Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 56-The Wyrick Family: A Haunting in Ellerslie, GA
The boundary between imagination and the supernatural blurs in the extraordinary case of the Wyrick family, whose quiet life in rural Georgia became a waking nightmare. When three-year-old Heidi began conversing with her "imaginary friends," her parents initially thought nothing of it—until they discovered these invisible companions were the spirits of people who had actually lived and died on their property years before.
Little Heidi's main spectral playmates were "Mr. Gordy" , a kindly gentleman in a suit and top hat who would push her on the swings, and a man she called "Con" who appeared with bloodied clothes and a bandaged hand. The family's blood ran cold when they learned the previous homeowner who died in 1974 was named James S. Gordy, and a former resident on the property named Lon Bachelor had lost his hand in a cotton gin accident decades earlier. How could a toddler possibly know these details without supernatural intervention?
The situation escalated dramatically when Lisa Wyrick became pregnant with their second child. Suddenly, malevolent presences invaded their home, leaving unexplained scratches on Heidi and her father Andy. The terror peaked when Heidi was found levitating upside down by her ankles, screaming for help. Throughout these terrifying events, the benevolent spirits of Mr. Gordy and Con seemingly tried to protect the child from darker forces. The family eventually fled their haunted home, but according to Heidi, at least one malevolent entity followed her, suggesting some supernatural attachments can't be severed by simply changing location. This case has inspired numerous adaptations, including "The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia," though many fictional elements were added to the family's already chilling true story. Share your own paranormal experiences with us—we might feature them in a future episode!
Sources:
WTVM Staff, February 19, 2008, Haunting in Harris County: the Heidi Myrick story, https://www.wtvm.com/story/7890511/haunting-in-harris-county-the-heidi-wyrick-story/
Atlanta Ghosts, May 6, 2024, I see dead people: The Heidi Myrick story, https://atlantaghosts.com/i-see-dead-people-the-heidi-wyrick-story/