Do the ghosts of Civil War soldiers still march through the mists of Kennesaw National Battlefield on the outskirts of Atlanta? ? Can those who listen still hear the voices of the guests who died in the devastating Winecoff Hotel fire of 1946? ? Does the spirit of a young boy still ride the "black horse" on the Riverview Carousel at Six Flags Over Georgia? Drawing on her work with the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute at Bauder College and Ghost Hounds Paranormal Research Society, elite psychic medium and cold case researcher Reese Christian writes of the tragic past and the haunted present of Greater Atlanta. From Peachtree Street in the heart of downtown to the plantations and battlefields surrounding the city, join her in discovering the twisted histories of some of Atlanta's most infamous landmarks and forgotten moments. Reese Christian is an elite, world-renowned psychic medium, psychic detective, and paranormal investigator living in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. She has been featured for her work with Bauder College students cracking cold cases on CNN Crime, and her work is spotlighted on the twenty-fifth-anniversary DVD re-edition of Hollywood's Poltergeist. She is also regularly featured on local FM morning radio show The Giant Show on Project 9-6-1 on 96.1. She is a member of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute and Ghost Hounds Paranormal Research Society. Reese founded Presage Consultants, a group of professional psychics that is located in Atlanta. Visit her website at www.ReeseChristian.com. Ghosts of Atlanta Phantoms of the Phoenix City By Reese Christian The History Press Copyright © 2008 Reese Christian All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-59629-544-5 Contents Preface, Acknowledgements, Introduction, Anthony's Restaurant, The Fabulous Fox Theatre, The Gaither Plantation, The Winecoff Hotel Fire, Oakland Cemetery, Six Flags Over Georgia, Stone Mountain, Kennesaw National Battlefield, The Barnsley Gardens, The Wren's Nest, About the Author, CHAPTER 1 ANTHONY'S RESTAURANT Formerly Known as the Pope-Walton House Anthony's Restaurant is located in an upscale area on the north side of Atlanta, Georgia. Construction of this beautiful plantation home was begun in 1797 by a fourth-generation Anglo-American named Wiley Woods Pope in what is now known as Washington, Georgia, about 117 miles east of Atlanta. Once residing on a twenty-five-hundred-acre plot of land, the plantation was a thriving home to several hundred African American slaves. However, in 1865, during the aftermath of the Civil War while Union troops were infiltrating Georgia towns, soldiers came across this luxurious manor housing only a young mother named Mary Elizabeth Pope Walton, her infant daughter, Lula Belle Walton, and her nursing slave girl, Sarah Walton. The Union troops raided and looted the beautiful home, but left it intact and did not burn it due to the infant child. Later that same year, the man of the house, John Howard Walton, finally returned from the war. Unable to pay the now-freed laborers, he lost the estate to his father-in-law, Wiley M. Pope, who completed the house and lived there until 1891. In 1967, the home was meticulously moved over a three-year period to where it now sits on Piedmont Road in Atlanta, Georgia. It has been completely restored to its earliest glory using as much of the original materials as possible. The mansion is now utilized as an upscale, fine dining restaurant named Anthony's, and the only addition has been a beautiful banquet hall built in the 1970s that is lovingly referred to as the "Ladybug Room" in honor of the very last hostess of the manor, Anna Almeda Pope, the daughter of Wylie M. Pope and Almeda A. Wooten, who lived there until 1920. Her nickname was Ladybug as a child, and as she grew older it evolved into Aunt Lady. Many people have claimed to have had paranormal experiences throughout the decades that Anthony's has been open, and oftentimes the stories are very similar in nature. One such story is that the sound of bells can be heard late at night when there are no bells ringing or jingling anywhere. The belief is that this is Lula Belle running and playing in the house. When she was a young girl, her mother would sew small jingle bells into her petticoats so that she could keep track of her in the massive plantation, and now the young child's spirit is believed to be playing with the living by letting us hear her bells. Whatever happened to Lula Belle Walton is a mystery. Although her name appears on the 1880 census of Wilkes County, she seems to disappear after that. She was listed as a white female, sixteen years of age, "keeping house." I have searched various Georgia state and nationwide vital statistics records. There is no marriage record for Lula Belle Walton to be found anywhere in the United States. There is also no known grave of Lula Belle Walton. Given what we know of the aftermath of the Civil War, I