Spanish Moss Mecca

Visiting Savannah is kind of like a pilgrimage to Mecca for ghost tour enthusiasts. I have done three different ghost tours here, and I will touch on several stories that struck a chord with me, but I really want to focus my attention on Spooky Steve. I am going to make a bold statement here, and place his tour in the Phantom Memorandum Hall of Fame. (Although the blog is newish, my interest and fascination with the macabre is not new, and I have visited many haunted places in my tenure as a self-proclaimed Ghost Guru.) This town is infested with ghosts, and I can’t think of anyone better than Spooky Steve to tell us the stories. When we walked by other tours, everyone was jealous that we had Spooky Steve and they had some frumpy aged-out 60something Girl Scout, reciting monotone folklore, sans interaction from the crowd.

Spooky Steve is a genius when it comes to haunted history. It is clear that he has done some extensive research and is a leader in the industry. In a city with dozens of tour companies, I am grateful that my friend Kim (a local) picked this one. Full disclosure: I consider myself “ghost agnostic”, meaning I need tangible proof of something. I believe what I see, hear, smell, and god-forbid….feel. Even when I led tours myself in Raleigh, I told my groups my job wasn’t to convince anyone of anything. I just share the stories and the folklore, and I let the strange phenomenons that may occur speak for themselves. I have to believe that Spooky Steve takes a similar approach.

So let’s cut to the chase here and talk about some of the spooky occurrences. We met at the Moon River Brewing Company and had access to the upper floor, where crazy things tend to occur. The first crazy thing was our grand entrance. It had been pouring down rain all day and Kim and I had been trapped in deep puddles at Bonaventure Cemetery all day. We finally hydroplaned our way back to the historic district, and made it to our hotel, The Kehoe House (which I’ll describe in a separate blog in my “haunted hotels” section). The Kehoe house generously served us a glass (or three) of wine, which we definitely needed after our monsoon experience, so after that, we were really hustling to get to our tour.

We opened the door to the second floor of Moon River at exactly 7:37 PM, where Spooky Steve, and an engaged group of enthusiasts had already gotten started. But it was cool- Spooky Steve still made us feel comfortable and welcome, despite our tardiness. We learned about the history of Moon River, which opened as City Hotel in 1821. It survived the civil war and sat vacant until about 1990. When it was being renovated, the wife of the foreman of the renovation team was allegedly pushed down the stairs and her husband resigned that day.  The top floor remained in shambles, and the job was never finished. The place has a history of violence, and in present day, reportedly both workers and customers have been pushed, shoved, and slapped around. Bottles have been known to fly across the room. The upper level is full of decaying framework and plenty of paranormal occurrences.

Next we headed to the vaults, which were historically described as “cotton storage facilities”. Sadly, that was just a guise for the place where slaves were kept entrapped. These vaults are built into the walls of the Factor’s Walk, which is near the waterfront. It is a steep incline down, and I’m certain many drunken fools have reached their demise after coming down (or up) these steps.

Additionally, Spooky Steve shared with us that the only “real” thing about the movie “Ghostbusters” was the green slime. This slime exists in real life, folks. Right here in the vaults. Even when it is not a rainy day, it seeps down from the walls. And faces form on the walls. Concerned faces. I think this is one of the better ones I captured. See the larger image in the photo, and then the smaller ones that appear in the structure of the walls. Spooky Steve told us that these faces change daily, and each day brings a new expression.

This particular ghost tour was also a pub crawl, and I can’t think of anything that goes better with spirits than spirits. So we headed to Abe’s on Lincoln, which is a really really cool spot. The walls and ceilings are adorned with cocktail napkin art depicting Abe Lincoln. And honestly, let’s abolish the myth that this place is not haunted, as well. It is. It’s Savannah. Even something as docile as your massage therapist’s office is haunted. Abe’s on Lincoln might just be my new favorite dive anywhere.

Although we didn’t go there on this tour, I’d be amiss not to speak about the Sorrel-Weed House. Built in 1840, this is a popular destination for ghost hunts. There is a lot that turns up here on ghost-hunting equipment, and in photos. Francis Sorrel, a wealthy merchant built the house. Inevitably, as with any wealthy family, there was some infidelity going on, and a love triangle. As the legend goes, both the wife, Matilda, and Francis’s lover, Molly, a slave, committed suicide. There is some dispute about where and if the suicides actually did occur. Some say that Matilda jumped to her death at the house next door. Molly either hanged herself in the carriage house, or in another variation of the story, Francis himself killed her, to hide their amorous relationship. Additionally, the house sits on a bloodbath. Over 1000 men were slaughtered during the Siege of Savannah during the Revolutionary War. There is a vortex of evil energy there, and often visitors report nausea or feeling the sensation of being choked. This place is the quintessential Savannah ghost story.

And then there is 432 Abercorn, a Greek Revival style home, built in 1868. A lot of sadness surrounds this structure. General Williams, a former owner had a daughter that he had left strapped to a chair while he went to work. His wife had died of yellow fever, so he was left to care for his daughter all by himself. He didn’t approve of the neighborhood children across the way, and forbid her from playing with them, so he tied her up. He came home from work to find that she had died of heat stroke and dehydration in the oppressive Savannah summer heat. She is one of the ghosts who lingers at 432 Abercorn. Reportedly, she has been seen peering out the window, longing to go outside and play. In addition to this home being built on a former slave cemetery, a triple murder also allegedly occurred here in the 1950s. Recipe for a haunted house, or what?

Our tour with Spooky Steve ventured to 17hundred90 hotel and restaurant. This place serves up something called a “Savannah Flu Shot”, which is a shot form of a horseradishy Bloody Mary. It was really just what the doctor ordered. Right down my dark alley, if you will. Most of the hauntings here involve Anne Powell, a young lady who jumped to her death from room 204 of the inn. Legend has it that she was pregnant and learned that her lover, a sailor, never planned to return to her, and she was so devastated, she resorted to taking her own life. Most of her “appearances” involve men waking to Anne caressing their faces, and then she is seen walking away from the bed, only to disappear out the window. Other occurrences involve the misplacement of items, particularly women’s nightgowns. Anne takes them, as if intending to wear them. Another frequently spotted “visitor” is the ghost of a former servant, who doesn’t like women very much. She hangs out in the kitchen of the restaurant and pulls their hair. She rattles pots and pans, and begs to be noticed.

For the last leg of the tour, it was pouring down rain. It just added to the ambiance, and if nothing else, it was refreshing. Although “drowned rat” is not my best look, I did appreciate the transition from the sweaty start to Spooky Steve’s tour. As any good ghost tour must, our time with Spooky Steve had come to an end. There are volumes of stories to share, and Savannah has so many haunted venues, but I really would prefer to keep you all engaged, and not yawning from an obnoxiously lengthy blog. I would highly encourage a visit to Savannah to hear more stories for yourselves.  As you wander through the Spanish moss and the muggy, soupy air of the evening, as the moonlight sets in, let your senses guide you. If you see, hear, smell, or feel something strange lurking around, it may be that you are simply over-served (Savannah *never* uses the “d” word to describe an intoxicated individual…..it is always simply that the person was “over-served”).  If not over-served, perhaps you did encounter a spirit, not of the alcohol variety.