THE STORY
Reported Haunting
A phantom horse-drawn carriage is said to cross the historic bridge inside Oconee Hill Cemetery during the full moon, while visitors have also described mysterious lights and a lantern-like glow among the graves.
Established in 1856, Oconee Hill Cemetery is a historic Victorian cemetery beside the University of Georgia campus and contains the graves of governors, university presidents, veterans and other notable Georgians. One of Athens' longstanding cemetery legends concerns a ghostly horse-drawn carriage associated with the bridge between sections of the burial ground. A story reported in local folklore describes an intoxicated farmer who supposedly drove his carriage from a bridge and later returned as a spectral driver, with the phantom carriage said to appear during nights of the full moon. Other accounts describe unexplained lights within the cemetery, including a lantern-like glow seen from portions of the grounds. The cemetery's historic iron truss bridge was constructed in 1899. Reports of spectral children sometimes attributed to Oconee Hill appear to be a conflation with ghost stories from the separate Old Athens Cemetery, so that claim is not included here. Oconee Hill remains an active cemetery; visitors should obey posted hours and cemetery rules and treat all graves respectfully.