May 2016 - Haunted Savannah Bus Tour with dinner at The Pirates' House

 Wright Square

Wright Square is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Alice Riley. Alice Riley was an indentured servant who arrived in America in December 1733. She was sent to work for William Wise, along with her husband, Richard White. Mr. Wise was a horrible man to work for, and each day he ordered the two servants to bathe and groom him. In March 1734 Richard and Alice had all they could take. While grooming Mr. Wise that day, they held his head in a bucket of water until he drowned. They fled the house, but were eventually caught while hiding on the Isle of Hope.  They were both sentenced to death, however when they discovered Alice was pregnant, they waited until she gave birth to hang her. They hung her in Wright Square and left her body there for three days. This was January 19th 1735. Locals say that on this night, and for three days after, you can hear Alice weeping when the wind blows through the trees. It is said that Spanish Moss will not grow in places where innocent blood is spilled. 

Typical trees in Savannah are covered in Spanish Moss like these trees.  

Here are the trees in Wright Square, no Spanish Moss. 

Regions Bank is haunted By Gracie Watson

Her story has endured over the years as a representative of Savannah in both death and life. Gracie was born in 1833 as the only child of W.J. and Frances Watson of Boston Massachusetts. When the Watsons moved to Savannah, they took over management of the Pulaski Hotel that sat on Johnson Square. This would be the place little Gracie Watson grew up and the only home she would ever know.  Savannah was a hard city to fit into, especially if you were from anywhere above the Mason Dixon line. Gracie’s mother tried to fit into the elite class and used her husband’s position as the hotel manager to meet those needs. Soon, the Pulaski Hotel was the center of Savannah high-class, and little Gracie became the center of attention. The guest were usually greeted by the wide-eyed little hostess at the front door. Little Gracie was always present at the parties. She would entertain the guest and locals who frequented the hotel.

Gracie’s life was short lived. Just two days before Easter in 1889, at the age of six, she died of pneumonia. She was buried in a plot in Bonaventure Cemetery. This led to her father falling into a deep depression over the loss of his only child. He left the Pulaski Hotel for a stint at the Desoto on Madison Square. He then moved back to Boston with his wife, leaving little Gracie alone in Bonaventure. Before they left, however, they commissioned the services of sculptor John Walz. He took a block of Georgia marble and, from just a photograph, carved a life size statue of little Gracie Watson.

Visitors of Johnson Square and our Savannah Ghost Walks say that they sometimes see a little girl, so full of energy, playing around the bronze sundial. The Pulaski Hotel no longer exist. In it’s place sits a Regions Bank. Customers and employees alike claim to hear the laughter of a little girl echoing through the building. In Bonaventure itself, Gracie can be seen playing amongst the graves of other children. Visitors of her grave leave special gifts such as coins for her.

A wooden jailhouse, circa 1734, sat where the CVS sits now. Rumor has it that the drug store closes at 6 p.m. because the staff refuses to work after dark in a place so haunted by spirits. But there hasn’t been enough investigation to substantiate that claim.

The Savannah Theatre

In December 1818, the Savannah Theater originally opened its doors and the area around Chippewa Square hasn’t been the same since. The theater’s first productions were The Soldier’s Daughter, a comedy, and a farce called Raising the Wind.

 Renowned British architect William Jay designed the original theatre in 1818. In the next year, he went on to build the beautiful Regency-style Telfair Mansion for successful businessman Alexander Telfair. He also designed the historic Owens-Thomas House, a similarly themed mansion, for banker and shipping merchant Richard Richardson in 1819.

On the last day of August in 1898, a hurricane ripped through Savannah and the theater was in its path. The roof was torn from the structure while the interior flooded from the torrential rains.

 Not long after in 1906, a fire damaged the theatre. For its second rebuild in a decade, the building received a new brick facade. The theater lost the stunning look of the original structure designed by William Jay.

