THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The former community of Rosewood was destroyed during the 1923 racial massacre in which Black residents were killed and driven from their homes by a white mob. Visitors to the largely abandoned townsite have since reported apparitions, unexplained voices, and other eerie phenomena that some associate with the victims of the violence.
In 1923, white woman Fannie Taylor lied and said she had been assaulted by an African-American man. She lied because she didn’t want her husband to know she was actually beaten by her white lover. But Fannie’s maid Sarah Carrier witnessed the incident and knew the truth. As a result of Fannie’s lie, white men came from nearby towns began hunting down and killing the African-American residents of Rosewood, including Sarah. When Rosewood citizens defended themselves, the whites hunted them down and burned almost every one of their buildings. One structure still stands: the home of white merchant John Wright, a hero who hid many of the Rosewood residents and helped them to get safely out of town. The woods around the house are said to be extremely haunted. The apparition of an African-American man has been seen, dropping into his knees and pleading for mercy before he vanished. Gunshots and screams are also heard throughout the woods.