Posted on: October 31, 2025
Legend has it that Halloween night is when the veil between the physical world and the spiritual realm is at its thinnest, allowing all sorts of ghouls to be made visible. However, if you live in the metro Atlanta area, you can see ghost towns year round.
Just what is a ghost town? No, not a city whose residents are all ghouls! A ghost town is generally described as a former settlement that has been abandoned due to economic failure or natural disaster. A settlement may also become a ghost town if it is annexed by other municipalities or engulfed by urbanization and loses its identity in the process. Some ghost towns are completely barren and lack any sign of habitation, while others still may have a few (living) inhabitants.
Check out a map of nine of the ghost towns found in the 11-county metro Atlanta region below:
- Constitution (external link), DeKalb County (Google Maps (external link)) – A pre-Civil War community annexed into the City of Atlanta circa 1952.
- Egan (external link), Fulton County (Google Maps (external link)) – A mill community split in half, with College Park and East Point annexing one part each.
- Campbellton (external link), Fulton County (Google Maps (external link)) – Served as the seat of Campbell County until Campbell County was absorbed by Fulton County.
- Oscarville (external link), Forsyth County (Google Maps (external link)) – Intentionally flooded in 1950 to allow for the formation of Lake Lanier, after Black residents were displaced by violence (external link).
- Woodstown (external link), Henry County (Google Maps (external link)) – Became extinct when post office ceased operations in 1901.
- Wynns Mill (external link), Henry County (Google Maps (external link)) – A mill community that declined after the mill closed in 1895.
- Orange (external link), Cherokee County (Google Maps (external link)) – Another mill community, now largely absorbed by urban sprawl.
- Creighton (external link), Cherokee County (Google Maps (external link)) – Once a mining community, now part of Gold & Grass Farms today.
- Digby (external link), Fayette County (Google Maps (external link)) – Community no longer exists, but its church still stands.
Happy Halloween!
