Hats off to Savannah for being the most haunted city in Georgia. But where do you go for screams and gasps after visiting The Pirates’ House, where local drunk citizens were once smuggled through a tunnel onto a waiting pirate ship? Serious Halloween fans come to Eatonton.

Georgia Writers Museum’s annual Haunted Eatonton is the scariest way to celebrate Halloween. The spooky 90-minute tours will be held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, Oct. 24-26, starting at 7p.m. when the otherworldly residents come alive. Doors open at 6:30p.m. Tickets are $40 each ($35 each for two or more tickets). This year’s tour will include the Eatonton Abandoned Jail, Union Church Cemetery, Adele Theater, and other haunted sites. This chilling experience has been choreographed in partnership with Arts Barn and co-sponsored by the Eatonton Putnam Chamber.

Will I see ghosts on this tour?

Each site has been thoroughly investigated by the Southeastern Institute of Paranormal Research. If you want to investigate during your tour, they suggest downloading the free App, Ghost Hunting Tools (for Apple or Android). Please remember to turn the sound off on the App, to not disturb others on the tour. If you think you see a ghost and want to take a photo, take at least three photos of the same space. Oftentimes ghosts are shy and will not show up on the first photo. Don’t forget to turn off your flash! It spooks the ghosts.


Can kids come?

We always say that you, as the parent/guardian, know your child best. This tour is intended to be spooky. While we consider the tour PG-13 for frights (no inappropriate language or mature content), we have hosted children as young as 9 years old.

 

What will I see?

One of the best examples on the tour is Sylvia, Eatonton’s most famous apparitional resident. She roams the rooms and stairs of the elegant Panola Hall, a mansion on N. Madison Avenue. In 1891, Dr. Benjamin Hunt purchased Panola Hall, after marrying Louise Prudden. Rumors around town suggest Sylvia fell down the stairs or jumped to her death from her upper-story window upon hearing of her fiancé’s untimely death. The house even features an eerie tunnel under the front porch that leads to…no one actually knows.

 

If you are brave enough, you can register by emailing the Georgia Writers Museum (www.georgiawritersmuseum.org).