Wright Square Savannah: The Hanging Square Curse & Tomochichi’s Restless Spirit
Tonight's Episode
Step into one of Savannah’s oldest and most unsettling locations—Wright Square—a place where history, justice, and legend collide. In this episode of The Strange History Podcast, we uncover the chilling past of what locals once called “Hanging Square,” a site used for public executions during the early colonial days of Georgia.Founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe, Savannah was designed with order and structure—but Wright Square quickly became a place where punishment was carried out in full view of the public. Executions here left a lasting imprint, creating a legacy of fear and fascination that still lingers today.
At the center of the square stands a monument to Tomochichi, a Native American leader who helped establish peace between settlers and indigenous people. Though honored in life, legend claims his burial site was later disturbed—sparking rumors of a curse that still haunts the square.
Visitors report eerie whispers, shadowy figures, sudden drops in temperature, and an overwhelming sense of being watched. Is Wright Square haunted by those who were executed there? Or is something deeper tied to the disturbed resting place of Tomochichi?
Blending real colonial history, documented events, and chilling firsthand accounts, this episode explores one of Savannah’s darkest and most mysterious locations. If you’re drawn to haunted history, Southern folklore, and true paranormal stories, Wright Square may be one place you’ll never see the same way again.
Because in Savannah… some ground never forgets.
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Speaker 1: Dear listener. Savannah, Georgia is a city designed with intention,
Speaker 1: every square carefully placed, every street aligned in a grid
Speaker 1: that was meant to bring order to a new world.
Speaker 1: But beneath that order is something far less controlled. Because
Speaker 1: when General James Oglethorpe established the Colony of Georgia in
Speaker 1: seventeen thirty three, he envisioned a place of structure, fairness,
Speaker 1: and even reform, a stark contrast to the chaotic and
Speaker 1: often brutal colonies that came before it. And yet, even
Speaker 1: in a city built on ideals, punishment still had a place.
Speaker 1: Right Square is one of Savannah's original four squares, laid
Speaker 1: out in that very first city plan, and from the
Speaker 1: beginning it served a dual purpose civic center by day
Speaker 1: and something far darker when required, because in the early
Speaker 1: days of the colony, this square became the site of
Speaker 1: public executions, where justice was not hidden away, but displayed,
Speaker 1: where the consequence senses of crime were meant to be seen, felt,
Speaker 1: and remembered by everyone who lived there, and they were.
Speaker 1: Executions in colonial Georgia were not rare events, and Right
Speaker 1: Square quickly earned a reputation as the place where sentences
Speaker 1: were carried out where gallows were erected, where crowds gathered,
Speaker 1: and where the final moments of the condemned became part
Speaker 1: of the city's living memory, so much so that locals
Speaker 1: began referring to it as Hanging Square, a name that,
Speaker 1: while no longer official, has never fully disappeared. But the
Speaker 1: darkness of Right Square doesn't begin or end with executions,
Speaker 1: because at the heart of the square's history is a
Speaker 1: man whose story complicates everything we think we know about it. Tomachichi,
Speaker 1: the leader of the Yamacraw people, was instrumental in the
Speaker 1: founding of Savannah, forming a crucial alliance with Oglethorpe that
Speaker 1: allowed the English settlement to survive in its earliest and
Speaker 1: most vulnerable days, and his influence extended far beyond local politics,
Speaker 1: because in seventeen thirty four, he traveled to England with Oglethorpe,
Speaker 1: meeting King George the Second, advocating for his people and
Speaker 1: helping shape the future of the colony in ways that
Speaker 1: few indigenous leaders were ever given the opportunity to do.
