Our Perfectly Spooky Guide to Liberty County for a Hauntingly Good Time this Fall

It’s easy to understand why fall is a favorite season for some folks with the cooler temperatures, colorful leaves, football and pumpkins everywhere! For others, fall is all about the spooky side of life with haunted houses, horror movies and Halloween. It’s also when most people like to “ghost hunt” so we put together a list of places sure to send shivers down your spine on a dark, fall night! If you head out on this spooky tour of Liberty County be sure to obey private property signs, as well as the hours of the location if it is a business.

The Old Liberty County Jail
The Historic Jail in downtown Hinesville. Completed in 1892, while there are no known people who have died on the site, it has been the subject of paranormal investigations with people citing significant ghostly activity throughout. Claims of paranormal activity include shadowy figures, whistling, footsteps and muffled voices! Take a tour of this spooky stop by contacting the Hinesville Downtown Development Authority during regular business hours.

The Bacon Fraser House
Recently purchased by the Liberty County Chamber and CVB, this 180-year-old house was in the Fraser family for 6 generations before becoming our home away from home. Family members staunchly believe that the house is haunted by the spirit of Mary Elizabeth Fraser, who actually had the home constructed. In particular, her presence can be felt in an upstairs bedroom where she etched her initials in the glass of a window. Her kind spirit lends the house a sense of peace and protection that can be felt today by those who work in the historic space.

Photo courtesy of Fort Morris

Fort Morris
Not a fort in the traditional sense of a building, the original earthenworks built to protect the lost city of Sunbury and her harbor during the Revolutionary War still stand, there were soldiers on both sides of the conflict who died on the site. Some people claim that they can still hear Lachlan McIntosh telling the British to, “Come and Take it!

Midway Cemetery
There are 2 stories about the possible haunting of the Midway Cemetery. The first is about two young lovers who were conducting an illicit affair in the cemetery. The relationship between a white girl and a slave was forbidden and the story says that when the girl’s father found out about the affair he had the slave hung in the cemetery and when young Sylvia found him she slit her own throat. Visitors report seeing the two shadowy figures under the tree to this day.

The second story is about a crack in the north wall of the cemetery. The wall, originally built in 1813, was constructed by slaves. The story says that two slaves made to stay late and finish work resulted in one killing the other and hiding him beneath the wall. The wall reportedly would crumble at an unexplainably fast pace and one day when the master ordered the wall torn down and rebuilt, the remains were discovered and the wall was rebuilt, however, the crack continues to this day even after the wall was completely reconstructed.

Want to hear about more haunted happenings at the Midway Cemetery? The Midway Museum oversees the Midway Church and its sacred grounds so the next time you take a tour of the museum, be sure to ask what chilling tales your guide knows!

Caswell House
Corner of North Main & Memorial Drive in Hinesville. Said to be haunted by the ghost of a murdered salesman. The death occurred in 1914, when a traveling salesman was having an affair with the wife of the house and her husband found out and arranged a fake business trip to trap the two in their illicit tryst. The story goes that the salesman stepped off the train at the Flemington, Hinesville & Western Railroad depot where it used to be on Main Street (by the traffic circle) on a rainy October evening and the husband, concealed in the bushes, shot him 3 times and rode off on his horse never to be seen again. The wounded man was taken to a room on the second floor of the house never to regain consciousness and later died. The woman left Hinesville never to be seen or heard from again.

Millhaven Plantation
Located somewhere in the Riceboro area, this house built by Jonathan Gaulden before the Civil War, was in the end stages of deterioration by 1917. There are people who swear that ghosts could be seen in the ruins of the once beautiful plantation home.

Photo courtesy of Georgia Southern University Sea Turtle Program at St. Catherines

A bonus site for those who like adventure would be the supposed ghost activity on Liberty County’s barrier island, St. Catherines. Only accessible by boat and only allowable on the interior of the island by invitation only. The island is said to contain the ghost of Mary Musgrove, nicknamed the Queen of Georgia, who died on the island sometime after 1763. It is said that on a particular hill you can see her ghost haunting the island. Musgrove served as Oglethorpe’s chief interpreter for many years before being given the island.

Even if you don’t believe in things that go bump in the night, this list will bring you to some incredible places in our hauntingly beautiful county!