Southern Gothic

The Ghost of Alice Riley

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Episode notes

According to local legend, visitors to Savannah’s Historic Wright Square have been known to encounter a young woman dressed in 18th-century style clothing. Some are said to have been approached and begged for their assistance in finding the woman’s lost son. Yet when folks begin to search the area, the girl disappears. Many believe this is the ghost of Alice Riley, the first woman executed in the colony of Georgia.

Alice Riley arrived in the American Colonies in January of 1734 as an indentured servant who would work for about five to seven years to pay back her debt and earn her freedom. To pay back the cost of the voyage she would be sent to work for William Wise, a man of questionable character. It would be a tragic assignment that led to Wise dead and Alice Riley convicted of a murder that some believe she may not have actually committed. 

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