HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
The 1835 Greek Revival landmark where an enslaved man spent decades robbing graves to supply anatomy students — and where 10,000 bone fragments were found beneath the floor in 1989.
598 Telfair St, Augusta, GA 30901
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Self-guided tours by appointment; call 706-724-2627
Access
Limited Access
Historic multi-story building; limited accessibility
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1835 · National Historic Landmark (1996) · Greek Revival architecture by Charles Blaney Cluskey · Site of systemic grave robbing of African American dead for anatomical study · 1989 discovery of approximately 10,000 human bone fragments · 1998 reinterment of remains at Cedar Grove Cemetery
The Medical College of Georgia was chartered in 1829, and its purpose-built home at 598 Telfair Street opened in 1835 — one of the earliest Greek Revival institutional buildings in the South. Architect Charles Blaney Cluskey, trained in the Irish classical tradition, designed the symmetrical limestone facade with its six-column Doric portico. The college operated here until 1913, when the school relocated to newer facilities.
For most of that period, the school's anatomy program depended on cadavers obtained through illegal means. Body snatching was endemic to American medical education in the 19th century, but the Medical College of Georgia ran the operation with unusual institutional cover. Beginning around 1852, the college purchased an enslaved man named Grandison Harris specifically to serve as its procurement agent. Harris exhumed corpses — almost exclusively from Cedar Grove Cemetery, the primary African American burial ground in Augusta — and delivered them to the anatomy lab under cover of darkness.
After Emancipation, Harris remained in this role as a paid employee, earning $8 per month. His activities were an open secret within Augusta's Black community and a source of profound fear and grief. In 1889, when the full scope of the practice became publicly known, it sparked a near-riot. Harris himself died in 1911 at approximately 95 years old and was buried at Cedar Grove — the same cemetery he had spent decades desecrating.
During a 1989 renovation of the building, workers discovered approximately 10,000 human bone fragments beneath the basement floor — the remnants of decades of dissection. In 1998, those remains were reinterred at Cedar Grove Cemetery beneath a marker reading 'Known But to God.' The building now serves as an event venue and receives visitors by appointment.
Sources
The paranormal reputation of the Old Medical College centers almost entirely on Grandison Harris. Tour guides and visitors report disembodied voices in the building's interior, an abrupt and localized cold that guests describe as arriving without draft, and in a handful of accounts, the sight of a dark figure near the building's lower levels or at the windows.
The same apparition is reported at Cedar Grove Cemetery approximately two blocks away. Ghost tour participants and cemetery visitors describe seeing a figure crouching or digging near the older sections of the burial ground after dark — behavior consistent with the accounts of Harris during his years of active grave robbing.
The US Ghost Adventures Augusta tour makes the Old Medical College one of its primary stops, citing the 10,000 bone fragments and the Harris story as the backbone of the location's history. Whether the reported phenomena are genuine or a product of a story vivid enough to shape perception, the building's documented history is disturbing enough to require no embellishment.
Notable Entities
US Ghost Adventures' walking ghost tour of downtown Augusta includes the Old Medical College as a primary stop, covering the Grandison Harris body-snatching history and the 1989 bone discovery.
The National Historic Landmark is open for guided visits Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon, by prior appointment. The building's 1835 Greek Revival interior is the primary draw.
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This Augusta tour includes Old Medical College of Georgia on its route.
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