Local legend is terrifying truth

By Makenzy Veldboom | Staff writer

What do you get when you cross medical students with cadavers and a grave robber? A terrifyingly true story right out of the medical community here in Augusta, Georgia.

Local legend has it that during the mid 1800s, faculty at the Medical College of Georgia bought a Gullah slave by the name of Grandison Harris on the auction block, taught him to read and write and then had him rob graves so students would have fresh cadavers for their studies. But Harris’ story is no myth — according to Smithsonian Magazine, he dug up dead bodies for the college for the better half of a century.

The story of the Resurrection Man, as Harris became to be known as, came to light in 1989 after a construction crew renovating the old medical building on Telfair Street discovered body parts buried deep within the basement; bones — thousands of them — laid beneath the dirt for over 100 years.

So how did he do it? Why? What became of the man who gave more than half his own life to helping the medical college? What became of those who were stolen from their own fresh graves in the middle of the night?

Read the full story at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/meet-grandison-harris-grave-robber-enslaved-and-then-employed-georgia-college-medicine-180951344/

Contact Makenzy Veldboom at kveldboom@augusta.edu

Photo from https://www.exploregeorgia.org/augusta/general/historic-sites-trails-tours/old-medical-college