Known simply as the “Packinghouse”, the Bulloch Packing Company facility that opened here in 1917 was only in business for three years before a fire took out the boiler room on an upper floor in 1920. It’s considered one of Statesboro’s most ‘haunted’ places, but all of the lore is based on complete fiction. Brooks Simmons, who inherited the Bank of Statesboro from his father, was the president and a chief investor in the business. He lost his investment with the fire but more importantly, during the Crash of 1929, the Bank of Statesboro failed and Simmons lost what remained of his fortune. He committed suicide in 1931, and over time that somehow morphed into the legend that he killed his employees and then himself. But the stories persisted and the structure became a favorite with ghost hunters, urbexers, and squatters alike. In 2015, former Georgia Southern student Scott Taylor bought the packinghouse with the intention of rehabilitating it for use as apartments. It’s actually much more structurally sound than it appears and hopefully, it will soon have a new lease on life.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 
Where is this located?
24 packinghouse rd Statesboro ga 30458
If you are planning to go looking inside get permission from the owner first so you don’t go to jail for breaking in
are they going to knock this factily down
Was there today by myself for the first time… I was more tentative to go in than I would have thought but still tentative. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon but still a foreboding site. I stood still listening at the back closest to packinghouse road where it is wide open and heard the murmuring of voices which was unnerving to say the least particularly with the rumor of it being a place the homeless stay. Soon, I saw to young women appear where I soon discovered the stairwell going upstairs is. We chatted for a bit and then they left and I journeyed up to the second and then the third floor where I felt very uncomfortable. Not long after reaching the third floor a loud banging noise was heard followed by distinct footsteps which seemed to come from the floor below. I moved back to the stairwell fully expecting to see someone on them coming up but nothing other than the sound of footsteps continuing. I moved down to the second floor and still no one to be seen and decided my adventure was through making my way downstairs and outside to find the two young ladies in the grass 50-70 feet from the building taking pictures of each other using the packinghouse as a backdrop. I explained hearing the footsteps and asked if they had come back in and they told me they had not but had heard a door slamming. They also suggested that hearing things is a common occurrence in the packinghouse. I am going back tomorrow with a couple of friends with all my ghost hunting gear and we will see / hear what ever may be available to us.
I have been in this packing house. When I first walked in its like I got cold. I almost felt sick. I went upstairs. It was like someone was there you could almost hear them . I could definitely feel the presence. I had to leave. When I was out of it and away from the building I was able to breathe so much better. It like there is evil in that building.
When I was still really young My family lived on Banks Cir next store and my late mom used to tell me that at night when she went outside the front door night. That she thought she saw what looked like the old packing house had a fire in it and she also heard like screaming coming there and she would never let me outside at night. no matter what unless we were getting out of the car and going back to our place. this was back in the mid 1980s
Here’s to new life for this facility!