 But the show went on and theater continued to be the city’s preferred entertainment venue for cultural celebrations, plays, music, and other live events. At least until 1916. That year, the Municipal Auditorium on Orleans Square opened its door and gave the Savannah Theater a solid competitor. Within months, the Savannah Theater lost some of its patrons to the new venue and lost its status as the primary entertainment venue of the area.

 

The theater experienced another fire in 1948 that was rumored to have been caused by a curse. The story says that when the theater was originally built in 1818 a penny was placed inside a brick wall and discovered during a later renovation. The penny was given to the theater owner at the time who carried it as a good luck charm. In 1948, the man lost the penny on a trip to New York. The 1948 fire took place right after that loss.

 

The 1948 fire resulted in another reinvention of the Savannah Theater that was considered a major redesign of the structure. Now fashioned in the popular Art Deco style of the time, the theater reopened its doors as a movie theater. The first film shown on October 21, 1950, was Mister Eighty-Eight starring Burt Lancaster and Dorothy McGuire.

Just as there have been many celebrities to grace the stage of historic Savannah Theater, there are some famous spirits haunting the venue. These paranormal entities are well-known to local citizens and fans of the theater. While there’s no shortage of haunting tales in Savannah, the ones centered around the theater are numerous. Some of the tales go back decades. When you go on the Haunted Savannah Tours, you hear all the best stories of the souls lingering at the famous theater.

 There are three spirits that linger around the Savannah Theater stage that are the most popular. It’s commonly believed that all three died at the theater and for individual reasons have been unable to move on.

 First, there is Betty. Once an actress at the theater, Betty loved the stage so much that she hasn’t yet managed to abandon it. Many have reported seeing Betty many nights behind the curtains, in her costume, ready to perform for the audience.

There is also a young boy named Ben who allegedly died in the area of the house spotlight of an unknown cause. It’s said he can be found hanging out in the balcony trying to hassle whoever is manning the spotlight. The eternally young and curious Ben is apparently given to mischief and enjoys impulsively playing his pranks on unsuspecting theater employees and others during shows and performances.

A recent house manager at the theater ran the spotlight for a couple of years. More than once she felt as if a child was tugging on her clothing to get her attention. When she looked around, no one was there. She felt that he wanted to help. If the woman told the spirit that they couldn’t help now because she was busy, the activity would stop.

Finally, there’s the infamous Director. Employees of the theater, in particular, are very familiar with the Director who likes nothing more than a little hard-earned recognition for all his hard work. He was said to be passionate about his shows in life and in the afterlife, he’s just as dedicated. It’s said that he can still be heard yelling instructions to actors and giving his critical opinion of their performances.

Courting Ms. Foley

One of the stories that is told around Savannah is that of a gentleman who was trying to court Ms. Foley. He had a room in the Inn and would often try to 'make a move' of Honoria. She wasn't having any of it. One night he had sneaked into her room while she was fast asleep. Startled, Honoria grabbed the nearest thing to her, a candle holder, and swung it with all of her might. The heavy candle holder struck this guy in the head, killing him instantly.

The story goes on to say that she was friends with a different man who happened to be a mason and carpenter. He allegedly helped Ms. Foley hide the man's body in the wall of the Inn.
During construction in 1987 workers tore down a wall and discovered a skeleton inside of the wall. It is believed this poor guy was the victim of a murder, his body hidden in the wall

T Sorrel-Weed House

The curious who enter the Sorrel-Weed House have had unexplained experiences within, such as nausea, throat tightening, and electronic malfunctions. Some attribute these happenings to the indiscretions of wealthy plantation owner Francis Sorrel. He had a longstanding affair with a slave named Molly, whose quarters were kept close by, above the carriage house.

Sorrel’s second wife Matilda discovered the affair and flung herself from the second balcony to her death. Molly was found a few weeks later hanging from a noose.

Others believe the paranormal activity is due to the home’s location – it sits along the battle lines of the Siege of Savannah, a grisly Revolutionary War battle where numerous casualties fell in 1779.

