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Status: Historical Site; Mass Suicide Site
photojournalist">Paul Conklin</span></a> - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._National_Archives_and_Records_Administration" class="extiw" title="en:U.S. National Archives and Records Administration">U.S. National Archives and Records Administration</a>, Public Domain, Link
History
In May 1803 at the height of the Slave Trade between Africa and the United States a ship from West Africa landed in Savannah, Georgia for the slave markets. On board were a number of people from the Igbo Tribe from what is now Nigeria.
These people were known through the American South as being unable to take slavery (of course who could) and being fiercely independent. The enslaved Igbo were bought by a plantation owner from St Simons Island and loaded back onto a smaller ship to be forced into work on the island.
It is unclear exactly how by the Igbo people took control of the ship, and threw off the crew who drowned in the Atlantic Ocean, but the ship would run aground in Dunbar Creek on St Simons Island. The Igbos then fled the ship and walked into Dunbar Creek to commit suicide by drowning themselves rather than be captured and forced back into slavery.
This incident became part of folklore and one of the greatest acts of resistance against slavery of African slaves in the United States.
There is no historical marker at this site, although it is well known to the locals, and has recently become part of the curriculum in coastal Georgia schools.
In the 1940's a sewage treatment plant was built right beside this site and it remains controversial to this day.
Paranormal Activity
Apparitions of the Igbos are still seen in this area as well as the phantom sounds of the song they sang to the water spirits to bring them back to Africa as they walked into the creek.
People have also reported feelings of being watched, hatred, fear and unease as well as an overwhelming feeling of loss. It has been said that it is very easy to feel the presence of the Igbos at this site as the energy here is very powerful.