There’s an undeniably dark side to Georgia. It’s incredibly haunted. The historic city of Savannah isn’t just haunted, its SO haunted that its restless spirits will follow you home. There’s Lake Lanier with its famous blud lady ghost and hundreds of tragic deaths over the years. While Atlanta has its own unsettling past. But they aren’t the only disturbed places in the state. There’s a small town called Surrency that’s just as haunted. Its terrifying tale begins in the eighteen hundreds with the Surrency family and continues today with the famous Surrency spooklight.

The Surrency Ghosts Arrive

Before the town was established, the Surrency family owned a farm in the eighteen hundreds. Their property existed long before many folks had moved into the area and before any commercial buildings were constructed. The Surrencies were a normal family, but had also accumulated some wealth in opposition to less fortunate folks in the vicinity. Mr. Surrency also owned another home in a different town. By all accounts, their Surrency home was a beautiful farmhouse and the Surrency family seemed very comfortable there. At least for some time. But something happened that shook the family to its core. Something wicked came knocking at the door. Or maybe it had been there all along.

The Terror Begins…With Unexplained Drafts and Slamming Doors

Things at the beloved Surrency home took an unexpected turn. One day, weird things began happening – windows inexplicably slammed shut then flew open by unseen hands. Multiple family members witnessed the windows opening and closing on their own. Then doors slammed shut with no one near them. And the terrible drafts…a bitter coldness that seemed to manifest out of nowhere. The family was shaken but refused to let something as small as cold air and slamming windows drive them from their beautiful home and property. But these were mild occurrences compared to the horrors to come.

The Clock Strikes Thirteen at the Surrency Home

The Surrency family became a haunted family. They started to believe it wasn’t just the house, but themselves. Objects flew off shelves. The old clock began to strike thirteen and the hands spun wildly out of control whenever it did. The Surrency children refused to leave the house at night to check on the horses or gather water. They claimed multiple pairs of glowing, red eyes surrounded them in the dead of night.

Every time they sat down to eat as a family, their meals were violently thrown into their laps. It seemed there were dozens of spirits haunting the Surrency home. Moreover, these spirits were dedicated to harassing the family. Or perhaps it was just one very powerful, very angry spirit.

The family lost sleep and couldn’t eat because of the constant torment. One source mentions the ghosts twisted the family’s forks any time they tried to eat a meal. Seemingly an exaggerated ghost story, some claimed the Surrency family made it up for attention. Yet numerous people paid witness to the Surrency family’s bizarre haunting. People began speculating if their home was situated on a ley line or some kind of powerful magnetic grid.

The Surrency Ghosts Became a Tourist Attraction

Before long, the Surrency haunting became a tourist attraction. Scientists, mediums, and clergy visited the infamous home. The locals believed Mr. Surrency was “in league with the devil,” which seemed to explain the ghosts and the family’s wealth. However, a visiting psychic medium believed the Surrency family had extra-sensory abilities. To which the family didn’t recognize their abilities which in turn angered the spirits.

As time passed, the Surrency ghosts became more aggressive. They targeted the little girl: pulling her hair, twisting her sheets, ripping her out of bed. Tormenting her day in and day out. She was exhausted, worn, and frail. How could this family survive a haunting that robbed them of their meals, their sleep, their sanity? Finally, the Surrency family decided to move. The last straw happened when an andiron lifted itself from the fireplace and struck the Surrency boy. Then it floated back to the fireplace, leaving the boy bleeding and crying on the floor.

Even after the Surrency family moved, they still experienced hauntings. But none as bad as what they endured on the farm. The farmhouse was abandoned for many years but the locals still visited it. Train rides brought attracted ghost hunters to the dilapidated property. Eventually, the haunted Surrency house burned down in 1925.

So, What Haunted the Surrency Family?

We could likely come up with quite a few theories as to what happened on the Surrency farm in the 1870’s:

• The farmhouse was indeed situated on a ley line
• They built their house over a Native American burial ground
• The Surrency property was stolen from someone else and so it was cursed
• Perhaps the land experienced something tragic in Native history
• The Surrency family themselves were haunted and had extra-sensory abilities of which they denied, further infuriating the spirits
• One of the Surrency kids experienced telekinesis and caused the poltergeist activity
• There’s water underground of which causes chaotic energy fields above
• Mr. Surrency was into the occult and drew spirits to the household himself
• It was all made up to draw tourism to the farmhouse and make money

The Surrency Spooklight

Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly) the famous Surrency ghosts aren’t the only haunting in town. Another paranormal occurrence is the Surrency Spooklight. A yellow ball of light is seen on hovering over the Surrency traintracks. This ghostly light has been spotted since the early nineteen hundreds and it still seen today. Bored teenagers and even paranormal investigators go searching for the famous light, with some actually witnessing the event.

Folks claim when you do spot the spooklight, you can’t approach it. Because it almost immediately disappears. Sort of as if it was avoiding you or hiding. Theories also abound as to what causes the spooklight – natural gas collecting aboveground? Or perhaps the light from a ghost train that crashed or derailed a hundred or so years ago. Some even relate the Surrency spooklight to the “Will-o-the-wisp” or “Jack-o-lanterns” of European folklore. These specific lights are linked to the fairy folk and/or to the recently dead.

What’s interesting is if we look at this particular paranormal phenomenon deeper, we must first identify the fact that it takes place on a traintrack. Traintracks are notoriously known to harbor hauntings for a few reasons. One, because there are often tragic accidents that have occurred on them that cause the hauntings. And two, because traintracks are liminal spaces – a place that’s neither here nor there. And liminal spaces are known to be a portal or door to other dimensions and to the spirit world, specifically.

Either way, I plan to stay far away from Surrency.

More on Ghosts:

• Types of Ghosts
• Anne Boleyn’s Ghost
• Haunted Summerwind Mansion