The Haunted Hamilton Turner Inn

Built in 1873, the mansion housed many social events for the city's elite. It was also the first residence to have electricity in Savannah, and even survived the great fire in 1898. The mansion was almost destroyed in 1965 so it could be turned into a playground for a nearby school, but the Historic Savannah Foundation quickly jumped in to save the building.

It was one of the models for Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

When the children were relegated to the upstairs during one of the Turner family’s many parties, they would get bored in the billiard room. Their boredom turned to curiosity as they wondered what the adults were doing downstairs. Together, the clever children devised a plan to check out what their parents were up to. 

The children would roll the billiard balls down the home’s soaring staircase. Of course, they would pretend that it was an accident when they had to scramble downstairs to retrieve the ball. However, that moment gave them an opportunity to peek at what the adults were doing. 

One evening, a little girl attempted to get close to the edge of the top stair to roll a ball down. She fell, tumbling down the flight of stairs. The young guest tragically died in the home that evening. 

Today, there are no billiard tables in the home. However, it’s been said that billiard balls can still be heard tumbling down the stairs. They’ve also been heard rolling about up in the former billiard room. Many guests have been awoken by the distinct clunking of billiard balls echoing through rooms of the hotel.

Other guests have heard children running above and laughing. Footsteps have been heard sneaking down the stairs. Perhaps the spirits of these children are still wondering what their parents were up to so many years ago. 

 A Cigar Smoking Ghost

Many guests and employees alike have seen a cigar-smoking ghost milling about the hotel. He is sometimes spotted standing guard near the door or quietly overseeing the hotel’s activity. He’s also been seen perched atop the statuesque building’s rooftop, overlooking the scenery below. However, there are many theories on who this figure could be from the building’s past.

Samuel Pugh Hamilton did more than just throw extravagant parties. He also amassed an extensive and valuable collection of artwork from all over the world. He was so worried about his treasured collection, that he hired a guard to protect it. 

The guard would pace the rooftop of the mansion, surveying for trespassers and suspicious activity. He could be seen from the street below smoking a cigar at his post. His rifle was always at the ready to protect the home.

One evening, the guard was brutally shot in the back of the head. He was found lying in his own blood with his burnt-out cigar nearby. The crime went unsolved and the guard’s death went unavenged. 

For this reason, many believe that Hamilton himself was forced to take over the guard duty. He stood guard over his own home, ironically while also smoking a cigar. Unfortunately, Hamilton came down with a mysterious and fatal illness. 

Others believe that the house was built over an old cemetery. This has created the theory that the cigar-smoking ghost is in fact a Confederate soldier. Perhaps, he is wandering the former burial grounds with his rifle in hand, still feeling the tragic effects of the Civil War.

Is the ghost the guard trying to make up for his failed job? Is it indeed a soldier still reeling from war. Maybe it’s the home’s original resident, simply unwilling to leave his beloved house. 

Either way, the ghost of the man with the cigar is full of mystery. He’s been seen so many times that he has become one of the inn’s most popular permanent guests. Will a visit to the Hamilton-Turner Inn earn you a surprise sighting of the rifle-toting spirit? Keep your nose peeled for a whiff of his infamous cigar smoke lofting about the inn’s rooms. 

Colonial Park Cemetery

Colonial Park Cemetery is considered one of the most haunted locations in all of Savannah.

Colonial Park Cemetery opened in 1750. It is the oldest burial ground in Savannah which can still be identified by your average tourist. 

There are a few burial
grounds which were used prior to 1750. They have all been covered up, built on top of or paved over. The habit of building over the dead has earned Savannah the title of the City That lives upon her Dead. One of the oldest, if not the oldest, is at the south-west corner of Wright Square. Within the 6 acres of ground which make up Colonial Park Cemetery, there are over 10,000 people buried; however, there are not even 1,000 grave markers. Many people were buried in mass graves. Others had their grave marker knocked over or destroyed. Many people believe this willful desecration of burial grounds helps to fuel the haunted activity which is attributed to Colonial Park Cemetery.

