Savannah, Georgia. I am romanced by its very essence each time I visit. From the captivating sways of those magnificent moss-draped oaks to the characteristic pasts of each manicured square, the glories of its gorgeous Georgian mansions and the sweet Southern drawl serenade of its hospitable inhabitants make Savannah one of the most visited cities in America.

The touristy trance (I call it “The Spell of Savannah”) bewitches us from the moment we step foot on her brick-paved streets. And, as we marvel at this charming city, the locals do take notice. Savannah has quite the story, and Savannahians are more than happy to take the time to tell it.

I once met a gentleman just outside Chippewa Square. He proceeded to tell me how he was a born and bred product of Savannah, as were his parents, grandparents, and so on. He went on to speak of his days growing up in Savannah and how now, in his retirement years, he wouldn’t dream of leaving. Then, in that eloquent enunciation, he inquired,

“Now, what brings you to Savannah?”

This time, it was a mid-September girls’ trip to celebrate a friend’s birthday. She had never visited Savannah before, and when asked what she wanted the trip to entail, Savannah’s ghosts were one of her top priorities.

The tales of Savannah, and the phantoms that supposedly accompany them, are countless. And although Savannah’s haunted history might not be something the locals will voluntarily divulge (but then again, that will depend entirely upon which Savannahian you ask), the fact of the matter is, their city is considered to be one of the most haunted localities in the U.S.

Whether you’re a believer in ghosts or not, wandering the streets and squares of Savannah in the evening is far different from its daytime strolls. As the skies darken, those beautiful live oaks with their ornamented moss-covered limbs reach down across the city, casting obscure shadows, giving it a gothic makeover.  

Something truly happens in Savannah once the sun goes down, a transformation of sorts, making its haunted reputation more believable with each step.

Yes, Savannah takes on a far different image, in the dead of night…

The Dead of Night Tour

Being one of the most haunted locations in America, there are numerous ghost tours within the city of Savannah, Georgia. But there’s quite the difference between hearing ghost stories and truly experiencing Savannah’s haunted past with a master storyteller. Once again, I contacted Ghost City Tours, this time venturing out into the streets of Savannah on their Dead of Night Tour.

On the Dead of Night Tour, one of Ghost City’s adult-only tours, you will hear some of the darkest, grimmest, most heinous tales the city has to offer, all while strolling along the very grounds of their happenings.

Our evening began shortly before 9 pm in Johnson Square on the corner of Bull Street and Congress. Our Ghost City tour guide was eager, energetic, and more than ecstatic to be our master of ceremonies for that eerie evening.

“My name is Brittany! Are we ready to have some fun?!”

Our group cheered as we all fed off Brittany’s enthusiasm for the tales she was dying (no pun intended) to share. And with that, our journey into the sinister side of Savannah began.

Brittany started with a brief history of Savannah, encouraging us all, especially the skeptics in the crowd, to take lots of pictures as we might be surprised what a snap of our phone’s camera might capture.

“We are a city built on its dead.”

Brittany explained the historic district alone has a recorded account of at least 20,000 of Savannah’s deceased buried within the city.

“And behind you is the largest tombstone we have, belonging to Nathanael Greene.”

Our first tale of the evening began in Johnson Square with this Revolutionary War hero who died in 1786. Buried initially within the confined and overcrowded grounds of Colonial Park Cemetery, his remains were later discovered in 1902, where they were finally laid to rest, along with his son, at the base of the monument dedicated in his honor. 

During his three years in Georgia, Nathanael Greene witnessed the death and devastation of the deadly illnesses, including that of yellow fever, that raged through the city, taking with them the lives of many. According to Brittany, Nathanael Greene became convinced these horrific fatalities and the fevers that caused them were the results of, none other than, that beautiful Spanish moss.

After having tried his best to petition that all the Spanish moss in the city be removed, Brittany explained that Nathanael Greene was unable to prove his theory to the people of Savannah, and his wishes were denied.

As we strolled through Johnson Square admiring Nathanael’s monument, Brittany pointed out the difference between this and all the other squares in the historic district: the absence of Spanish Moss.

“This is the only square in all of Savannah where there is zero Spanish moss. Actually, we have tried, for the past one hundred and twenty years, getting botanists in to plant it, and we cannot get it to grow here.”

The crowd was silent as we all carefully examined the tree limbs for the slightest bit of Savannah’s trademark embellishment. None was found.

 “Nathanael Greene is sometimes seen as a full-bodied apparition walking around the square, but most of the time, he’s seen as an orb up in these very branches.”

