Sitting on top of a lush green hill amid towering trees and dense shrubbery, the unusual curving lines of this old abandoned Alabama house hint at the building’s strange second life. Once the family residence of a doctor, it was also the site of his pioneering clinic.
Click or scroll on to step inside this forlorn estate and discover the surprising secret hiding in its backyard... stair handrail
Thanks to photographer Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, we can tour this amazing home that time has long forgotten.
Climbing the stairs up to the porch, smart neo-classical-style architecture can be seen in the frieze and cornice decoration across the doorway columns. However, wooden boards are crumbling away from the porch roof, while a tide of rotting leaves creeps ever closer to the front door. Despite its poor condition, it's clear to see that this imposing home was built for a figure of good local standing.
Inside the abandoned Alabama home, a modest entrance hall continues the neo-classical theme with grand, imposing dark wood internal doors. The space is cluttered with household objects, including discarded books and a very vintage-looking heater.
The faded carpet is grimy with age, a relic of bygone days. The expansive house comprises two levels with a rectangular floor plan, designed to the specifications of its original owner.
The property was first home to a pioneering doctor and his family. Dr. David Elias Morgan, who is pictured here, was born in 1864 in Monmouthshire, Wales in the UK.
As a young man, he sailed across the ocean hoping for a new life in America. First, he settled in central Florida, but an outbreak of yellow fever in the 1880s spurred him to leave the area on a train bound for New York.
Here you can see a side-view of the stairs, with a secret store cupboard made visible. Notice the flakes of peeling paint dotted across the carpet. The closed door at the top of the stairs makes you wonder what lies beyond...
During his train journey to New York, Dr. Morgan stopped off in Columbus, Georgia. It turned out to be an important decision as he met his future bride there. Dr. Morgan married Minnie Alice McGehee on April 29, 1890, according to Abandoned Southeast.
Here’s the other side of the entrance hall. You can see a stunning arched internal door with leaded glass panes. The house has eight rooms on the first floor and six rooms on the second floor.
The property is located in Phenix City, Alabama, which was once dubbed the original Sin City by national media. This was due to the infamous Dixie Mafia organised crime group, who were active in the area from the mid-20th century.
This sitting room is looking very neglected, with parts of the ceiling crumbling to the floor and long-broken window blinds hanging from the sash frames. However, traces of former elegance remain in the carvings on the fireplace surround and the candelabra-style chandelier.
By 1904, Dr. Morgan’s medical practice was doing well enough for him to build his own home.
This second downstairs room looks in better condition with big sash windows letting light stream inside. The door next to the fireplace leads to a tiny bathroom with a small sink and toilet.
Morgan bought the construction materials for the property from an old Columbus house, dating from the 1840s, which had partially burned down. He moved the timber, windows, entrances, doors and hardware to the hill where it still stands today in the community of Girard. It’s now known locally as the Morgan-Curtis House.
Back in its heyday, the house would've been far from quiet. Dr. Morgan and his wife Minnie had four children – John Pierpont, who is pictured here as a young boy, William Earl, Ruth Morgan and Minnie Alice.
John followed in his father’s footsteps and became a doctor, while his brother William Earl was a lawyer. Sadly, Dr. Morgan outlived both his two sons.
Shelving and cupboards are slotted neatly into the corners of this living room, making the most of the space. The doors look in fairly good condition but the paintwork is peeling from the ceiling and the skirting boards.
According to Abandoned Southeast, eldest son John Pierpont died tragically at the age of 32 when he was hit by a train. Then the couple's second-eldest son William Earl sadly lost his life from ingesting bad alcohol.
Thankfully, Morgan and Minnie saw both of their daughters flourish, following in their father's footsteps in the medical field. Ruth became a pharmacist and Minnie worked as a chiropractor.
You can see back into the hallway through the open door here. Notice the slightly wonky chandelier with a light fitting missing.
This was, perhaps, a downstairs bedroom with a wardrobe in the corner. There’s a very old heater in front of the blocked-up hearth. We wonder if a stunning original fireplace is hiding behind all that boarding.
It looks as if the previous occupant was a keen reader due to the four large bookshelves in this room, some of which are still piled with tomes.
Dilapidated and dated, this vintage kitchen has seen better days. The floor is damaged and seems to be lacking a covering, while the brown units and old appliances need replacing. Yet it’s spacious enough to imagine the kitchen transformed into a hub of the home as it might have once been for the Morgan family.
But this abandoned dwelling hides a secret because it was actually much more than just a family home…
Originally, Dr. Morgan had a medical practice in Columbus. But in 1914, he converted the second floor of his home into a pioneering medical clinic, where he not only treated patients but offered residential accommodation while they recuperated.
Here you can see an advertisement poster for his clinic. Morgan became one of the leading doctors in the area.
Here’s the upstairs corridor, with an attractive rustic wooden board construction on the walls and ceiling.
When some of Dr. Morgan’s patients could not pay what they owed in dollars, he would accept goods as payment for his medical care, says Abandoned Southeast. Apparently, one patient even paid him in chickens! Meanwhile, another patient settled their bill with paintings, several of which still hang on the wall upstairs.
As Dr. Morgan’s poster proclaims, he treated all sorts of physical and mental conditions. But a family member believes that he also delivered more babies than anything else, according to Abandoned Southeast.