Savannah is home to, and has been for a long time, a thriving Voodoo culture. Many voodoo practitioners live in and around Savannah. Many of them have moved outside of the city of Savannah due to various reasons. Before Colonial Park Cemetery was closed at night it wasn’t uncommon for early morning visitors to find the remnants of a Voodoo ceremony performed just the night before. The soil from the graves was used in various Voodoo rituals. In addition to the soil, graves were sometimes raided in order to obtain human bone

Just south of the south wall of Colonial Park Cemetery is a small park. Today the area contains a basketball court and a children’s playground. It is rumored that this was the dueling grounds of Savannah when dueling was legal. After the city of Savannah passed laws outlawing dueling the participants would go over to Hutchinson Island or South Carolina to attempt to restore honor to their names. Prior to the passage of this law, this small park was used by duelers in Savannah. I cannot find any source which says that this area was used for dueling…with any degree of certainty.

Another rumored use of these dueling grounds was a mass grave for victims of the Yellow Fever epidemics. Some tour companies will have their guides tell you this. Well, the problem with that is that two archeological services have used ground-penetrating radar in this area. What they found was a dug path connecting two redoubts which were in the area..and not a single body buried anywhere south of the south wall of Colonial Park Cemetery. 

So, if your tour guide tells you about the mass burials in this area, let him/her you know better.

On June 19th, 1786, Nathanael Greene succumbed to heatstroke on his plantation, Mulberry Grove, on the outskirts of Savannah. The Major’s body was transported into Savannah by boat the following day. In the late afternoon, his body was transported to the Cemetery for burial. It was decided that his body would be placed inside of the Graham family Vault. The Graham family wasn’t using it. They fled the country as Sympathizers to the Crown a few years earlier.

A few years after Nathanael Greene was laid to rest inside of the vault it was opened up for his son, George Washington Greene. George died when his boat overturned near Mulberry Grove. The location wasn’t a very lucky place for the Greene family. He was placed in the vault with his father on April 4th, 1790.

It only took Savannah about 30 years to lose the body of Nathanael Greene and his son. A committee was appointed and tried, unsuccessfully, to locate the final resting spot of Nathanael Greene.

Finally, in 1901, Asa Bird, President of the Rhode Island Society of Cincinnati, came to Savannah for the purpose of trying to track down the final burial place of Nathanael Greene. During the inspection of a number of family vaults in Colonial Park Cemetery, the body of the General and his son were found in the Graham-Mossman Family Vault. There was a number of pieces of evidence which left no doubt that the bodies were the bodies which were sought after.

In 1902 The bodies of Major General Nathanael Greene and his son were moved to their final resting place in Johnson Square, here in Savannah. They were placed underneath the monument which bears his name. This Obelisk is seen by millions of people every year as they stroll through the streets of Savannah.

Isaiah Davenport House

In 1827, at the age of forty-three, Isaiah Davenport contracted yellow fever and died. He only lived in his beautiful home for seven years. His wife Sarah was a widow at age thirty-nine. She ran the home as a boarding house for a number of years. The house served as a private residence and was then sectioned off in the 1890’s into apartments, which quickly grew into a tenement house. The condition of the building declined, as did much of the downtown area of Savannah. At one point there were thirteen families living inside the structure.

Sarah sold the Davenport House (in 1840) for nine thousand dollars to Benjamin Baynard and his family, who had arrived to Savannah from Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The Davenport House remained in the Baynard family for over a century. In the year 1955, the Davenport House was sold for the second time in its hundred and thirty-five years of existence. Over the years, the majestic Davenport House and the idyllic neighborhood surrounding the home deteriorated to the setting of a Stephen King novel.

On at least one occasion this ghostly little girl has been seen by guests visiting the house on a day time tour. They noticed a girl, playing in the attic. After finding a docent, the house was searched for this little girl. She was then seen running outside, and then she seemingly vanished into thin air.