Brittany gives us a moment to digest this information before she produces a grin, holds up her lantern, and asks,

“Y’all ready to get a little darker?”

Scatters of yeses rang out among our crowd, breaking the concentrating silence.

“Ok! Let’s go!”

Nothing is ordinary in Savannah, and Brittany reminds us that even as things evolve over time, the accounts of the past still remain.

“CVS doesn’t look very scary, does it?”

We pause for a moment as Brittany explains that the chain drugstore’s location was once the site of Savannah’s original jailhouse and how a ghost child, possibly Savannah’s “Jailhouse Baby,” takes a liking to stacking up the pill bottles in the pharmacy every now and again.

Next, it was on to Wright’s Square, home to Savannah’s gallows during the 1700s. Brittany shared the story of Alice Riley. Accused of murder, along with her “common-law” husband, Alice was charged with the death of William Wise and was the first woman to receive the punishment of death by hanging in Georgia.

Perhaps one of the most famous of all Savannah spirits, Alice is said to still roam the square in search of her baby that was taken away from her shortly after giving birth and right before her death at the gallows.

“Alice is almost always seen as a full-bodied apparition. She looks like a flesh and blood human that you can reach out and touch. Alice is often seen walking around pathways on the square that no longer exist. She’ll come up and say, ‘Have you seen my child? I’ve lost my child! Please help me!’ She’s been so frequently seen in the last two hundred years that if you call the police because you’ve encountered a woman with long, red hair and a white flowing dress that has lost her child, they know it’s Alice. You will get one of two reactions: the police will either hang up on you or, for laughs, they’ll send out a rookie.”

Brittany told of murders, beatings, and floggings that also occurred in Wright Square and a disturbing story, if not a warning, of a tree on the grounds that should not be trifled with.

Brittany’s tales grew even darker as the night progressed. From the skeletal remains found in a wall during a late ’80s renovation of the Foley House to the heinous hauntings of the Sorrel Weed House, the Dead of Night Tour takes you by some of Savannah’s most haunted locations.  Treading along the uneven walkways, Brittany points out their dips and arches are the results of Savannah’s shifting soil and the past citizens that lie underneath.

As we huddled outside the gates of Colonial Park Cemetery, Brittany told of bloodletting, the gruesome effects of contracting yellow fever, and the sights, sounds, and smells of the city’s disposals of the rapidly increasing dead during the epidemics. And Brittany doesn’t sugar-coat this, thus the “adults-only” tour rating.

For the grand finale, Brittany led us to The Marshall House Hotel. Serving both as a hospital during the yellow fever epidemics and as a Union hospital during the Civil War, Brittany told stories of amputation surgeries performed on the premises as well as severely wounded soldiers and fever-infected patients, many of whom took their last breaths in the confines of the Marshall House walls.

The Marshall House is considered one of the most haunted buildings in all of Savannah, and their guests have proof to back this up. Brittany shared stories of hotel guests experiencing vivid nightmares, sleep paralysis, and apparitions in the halls and rooms.

 “If you come here and you ask for the most haunted room, they will tell you to sign a waiver because something scary will happen.”

When planning our girls’ trip and searching for a place to stay, I tried to contact The Marshall House on a few different occasions, and in all three instances, my call was disconnected. Being in somewhat of a time crunch as our trip to Savannah was fast approaching, the girls and I settled on a quaint garden-level apartment across from Colonial Park Cemetery. I thought nothing else of the oddity of being unable to contact The Marshall House for a reservation, but after hearing Brittany’s detailed accounts of the experiences having occurred in this haunted hotel, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Waking up for a midnight trip to the bathroom and seeing a child standing in the corner of the hotel room crying tears of blood might have put a damper on the fun girls’ trip we all had in mind.

Not only did Brittany share in these frightful tales of this eccentric city, but also pointed out superstitions and practices that some Savannahians use to make peace with these spirits and keep them at bay as they live their day-to-day lives.

With enthusiasm, humor, and just the right amount of theatrics, our evening with Brittany revealed to us just a portion of the haunted history that dwells within the darkened corridors of Savannah, Georgia.

And if the Dead of Night Tour seems to be a bit much for your ghostly curiosities to handle, no worries! Ghost City Tours offers a variety of ghost tours of Savannah ranging from family-friendly to their haunted and true crime pub crawls!

The award-winning Ghost City Tours is the world’s #1 ghost tour company, and the best way to experience Savannah’s haunted history! For more information on wandering the streets and squares of Savannah with Ghost City Tours click the logo below!

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