
The Ghost of Alice Riley
08/19/22 • 38 min
2 Listeners
According to local legend, visitors to Savannah’s Historic Wright Square have been known to encounter a young woman dressed in 18th-century style clothing. Some are said to have been approached and begged for their assistance in finding the woman’s lost son. Yet when folks begin to search the area, the girl disappears. Many believe this is the ghost of Alice Riley, the first woman executed in the colony of Georgia.
Alice Riley arrived in the American Colonies in January of 1734 as an indentured servant who would work for about five to seven years to pay back her debt and earn her freedom. To pay back the cost of the voyage she would be sent to work for William Wise, a man of questionable character. It would be a tragic assignment that led to Wise dead and Alice Riley convicted of a murder that some believe she may not have actually committed.
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According to local legend, visitors to Savannah’s Historic Wright Square have been known to encounter a young woman dressed in 18th-century style clothing. Some are said to have been approached and begged for their assistance in finding the woman’s lost son. Yet when folks begin to search the area, the girl disappears. Many believe this is the ghost of Alice Riley, the first woman executed in the colony of Georgia.
Alice Riley arrived in the American Colonies in January of 1734 as an indentured servant who would work for about five to seven years to pay back her debt and earn her freedom. To pay back the cost of the voyage she would be sent to work for William Wise, a man of questionable character. It would be a tragic assignment that led to Wise dead and Alice Riley convicted of a murder that some believe she may not have actually committed.
Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today!
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John Murrell's Mystic Clan | Minisode
Legend says John Murrell’s father was a preacher and his mother took pride in teaching him how to steal, but that is just the first of many claims made about this infamous highwayman who was once accused of being the mastermind of a criminal organization known as the Mystic Clan.
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Next Episode

The Legends of Reelfoot Lake
Along the northwestern edge of Tennessee sits Reelfoot Lake. The only natural lake in the state, it's a flooded cypress forest that has more in common with the bayous of the deep south than other more open and expansive lakes of the surrounding area.
Yet this lake dates back only two centuries and owes its creation to the massive New Madrid earthquakes that rocked the area in 1811-1812 and caused the Mississippi River to temporarily flow backward. Yet according to local legend the cause of those earthly upheavals was more than simply nature. Legend says that the origins of Reelfoot Lake can be traced back to the actions of a Chief of the Chickasaw people who once inhabited the now submerged land.
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