Who was this little girl? Could she have been one of the Davenport children? It is true that four of the ten Davenport children died at a young age. But, as mentioned before, the Davenport also served as a boarding house, and at times was home to as many as ten different families at once. Surely one of these families had a young daughter with them, and Yellow Fever was claiming casualties every day. It is very likely that a child fell ill while living at the Davenport during its reign as a boarding house, and later succumbed to the disease.

The truth behind the ghost girl at the Davenport may never come to light. But, we should all be respectful of her spirit, as her paranormal being almost certainly is the result of tragedy.

Kehoe House

Built on Columbia Square in Savannah, the Kehoe House was completed in May of 1892. It was built for William Kehoe and his family. The lived in the house for a number of years with their children. It is known that some of their children passed away inside of the house.

Guests to the Kehoe House have reported all sorts of haunted events happening to them while staying at the Kehoe House. With children passing away in the home it is no coincidence that the ghosts of children and some of the most reported ghostly occurrences in the house. One of the stories that won't die, despite being debunked pretty heavily, is the story of two of the Kehoe children getting stuck in the chimney and dying. The story goes, one day, Mrs. Kehoe came home to find two of her children missing. In a panic, she looked everywhere, but they were nowhere to be found. Some time later, something smelling bad in the house. This lead the Kehoe family to look in the chimney, where they found the bodies of these two children. Fortunately, this never happened. But the fact still remains that many people who have stayed at the Kehoe House have experienced paranormal happenings that involve the ghosts of children.

We haven't heard of any stories where the ghosts of these children seemed to interact with the living. It just seems to be the sounds of children playing. This makes us believe, that when it comes to the ghosts of children at the Kehoe House, that a residual haunting is happening here

Another ghostly experience that occurs at the Kehoe House is the smell of perfumes from an age past have also been noticed wafting their way through the hallways or bedrooms of this haunted Savannah Bed and Breakfast.

The Andrew Low House 

The Andrew Low House was built between 1847 and 1849 for wealthy businessman Andrew Low. He lived there with his family for many years. Today, the home is a museum which can be toured during the day. 

Over the years, people who have worked at the Andrew Low House have reported all kinds of ghostly occurrences. One of the most intriguing is the possibility of the spirit of Rober E. Lee being seen at the Andrew Low House. This ghost is described as an older man, wearing a suit and a hat. The witnesses who have seen this ghost have said it was eerily similar to portraits they have seen of Robert E. Lee himself.

Other employees have described other types of paranormal activity. Phantom smells, shadowy figures and things moving on there are seem to be the main paranormal activity. There are documented reports of the smell of perfume in certain areas of the home, specifically near the staircase. Smells can be a hard thing to use as paranormal evidence, but it is strange. In another room upstairs sits a rocking chair which has been known to rock on its own..as if someone is still sitting in it.

The Owens-Thomas House

The Owens-Thomas house, designed by architect William Jay, was completed for cotton merchant and banker Richard Richardson in 1819. The home is made even more special by its indoor plumbing system that predates those of even the White House by almost fifteen years.

Just after the home was completed, Savannah witnessed one of her greatest tragedies, the fire of 1820. The flames spread throughout the city destroying more than 400 homes and businesses between Broughton and Bay streets. Along with the fire, Yellow Fever was rampant that year, taking the lives of hundreds of Savannah citizens. Just three years after the house was built, it was lost by Richard in the dwindling Savannah economy.

The next eight years the Owens-Thomas house became a boarding house. During this time it would play the host to one of its most famous guest, the Marquis de Lafayette. The Marquis de Lafayette was a French General who played a huge role in the American Revolution and became a hero to the American people. During his visit to Savannah in 1825 he made a famous speech from the balcony on the south side of the Owens-Thomas house.

Old Candler Hospital

There is perhaps no building in the City of Savannah that has witnessed as much misery and death, as the old Candler Hospital. Founded in 1808 as a seaman’s hospital and poor house, Candler is the oldest hospital in the state of Georgia. Formerly known as Savannah Hospital, it was moved to the current location on Drayton Street, just across from Forsyth Park. The original structure, which has been empty for nearly two decades, was once used as a Union hospital, as well as a hospital where hundreds of patients died of Yellow Fever. It has also been used as an insane asylum.