Speaker 1: When Tomochichi died in seventeen thirty nine, he was buried
Speaker 1: in Wright Square with full honors, a ceremony that included
Speaker 1: military recognition, a testament to the respect he had earned,
Speaker 1: and for a time his grave stood as a symbol
Speaker 1: of cooperation between cultures, a rare moment of mutual acknowledgment
Speaker 1: in a period often defined by conflict. But that respect,
Speaker 1: according to local tradition, did not last. As Savannah grew,
Speaker 1: as streets were expanded and the city evolved, Tomochichi's burial
Speaker 1: site was disturbed, and while historical accounts differ on the
Speaker 1: exact details the war, widely held belief is that his
Speaker 1: remains were either moved or lost during construction, replaced years
Speaker 1: later by the monument that now stands in the square,
Speaker 1: a tribute that to some feels more like an apology
Speaker 1: than an honor. And that's where the story begins to shift,
Speaker 1: because alongside the documented history of executions and colonial development
Speaker 1: is a growing body of first hand accounts that suggest
Speaker 1: right Square is not entirely at rest. Visitors reporting sudden
Speaker 1: drops in temperature and oppressive heaviness in the air, the
Speaker 1: unmistakable sensation of being watched, and whispers that seem to
Speaker 1: come from nowhere, fading the moment you try to listen
Speaker 1: more closely. Some claim to have seen figures near the
Speaker 1: monument at night, shadowy forms that do not move like
Speaker 1: living people. Others describe hearing footsteps behind them, only to
Speaker 1: turn and find the square completely empty. And then there
Speaker 1: are the more unsettling reports, people who say they felt
Speaker 1: physically unwell while standing in certain areas of the square, dizzy, nauseous, overwhelmed,
Speaker 1: as though the space itself was reacting to their presence.
Speaker 1: And while skeptics might dismiss these experiences as imagination, suggestion,
Speaker 1: or the natural eeriness of a historic place after dark,
Speaker 1: there is something difficult to ignore about the consistency of
Speaker 1: these reports, the way they echo across time, across visitors
Speaker 1: who had no prior knowledge of the square's reputation, who
Speaker 1: arrived expecting nothing and left with something they couldn't quite explain.
Speaker 1: Adding to this is the broader historical context of Savannah itself,
Speaker 1: a city that endured repeated outbreaks of disease, including devastating
Speaker 1: yellow fever epidemics in the late seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds,
Speaker 1: events that claimed thousands of lives and often required rapid burials,
Speaker 1: sometimes in locations that were never fully docked documented. And
Speaker 1: while Right Square is not officially recorded, as a mass
Speaker 1: burial site. Its long history as a central gathering place
Speaker 1: means it existed within a city where death was frequent, sudden,
Speaker 1: and often chaotic. So when you stand in Right Square today,
Speaker 1: surrounded by moss draped oaks and softly lit paths, it's
Speaker 1: easy to see the beauty, easy to feel the calm.
Speaker 1: But if you stay long enough, if you let the
Speaker 1: noise of the modern world fade just a little, you
Speaker 1: might start to notice something else, something quieter, something heavier,
Speaker 1: something that doesn't quite belong to the present. And maybe
Speaker 1: that's because it doesn't. Maybe Right Square isn't just a
Speaker 1: place where history happened. Maybe it's a place where history
Speaker 1: never quite left. And now, dear listener, a quick word
Speaker 1: from tonight's sponsor, because even historically cursed locations deserve cutting
Speaker 1: edge innovation.
Speaker 2: Have you ever been standing in a three hundred year
Speaker 2: old square, minding your own business when suddenly you feel
Speaker 2: like you've personally offended someone who died in seventeen forty two. Well,
Speaker 2: now there's a solution. Introducing Past Life Apology, the first
Speaker 2: app designed to help you apologize for things you may
Speaker 2: or may not have done in previous lifetimes. Simply open
Speaker 2: the app, select the century you're currently being judged by,
Speaker 2: and it will generate a sincere, historically appropriate apology, like
Speaker 2: I deeply regret any involvement I may have had in
Speaker 2: colonial misunderstandings. Past life apology trademark because you never know
Speaker 2: who's still holding a grudge.
Speaker 1: Until next time. Keep your voice low, your respect high,
Speaker 1: and if you ever feel like the ground beneath your
Speaker 1: feet is trying to tell you something, you might want
Speaker 1: to listen at a.
Speaker 2: M B a um behind them had been
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