Standing ominously on an otherwise unremarkable corner on Augusta, Georgia’s historic Broad Street is the sinister Haunted Pillar.

The ten-foot-tall concrete pillar is the final remaining piece of a farmer’s market that stood on the corner in the 1800s. According to local legend, a street preacher was not allowed to spread the good word in front of the market and he swore that the building would be destroyed by great winds leaving only a single pillar which should not be touched under threat of death. The market was then in fact destroyed by a freak winter tornado which left nothing but the single column standing. Local tradition still says that if a person touches the pillar, they will perish shortly after. Allegedly, several attempts to remove the pillar have resulted in death shortly thereafter.

The unfortunate reality of the Haunted Pillar is that the column standing today is not actually the original, but was built by local business owners on a completely separate spot. The local lore combined with Internet mythology makes finding the truth about the existence of this strange structure difficult.

Update July, 2017: The pillar collapsed in December 2016 after a car accident. Efforts are being made to rebuild it.