killing an estimated 23 employees.

“Some of our friends went up to the second and third floors and then I heard a few of them scream and run back down the stairs,” Austin said.

The owner took his life shortly after with a gunshot to the head. Hauntings that have been reported include gunshots noises and screams from burning victims on nights when there is a full moon. Sightings have included shadows trying to escape and a shadow of a man holding a hook.

“We went once during the daytime and two of my friends saw a snake outside and asked me to take a picture. I took my phone out, took the picture, locked it and put it back in my pocket. When we left, I took out my phone to look at the picture of the snake but the first picture that popped up was this creepy shadow that looked like a guy wearing boots and holding a hook. It was so weird because there were no guys with us,” Erin Fesefeldt, junior, pre-nursing major, said. 

Old Ghost Road

One of the creepiest roads in Bulloch County is Robertson Road, in the neighboring town of Brooklet. The road is appropriately nicknamed “Ghost Road.” Variations of the story differ, but most commonly known is that an orange light will appear at the end of the road and, as one moves closer, a man will appear. The man is reported to be digging a ditch. The man will supposedly approach cars after a certain amount of time but will disappear before actually reaching it.

The Beaver House

The Beaver House is an infamous historic Statesboro attraction as well as notorious for rumors of a haunting. The Beaver House was built in 1911 by Mayor John Alexander McDougald and by 1975 had been dubbed the “Haunted House” by locals.

“I mean it’s just a really old house. I don’t think its haunted even though people think it is,” Kyle Ellis, Statesboro local and Ellis Meat Market employee, said.

The lot The Beaver House sits on is significant because it is the site of the first legal execution to take place in Statesboro. Six ghosts are believed to live on the property. One of the more popular ghosts is Roy Beaver, known as Big Man, who wanders the home. The other ghosts are mainly descendants of from the McDougald family, including grandmother Ruth Mcdougald, two uncles and an aunt. The lot Pizza Hut sits on used to be a part of the estate and a small girl named Annie fell to her death from a tree she was climbing.

Harville House

The Harville House is a grand folk Victorian house that is an exemplary landmark of rural Bulloch County. The property was purchased by Samuel Winkler Harville, one of the two delegates Bulloch County sent to Milledgeville to vote for Georgia to secede from the Union in 1826. The farm expanded to nearly 2800 acres by 1946 and includes a family cemetery on the property. The house has been abandoned since the 70s. Rumor has it that two old women died in the house and went unnoticed.  Allegedly, a blue light can be seen in the window at night and those who have entered the house have reported seeing the women in their rocking chairs.