Mrs. Sammy King and the Haunting Near Eastman, Georgia

E. Randall Floyd, longtime columnist for The Augusta Chronicle, has quite a few titles to his name. He is also the owner and founder of Harbor House Books in Augusta, Georgia. One of the books he released before becoming the owner of Harbor House was More Great Southern Mysteries. This was the follow-up to his book Great Southern Mysteries. Both books are amazing, and I highly recommend that you check them out. I have provided a link to the Amazon site where you can order one. Click on the title of this blog article and it will take you there.

Perhaps the most interesting Georgia story in More Great Southern Mysteries is about Mrs. Sammy King, an older lady who died tragically in a thunder/lightning storm near Eastman, Georgia. For those of you who might not know where Eastman is, it is located in Dodge County not far south of Macon, Georgia. Apparently, Mrs. King had an affintity for enjoying the rainstorms and lighting that are so common to the South, especially in the spring and summer. Mrs. King loved to watch the lightning and listen to the thunder. However, on the night of her death, the thunderstorm and lightning displays made her uncomfortable. According to Floyd, the storm rattled doors and windows, making her quite fearful of the situation. Soon, she decided to close the window for safety. This was a mistake, for when she stood up to walk to the window, a bolt of lightning shot through the house and struck her. She died instantly, and three days later, her charred remains were buried in a cemetery not far from Eastman. But it appears that Mrs. King did not go to her rest upon being put in the grave. This all happened in the 1920s.

Reports have come forth over the past years that describe an older woman, stooped over and clad in darker colors wearing a bonnet, walking around near the old home that once was her residence. Mrs. Betty Kight, who purchased the old King residence in 1962, reports that the apparition is most commonly surrounded by a "soft haze of smoke." Kight first saw the apparition right after she and her husband Bob moved in to the house. One day, she was in the kitchen putting things away when she saw a lady standing in a flower bed outside the home. When she went to investigate, the woman was gone. After about a half dozen more sightings, Kight said that she became very unnerved so she removed the flower bed. That did not work. The ghost started appearing to her children during the daylight hours. All of her children had an experience with the ghost. Her son, Robert, heard singing one day, and so he went to the porch to investigate. Upon arriving there, he found Mrs. King's ghost sitting there singing from a songbook and three children were present with her. Her daughter, Elaine, went to feed the family dogs. With a plate of food in her hands, she opened the door only to find King standing there. She dropped the plate and fled.

The identity of the ghost bewildered the Kights until they reported their findings to neighbors who told them of King's tragic death in the late 1920s. The description of Mrs. King matched the ghost's description, including her bonnet. Kight found out that others have seen the ghost as well. In 1973, the Kight's bought a new house near the old one. They hoped this would relieve them of Mrs. King's hauntings. It did not. A few weeks after moving in, strange things happened in the new house. They noticed that flickering lights could still be seen in the old house. Moaning sounds were heard. Then, King began to make her presence known in the new house. There were opening and closing doors, things being moved, and other things that unnerved the family. The Kights thought about getting an exorcist, but decided against it. Soon, the Kight's accepted Mrs. King's presence. She is now part of the family, and Mrs. Kight feels that Mrs. King grew attached to the family and wants to stay among them. She feels that King did not finish her mission here on earth and is not ready to move on.

So is it possible that there are ghosts and spirits that still walk among us, and is it further possible that some of them can get attached to a living family and move with them? Who knows? But, I would suggest that if Mrs. King is going to stay, she should at least help out with the "electric" bills. I know, corny, but it fits.