The ghost who haunted the halls of the old WSB building, known to radio and TV station employees working in the building as "The General", was first noticed by accounting department staff. Even while the old building was still standing, (now torn down), the entity seemed to have moved over to the new building with the radio station's accounting employees! They reported unusual noises, including the sound of a tin cup sliding across an empty desk, and severe cold spots indicative of a ghost...in this case, apparently, a Civil War ghost...
"When can their glory fade?
O' the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade."
-Tennyson
Close up and circled in red (below): the entity that shuffles its feet and audibly moves a "tin" cup around? A Civil War soldier? The cap matches the period...
A plaque near the old WSB building reads, "On this site stood, in 1864, a portion of the outer defenses (breastworks) constructed to protect the city of Atlanta against the invading armies of Gen. William T. Sherman." The plaque refers to the Battle of Peachtree Creek. This area is also known as Collier's Woods, so named after the Collier Family Plantation that also once stood here.
"The woods were ominously still; even the birds seemed to have stopped singing. Col. Jackson of the 134th New York rode up alongside of me, put out his hand and said: 'Goodbye, Adjutant.' I laughed at him, but he said: 'There'll be trouble out there.' He was right. There was to be trouble and plenty of it."
-Lt. Stephen Pierson, (age 19), 33rd NJ Infantry, Buschbeck's Brigade,
writing his account of the Battle of Peachtree Creek, 1864.
On July 20th, 1864, Confederate troops moved out from this site to attack Federal troops moving closer. The battle, now known as the Battle of Peachtree Creek, resulted in the loss of 1,900 Federal soldiers, and 2,500 Confederate soldiers between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and nightfall in this same general area. Two days later, the Confederate troops occupying the (now) WSB site, moved on to the South East, that is, further into Atlanta.
"No more the bugle calls the weary one,
Rest, noble spirit in the grave unknown..."
-From a Civil War monument
Individual photos (except Civil War portraits) (c) copyright
