HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 2 further entries on record
An 1843 Wilmington house on the site of the city's former Gallows Hill, now private offices, with long-told reports of period-clothed figures, 'HELP' appearing in window condensation, and an entity called 'George.'
514 Market St, Wilmington, NC 28401
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing from the public sidewalk is free. Building interior is private commercial space and not open to visitors.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved sidewalk along Market Street
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1843 · Former Gallows Hill · Mid-19th Century Architecture · Dr. William Price Residence
The lot at the corner of Market Street and Fifth Avenue, now 514 Market Street, was Wilmington's public execution ground, known as Gallows Hill, in the early 1800s. Local historians consulted for the StarNews podcast Cape Fear Unearthed, Beverly Tetterton and Chris E. Fonvielle Jr., note that it was not the town's only gallows site. Hangings were public events. Many of the condemned were sailors from other ports with no family nearby, and those unclaimed were buried in trenches dug beside the gallows, according to tour operator John Hirchak in a 2007 WWAY report. Published estimates of the number executed range from dozens to more than 150; none is documented.
Dr. William Price, a physician who later served as a Confederate lieutenant colonel, built the present house for his family and medical office. Tour literature gives 1843 as the date; the WWAY report and other accounts give 1860. The house passed to the Gause family, including Thomas J. Gause, an Army captain in the First World War, which produced the compound name. During renovations some decades ago, workers uncovered human remains on the property, and the owner had them reburied on site, per WWAY.
The building now houses an architecture firm and functions as private commercial office space. Visitors are limited to exterior viewing from the Market Street sidewalk; the owners run no scheduled investigations, and the house appears on Wilmington walking-tour routes only as an exterior stop. It has been a recurring subject of regional ghost coverage, including WWAY's 2007 Halloween report, the Queen City Ghosts and Drugstore Divas guides, and the Cape Fear Unearthed episode Ghosts of Gallows Hill, hosted by Hunter Ingram and recorded at WHQR.
Sources
The Price-Gause House has been a fixture in Wilmington ghost-tour itineraries for decades. On October 31, 2007, WWAY quoted John Hirchak of the Ghost Walk of Old Wilmington calling it, in his opinion, the most actively haunted home in the city, and witness Lew Musser describing the word 'help' written on a window and footsteps on the stairs. Multiple independent guides repeat the same core claims, among them Queen City Ghosts, Drugstore Divas, Charlotte Ghost Tours, the Occult World encyclopedia entry, the What-When-How digest, and the Haunted History blog. Across these sources, the most consistently reported phenomenon is the appearance of period-clothed figures watching from the upstairs windows after dark. The figures have been described by passersby and tour guides moving past the property along Market Street.
The lore also includes the word 'HELP' appearing in condensation on the upstairs office window, a phenomenon described as recurring across multiple unrelated occupant generations. Inside the building, occupants have reported the smell of pipe tobacco when no one is smoking, kitchen items relocating overnight, metal clanking sounds in interior rooms, and heavy stomping on the stairs from unseen sources. An entity informally called 'George' is described in tour storytelling as a friendly resident presence said to greet people passing the house, a name reportedly given by employees of the architectural firm that has occupied the building.
Ghost-hunting teams cited in the Queen City Ghosts and Drugstore Divas features have reported EMF spikes and cold spots, with the most consistent reports concentrated in the side yard along the eastern wall of the building, the area in which the unclaimed bodies of executed men are believed to have been buried during the property's Gallows Hill period.
HauntBound notes that the executions and unmarked burials that anchor this lore involve historical violence; the storytelling should treat the men buried at the site with dignity rather than as background color. The Cape Fear Unearthed podcast episode 'Ghosts of Gallows Hill' provides a more historically grounded treatment of the site than most tour-circuit retellings.
Because the building functions as private commercial offices, HauntBound publishes it only as an exterior-viewing stop from the public Market Street sidewalk; visitors should not approach the building, its side yard, or its rear property.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
View the 1843 Price-Gause House from the public Market Street sidewalk. The building functions as private offices and is not open to visitors; the side yard and rear property are private. Guided ghost-tour operators in downtown Wilmington include the house as an exterior stop on walking tours.
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