The Story You'll Hear
"A Confederate Colonel's ghost haunts the ruins"
I believe this land IS haunted—just not by C.C. Pegues.
C.C. Pegues was wounded in Virginia at the Battle of Gaines' Mills, June 27, 1862.
He died July 15, 1862—still in Virginia, 800 miles away.
But somehow his ghost made it back to Alabama?
To haunt land stolen from Creek Indians in 1814? Today it's a state archaeological park.
[ Insert photo:
Ghost tour marketing image or
romanticized ruins photograph ]
The Massacre
October 18, 1540: Battle of Mabila
4,000–5,000 Native Americans killed
More deaths than 9/11 (3,000)
De Soto's forces wanted this land. Why? River confluence = critical trade route.
Today, historians still "debate" where exactly it happened.
Why don't we know after 480+ years?
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Bar chart showing Mabila (4,000-5,000) vs 9/11 (3,000) ]
After the Massacre: Profit
1814: Land stolen from Creek Indians
Cleared for cotton plantations.
1820s-1860s: Cotton boom
Cahaba becomes one of the wealthiest towns in America
Built entirely on enslaved labor. Prime lots selling for $5,000 (equivalent to ~$150,000 today).
51 years of wealth extraction on land where thousands died.
1863-1865: Site becomes Confederate prison camp holding ~3,000 Union soldiers.
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1540 → 1814 → 1820s-60s → 1865
Same land, sustained exploitation ]
The Sultana Disaster
April 27, 1865
2,000 soldiers from Cahaba prison camp board the Sultana—a ship meant for 300 people.
The ship catches fire on the way to Illinois.
1,800 die
(For reference: 1,500 died when the Titanic sank.)
Biggest maritime disaster in US history.
[ Insert comparison graphic:
Sultana (1,800) vs Titanic (1,500)
or historical ship image ]
Who Gets Remembered?
One Confederate officer's ghost becomes the story.
Meanwhile:
• Historians still "debate" where 5,000 Indigenous people were massacred
• African Americans built this wealth through enslavement, then claimed political power during Reconstruction
• Jeremiah Haralson—first Black congressman from this area—is forgotten
• 1,800 Union soldiers died on the Sultana
The pattern: Confederate nostalgia replaces Black liberation and Indigenous genocide.
[ Insert visual showing contrast:
1 remembered vs thousands erased
or before/after comparison ]
Mask Off
Click each location to reveal the erased narratives behind America's most famous hauntings
Lake Lanier, Georgia
"Lady of the Lake" - a white woman in a blue dress haunts the waters
Predominantly Black town of Oscarville destroyed, residents violently displaced to create reservoir. Churches, homes, and cemeteries lie beneath.
Myrtles Plantation, Louisiana
"Chloe" the tragic house slave in her green turban
No record of "Chloe" exists. Undocumented Native American slavery. Yellow fever deaths. Now a profitable B&B.
Ridgeway, Wisconsin
Shape-shifting phantom terrorizes travelers for 25 years
Lead mines worked by enslaved Black and Indigenous people. Two brothers burned and frozen to death.
Chahaba, Alabama
Confederate Colonel's glowing orb haunts the ruins
Site of massacre of 5,000 Native Americans. 1,800 Union soldiers died on Sultana. "Cursed" land or consequences?
