HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
A plantation-era mansion in Milledgeville where the ghost of Emma Tucker Sibley has been reported by workers and overnight guests since the 1950s.
1534 Irwinton Rd, Milledgeville, GA 31061
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Lockerly Arboretum grounds are free to visit; the historic house is part of the arboretum property
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat arboretum grounds with paved walkways near the historic house
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1852 · Plantation-era construction in antebellum Georgia capital · Tucker family estate history · Now centerpiece of Lockerly Arboretum
The land at 1534 Irwinton Road has a complicated origin. An earlier two-story wooden house stood here, built by R.J. Nichols. When Nichols died in 1849 without a will, the estate entered two years of litigation. On January 6, 1851, plantation owner Daniel Reece Tucker purchased the property and 100 acres for $5,500.
Three weeks after the purchase, the original house burned down. Tucker rebuilt immediately, completing the present Greek Revival structure in 1852. The rebuilt home hosted parties and receptions through Tucker's years of ownership. Tucker died in 1879, and the property passed to his daughter, Emma Tucker Sibley. Over the following decades, Daniel and Martha Tucker, Emma, and her husband George all died within the house.
The property eventually became the centerpiece of Lockerly Arboretum, a 50-acre botanical garden that now surrounds the historic structure. The house is sometimes called Rose Hill, its original name, and sometimes Lockerly Hall, the name the arboretum uses.
Sources
The apparition at Rose Hill has appeared to witnesses across several decades. During 1950s restoration work, carpenters reported seeing a young woman in a long, flowing white gown who looked at them, smiled, then vanished. No one could account for who she was or how she entered the locked structure.
In 1994, a male guest sleeping in the front left bedroom on the second floor was awakened when, he reported, a young woman climbed into bed with him. He left the property before morning. The following year, a female guest in the same bedroom heard a voice state clearly, 'You shouldn't be sleeping in my room,' and later witnessed a figure matching the 1950s description. On a separate 1995 occasion, the home's security alarm activated; doors to the second-floor balcony were found standing open despite having been double-locked.
The figure has been consistently described as a young woman in nineteenth-century dress, and the repeated use of the phrase 'my room' has led to the identification of the spirit as Emma Tucker Sibley, who died within the house her father built.
Notable Entities
Lockerly Hall, also known as Rose Hill, serves as the centerpiece of Lockerly Arboretum's 50-acre botanical garden. Visitors can view the 1852 Greek Revival structure and walk the surrounding grounds.
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