The ‘Wickedest City’ in America is in GA’s backyard. Explore Phenix City’s chilling past
In this installment of Spooky Columbus, we look back at our close neighbor Phenix City.
In the 1950s, Phenix City was known as “The Wickedest City in America.”
An organized crime syndicate ran the city, plunging it into lawlessness and mayhem and organized crime raged unchecked for many years after the legalization of gambling.
Phenix City became known as “the Sin City of the South” and was a scary place to live.
However, the days of the Wicked City came to an end with the murder of local politician, Albert Patterson.
Governor Gordon Parsons declared martial law, and The Alabama National Guard took over law enforcement duties in the city and county.
As a result of the clean-up, 734 indictments were handed down, and Patterson’s death led to the rapid dismantling of organized crime in Phenix City within six months.
The Ledger-Enquirer won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1955 for exposing the city’s corruption and atrocities, and the movie “The Phenix City Story” was released in the same year.
The nefarious legacy of Phenix City
Phenix City may be a totally different community now, but its nefarious legacy lives on. Stories are told of sex trafficking and gruesome murders; bodies washed up on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. Crime was rampant and it was left unchecked, victimizing the most vulnerable in society.
Some of the most chilling accounts, tell stories of the brothels and the black market adoptions that sprang up during this time. While the details are still just a whisper, legend has it that one of Phenix City’s major sources of income, aside from illicit crime and gambling, was sex work.
Many of the women became pregnant and were forced to carry and give birth to the children of their “customers.” The proprietors of these establishments would steal the babies away from their mothers, by force, never to be seen again.
The healthy babies were allegedly sold to prominent families in the area and the unhealthy babies were tossed into the Chattahoochee to be carried away downriver.
Some folks say the souls of these mothers and children still linger along the banks of the river, searching for each other for eternity. On a quiet, still night, sometimes you can hear the babies crying and their mothers wailing.
