The Haunted Pillar in Augusta, Georgia, is the remnant of a 19th-century market destroyed by a tornado, which locals believe to be cursed by a preacher. The legend states that anyone who tries to move or even touch the pillar will experience death, leading to various accounts of bizarre accidents and strange deaths befalling those who attempted to tamper with it, including a man who aged rapidly within a week. The pillar has been hit and destroyed multiple times by out-of-control vehicles but has been rebuilt on each occasion, though its curse remains a part of Augusta's local folklore. The story begins with a preacher who was denied the right to preach at the market. In retaliation, he threatened that a great wind would destroy the market, but the pillar would remain, and anyone who tried to remove it would die. In February 1878, a rare winter tornado tore through downtown Augusta, destroying the market and leaving only the stone pillar standing. Local legend says that anyone who tries to move, destroy, or even touch the pillar will die. One account describes a man who tried to pull it with a tractor and quickly aged and died of old age. Other stories mention highway workers being struck by lightning or dying in freak machinery accidents while attempting to move it. The pillar has been hit by out-of-control cars multiple times, including in 1935 and 2016, each time destroying it. After each destruction, efforts were made to rebuild it, though the work of restoration was often met with eerie circumstances. The pillar was rebuilt in its new location a bit further from the curb. The pieces of the pillar were then stored by the city with the intent to restore them.