The old Butler’s Bridge on the northeastern edge of Henry County, Georgia, is a scary place to visit. The bridge once crossed the South River, until it was dismantled.
Union troops used this bridge at the beginning of Sherman’s March. Reportedly, the Union general sent ten scouts to examine the route, but they were captured and hanged from trees by the Confederates.
Legend says if someone went there on a dark night and sang “Dixie,” the bodies of the executed men would appear, dangling from the old oak trees.
In the book Civil War Ghosts of Central Georgia and Savannah, the grandson of C.W. Hollingsworth, who owned a dairy farm that bordered the bridge, stated that he and his “buddies went to the bridge on a dark night, a cassette blaring ‘Dixie’ on the stereo. As the song played, the boys saw the bodies hanging from the trees all around them.”
When the bridge was operational, vehicles would mysteriously stall while on it, apparitions have been seen, and the sounds of combat and fighting have been heard.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
Source: Civil War Ghosts of Central Georgia and Savannah