Podcast: The Deadliest Town in Georgia

Haunts & Hollows: True Tales of the Gothic South Podcast - The Deadliest Town in Georgia

Some towns get hit by disaster once and disappear. Others take a hit and keep coming back for more.

From a preacher’s curse that erased an entire county seat to a 30-foot wall of water that swallowed a sleeping Bible college campus, Georgia’s past is littered with tiny communities that fate and Mother Nature simply wiped from the map. No place, however, has paid a higher price than Gainesville, Georgia. It’s a city that has survived a devastating downtown fire, two catastrophic tornadoes decades apart, and a deadly industrial accident that killed workers before they even knew what hit them.

In this episode of Haunts & Hollows, we peel back the folk tales to reveal the true stories behind Georgia’s most lethal towns. These stories have now been told for generations, including a mad preacher calling for the wrath of God, more than 100 child workers trapped beneath a burning cotton mill, and entire families who were buried as they died, side by side in unimaginable conditions.

Because sometimes the scariest stories aren’t the ones we make up around a campfire. They’re the ones carved into headstones.

Podcast Episode Research Folios

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Haunts & Hollows: True Tales of the Gothic South

Haunts & Hollows: True Tales of the Gothic South is the podcast for anyone who yearns for stories of haunted plantations, of deals made at midnight crossroads, of creatures lurking in moss-draped cemeteries. But where did these tales actually start? Turns out, the real history behind Southern folklore is wilder, stranger, and a whole lot darker than the stories themselves. With each episode, mystery author Liam Ashe uncovers the true tales hiding underneath the myths of the Gothic South.

Subscribe now and never miss a tale. You’ll get an intro to every episode, including a Research Folio and early access. And whatever you do tonight, be sure to lower the lights, lock the doors, and pull up a rocking chair. . . things are about to get interesting.

Start Your Journey into the Gothic South

Want to learn more about the Southern folklore, true crime, and cemetery traditions? Subscribe to our bi-weekly podcast for exclusive cases from the grimmest part of Southern history.. You can also check out our latest book, Haunts & Hollows: Florida Coast — a road trip in a book to the dark side of the Sunshine State.

Podcast Episode Research Folios

Dive Deeper with the Research Folio

Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop PLUS early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers.

Podcast Episode Research Folios

Subscribe & Dive Deeper

Want more Southern Gothic lore? Get a full transcript of each new podcast case along with a list of sources, supplemental media, and more PLUS early access to new episodes. A special perk exclusively for our email subscribers.