This rundown room was probably once a bedroom for residents of the upstairs sanatorium. You can see the washroom just across the corridor.
Although the bedroom is in a terrible state today, you can see its potential with the large, neo-classical proportions of the windows and door creating a sense of drama and space.
Sadly, this room is decaying rapidly, with signs of encroaching damp visible across the wall and chunks of the ceiling littering the floor. It looks like old newspaper has been used to soak up the water near the door.
This bathroom looks like a safety hazard with a gaping hole in the ceiling and part of the glass missing from the window.
Although the doctor’s family shared their home with his patients, there was plenty of room for everyone, given the 14 large rooms spread across the property.
We can just imagine this abandoned space once being a consultation room for the clinic.
The floor-to-ceiling windows make it seem light and airy despite the heavy wood finish on the walls and ceiling. However, the carpet looks very grimy and wrinkled, while the upturned furniture has seen better days!
Another once-restful bedroom for a patient is now covered with detritus, from scraps of carpet and peeling paint to the remnants of broken furniture.
Out of this expansive window, you can glimpse another intriguing part of the house, though.
The extensive sunroom, which wraps around the house, likely felt like a soothing sanctuary for recuperating patients. Rustic-style brickwork matched with wooden boards creates a cosy feel, while the surrounding greenery relaxes the mind.
The building has a place in history as the first home used as a medical clinic in Phenix City.
Dr. Morgan admitted just four patients at a time to his clinic, according to Abandoned Southeast, so there would have been plenty of space upstairs for everyone. Plus, patients would have great views from the home's hilltop position when the foliage was neatly trimmed.
It’s thought that Union soldiers camped on this same hill the night before the last major land battle of the Civil War in 1865, known as the Battle of Columbus.
A comfy spot for convalescing, you can imagine a patient sitting on a similar rocking chair and enjoying the view under Dr. Morgan’s care. Despite the rotting ceiling and damaged windows, this airy space would be hugely inviting after a touch of renovation.
In 1935, Dr. Morgan died at the age of 70, after a long and successful medical career.
After Dr. Morgan’s death, his daughter Ruth Morgan Curtis and her husband Virgil C. Curtis Sr. took ownership of the historic home.
Here, you can see the attractive rounded corner of the house from the inside, with the porch curving around to create the perfect viewing platform and sun trap.
This part of the balcony looks especially precarious, with the floorboards crumbling away. Notice the empty birdcage on the table and another once-comfy rocking chair.
The leafy foliage has grasped hold of one of the brick columns as if slowly crawling up the house, but this would have been a spot of respite in the property's glory days.
The Morgan-Curtis House was later passed on to Ruth and Virgil’s son. In 1983, the heritage property was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Look at this cool swing chair on the downstairs porch, which would've been a soothing spot to admire the birds. Sadly, glass is missing from the adjacent window and paint is crumbling away from the wood-clad ceiling.
Notice the attractive curve of the porch from this angle, as well as a light fitting that’s rusted over.
The upstairs former clinic was eventually converted into two apartments and remained occupied until fairly recently, according to Abandoned Southeast. Since then, it's clear that the property has fallen on hard times.
From this view of the downstairs porch, you can get an idea of how densely the hardwood trees have grown around the home. Eventually, the house became vacant.
Luckily, someone with a keen family connection decided to take on the task of restoring the property. The Morgan-Curtis House was sold to Dr. Morgan’s great-grandson, Steve Abbott. But it had yet another secret it was keeping…
In the grounds of the house, there’s a cemetery with around two dozen graves. You can see some of them here.
Dr. Morgan and his family along with later members of the Morgan and Curtis families are buried in the Morgan Cemetery on the property. A slightly spooky backdrop to have in your garden!
Here’s Dr. Morgan’s grave. Carved into the stone is a heartfelt inscription that reads: ‘loving, thoughtful, trusting and kind’, qualities that are evident from the way he welcomed patients into his home.
But with about 24 souls finding their final resting place in the garden of this old house, could any be a little restless?
It's rumoured Dr. Morgan still keeps a watchful eye on his house. Here he is in 1934, sitting on the back porch of the house. Stories spanning more than 40 years from family, friends and neighbours tell of a ghostly man dressed in black patrolling the grounds, according to Abandoned Southeast.
A spectral woman in what might have been white nurse’s clothes was also reportedly sighted in the driveway. In 1999, a house painter is said to have photographed this unearthly woman on the second-floor balcony.
Here’s the grave of Dr. Morgan’s eldest son, John Pierpont, who died in his thirties.
When relative Steve Abbott began renovating the old family home, several of the workmen were spooked by phantom footsteps heard echoing around the vacant house. One of them reportedly saw a man in black walk down the hallway, then vanish. The tradesmen refused to continue working at the house after these ghostly encounters.
Today, the private property, which is set in 11 acres (4.5ha), remains within the family. As descendants of Dr. Morgan began to restore the historic old house, it seemed a new chapter was starting for this storied estate. However, more work may be needed as local magazine Alabama Heritage placed the home on its 2024 list of places in peril. Meanwhile, cameras and watchful neighbours keep a close eye on the home and protect it from trespassers.
Here, you can see the curving sunroom from the outside. You can almost imagine Dr. Morgan looking back at you from behind one of the tall sash windows upstairs…
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