The Haunted Pillar of Prophecy  by Jim Miles  Motorists and
pedestrians who pass the corner of Fifth and Broad Streets in
downtown Augusta, Georgia, invariably notice the lone column
standing on the southwestern corner. The artifact, two feet in
diameter and ten feet in height, is composed of brick covered
with concrete. It is the “Haunted Pillar,” and there are many
who believe death awaits any who touch it. Eerie events are said
to occur around it.  The pillar is all that remains of the
Market, two large sheds about 200 feet long and 100 feet wide,
that once occupied the center of Broad Street from 1830 until
1878. Known as the Upper and Lower Markets, the citizens of
Augusta flocked there daily to purchase food from farmers,
grocers, and butchers.  In the late 1800s an itinerant
evangelist visited the city. The eccentric preacher was
described as an elderly, white-haired, stately looking man whose
clear voice was “incisive even to the piercing of the human
heart,” one witness declared. It is variously argu