In the summer of 1876, at the height of Savannah’s greatest Yellow Fever epidemic, 276 people died
in a period of 48 hours. So great were the number of corpses that doctors feared the further spread of disease. They also feared the panic that would ensue should citizens of the fair city witness the caravan of bodies being transported from the hospital. And so they dug a tunnel. Approximately 12 feet beneath the surface lie a tunnel that stretches across the current parking lot, across Drayton Street, and conveniently deposits itself 

into the then wooded grounds of Forsyth Park.

Though the people of Savannah were well aware of the epidemic, as it had claimed nearly 10% of Savannah’s population each year, the “ugliness” of it was kept concealed. The Candler tunnel also served as an excellent morgue, the coolness of which allowed bodies to be stored while they awaited

burial. Though the tunnel is now blocked, prohibiting curious explorers further investigation, it has been reported that there is a stone table and wash basin in one section of the tunnel. This would lend to the claim that Candler’s tunnel was once used for medical experiments

Old Candler Hospital also housed a psychiatric ward and practiced rudimentary shock therapy and other primitive and often horrific psychiatric treatments.

The Marshall House 

Built in 1851, The Marshall House was taken over by Union General William T. Sherman’s men in the winter of 1864 and used as a hospital for the troops. It has been documented that when the troops occupied the hotel, the ground was frozen and doctors were forced to bury the amputated arms and legs of patients under the floorboards. More than a century later, when the hotel was under restoration, workers found human remains—the hotel was closed and deemed a crime scene until they realized that the area was used as a surgical room during the war. There are many ghostly stories surrounding this historical building, including ghost sightings of Union soldiers walking about in uniform, one carrying his severed arm who appears to be in search of a surgeon. Other poltergeist occurrences include the spirit of a woman who has been seen in the rest room where one of the stalls locks itself repeatedly even though no one is in it. Guests of the hotel have seen the misty shapes of children and experienced the feeling that someone was tickling their feet while they were trying to sleep.

Pirates' House Restaurant

In its early days, the building which houses the Pirates’ House was a gathering place for seamen, criminals and other unsavory characters. It was looked upon as a place that most people did not want to go into because of its raucous reputation. Many a men walked into the bar which was in the building that is the Pirates’ House today looking for a stiff drink and woke up on a ship a few hundreds miles off of shore. These men were shanghaied, with no choice of working on the ship or being thrown overboard.

Leading from the Rum Cellar in the basement of the Pirates' House to River Street is a tunnel. Though it has since been covered over, the tunnel was used as a portal to carry the men through. One of the most intriguing stories is the story of people shanghaied through the tunnels. Men would drink at the bar, get drunk, pass out and wake up on a ship a few miles off of shore. They were forced into work, and sold to the sea captians.

Murders, fights, brawls…you name it and I am sure it has happened in this building. It seems that some of the people who visited the Pirates’ House, or the
building that houses it anyways, had such a great time that they decided to stay even beyond death. Before the tunnels were closed off people reported hearing voices and moans coming from the tunnel. A new twist on this story, thanks to James Caskey of Cobblestone Tours…this ‘tunnel’ might not even be a real tunnel. Very interesting indeed.

Shadow people and other ghostly apparitions have been seen walking through the
dining rooms of the present day Pirates’ House. When staff are working all alone in the building they report having the sensation of having someone watching them. On more than one occasion they turned around to see a seaman from long ago standing there, looking right into their eyes..and slowing drifting into nothing. Footsteps can be heard echoing through the restaurant on quiet evenings. The distinct sound of boots on the plank floors can send the chills up the spine of someone not expected it..but then again, nobody ever really is expecting it. People walking past the Pirate’s House have also posted a lot of photographs of supposed ghosts through the windows of the haunted house. However, after looking at them, they can almost all be explained by the type of glass, reflections, and other totally natural explanations.