Diving into claims of Perry’s Civil War ghost

Way back in my “Middle Georgia Haunted History” days, people sent me ghost stories from all over Middle Georgia. I filtered through the majority of them, only choosing to write about the most historically significant ones and when I heard a story that was brand new to me. Some other stories, as ridiculous as they may have seemed sometimes, felt like they had to be cleared up. On today’s “Houston History Files”  I’ll present to you one of those cases. I mean, who doesn’t love fact checking a good ole fashioned ghost story? Welcome to the case of “Perry’s Civil War Ghost.”

I began that page, Middle Georgia Haunted History, with minimal followers. That is, until I got the first big share with The Swanson out of Perry (thank you Christi). What I didn’t disclose is that while interviewing one of the owners of that establishment, I came across at least a half dozen local Houston County legends and lore. One of them was reports of different people who have witnessed this man in a civil war uniform, walking past the restaurant.  That same report kept coming in too — enough so that I had to start taking it seriously. I heard this story from no less than ten different people over the course of a few months. All of them share similar occurrences. 

According to those reports, he has been spotted on Washington Street, Carroll Street, Main Street, Ball Street and even in the parking lot of the New Perry Hotel. Some saw him in broad daylight, others at night while driving by. Two witnesses said that he disappears when he gets past the hotel mentioned above. It appears that the “encounter” is something that occurs at random. That makes it unique.

Before going any further I want to make a few things clear. The first is that I always take every report of “paranormal” encounters with a grain of salt, as most are just not true or exaggerations. The second is that this is in no way, shape or form an invitation to be roaming the streets of downtown Perry at night looking for “ghosts” that may or may not exist. That’s a seriously awful idea unless an official allows you to do it. I am only discussing it because it’s been reported so many times to me, I feel it needs to be addressed — particularly to avoid rumors floating about the history of the area that are not true, and to prevent nightly visitors and trespassers around the town (Not to sound like a dud, but I am fully aware that people do bad things sometimes).

I hope you know me well enough by now to understand that I one-hundred-percent dug into the historical background of Perry involving the Civil War before deciding to bring this to my readers a year ago. What did I find? Simply put, there were no notable battles, deaths or skirmishes in Perry pertaining to the war. 

Did soldiers have homes in Perry? Of course they did. They had them everywhere in the South. In fact, many graves in Evergreen are marked with “CSA” on them which indicated “Confederate States of America.” Again, it’s a terrible idea to be anywhere near that cemetery at night. On the other hand, it’s a peaceful and beautiful place to visit and pay respects during the day!

So, what are these people seeing? I honestly have no idea. These were credible people, I must add. As I’ve said many times before, “hauntings” are not my thing to decide, but history is. It’s the only thing that can be proven. I planned to dig deeper into the areas he was reportedly spotted in and into soldiers who survived the war and were later buried nearby when I wrote this article. The only information that matched anything remotely close to the description was the story of Dr. Havis, in which I’ve presented here and on my website. He was a very interesting man with an extraordinary life.

So, what say you? Have you ever heard this tale before? Have you seen the phenomena and would like to come forward? Are you aware of any history that may have caused an event such as this? Feel free to send me an email at hauntedhistory@protonmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!

I wanted to let you know that this story is from my website haunted-history.org, where you can find all of my other cases.  Middle Georgia Haunted History was fun, but it was time to move on to greater, more important historical stories. Now, you will find the name “Middle Georgia’s History Uncovered” and I am so proud of it!

Next time, let’s discuss the mystery of a lost and now found Pearl Harbor hero. It is a great one and I finally get to write about it. See you then!

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