Spooky Savannah: Three Local Haunts

Savannah, Georgia is a perennial favorite on lists of “American’s Most Haunted Cities.” Savannah businesses and residents seem to embrace the “haunted” moniker and provide a slew of attractions including trolley, cemetery and history tours, carriage rides, pub crawls and more, created to give young and old visitors alike a chill.

Travel expert, writer and blogger Robin Benefield eloquently sums up Savannah’s haunted history saying “Waves of tragic and violent events—bloody skirmishes, slavery, epidemics and hurricanes – have seemingly left an active population of apparitions, ghosts and poltergeists.” With these dark, tragic events as a backdrop, it’s easy to imagine spirits roaming unencumbered through the city’s cobblestoned streets.

I am a lover of ghost stories and tales, not a ghost hunter.  While I’ll never go searching for mysterious floating orbs, I do enjoy exploring frightening historic locations and locales with great backstories.

From a recent Savannah trip, I’ve listed my favorite haunted sites that claim to harbor the undead below.

The Old Sorrel-Weed House

This Savannah haunt has been on more than a dozen paranormal television series. Ghost hunting experts consider it to be one of the most haunted homes in the U.S.  Built in the early 1840’s by Francis Sorrel, the Old Sorrel-Weed House became a state landmark in 1954.

After the passing of Sorrel’s first wife, he later married her younger sister, Matilda. Due to her tragic suicide in the home, she is is rumored to be at least one of the spirits responsible for the property’s alleged haunting.

Tour options including history/architecture, ghosts, and evening paranormal experience tours. Visitors to the home get to explore both the Old Sorrel-Weed House and the carriage house located behind it.

The Pirates’ House

Once an inn and tavern for visiting sailors, the Pirates’ House, located just a block from the river, has a nefarious history. Supposedly, unsuspecting, drunken, sailors were carried unconscious through a tunnel that connected the old rum cellar in the basement to the nearby Savannah River. Legend goes they would wake up to find themselves in forced servitude on the high seas.

The 1753 building’s haint blue shutters and doors are preserved in their original state. You will frequently see the pale blue-green color pictured above on porch ceilings, shutters and doorframes throughout the south to help protect the home’s occupants from spirits.

Today, the Pirates’ House is one of Savannah’s most famous restaurants. Be sure to plan ahead and make a reservation. Stop by and try the Chatham Artillery Punch If you’re feeling adventurous. Just stay away from the rum cellar.

The Andrew Low House

The Andrew Low House is eponymously named after its original owner, Andrew Low II. He was a Scottish immigrant who came to the county at the age of seventeen. The house was home to the Low family and the enslaved men and women who lived there. Today, tour guides usher visitors through the historic house museum and provide a glimpse of domestic life in the 1850s seaport of Savannah.

Later, Juliette Gordon Low, Andrew Low’s daughter-in-law lived here as well. It that name sounds familiar, it’s because she later founded a little organization called the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.

Aside from the creepy dolls above found in one of the upstairs bedrooms, this home held the least scare potential for me. Regardless, it was still worth a visit.

Much of Savannah’s haunted mystique for me stems from its age dating back to 1733, and the dark, tragic histories of many buildings and locations throughout the city. Many of the historic buildings and shadowy, cobblestone streets look like sets plucked right from a horror movie. River Street, which is located along the Savannah River, features an assortment of restaurants, boutiques and restaurants. Many of them are in century-old buildings that makes it particularly eerie after dark. It’s easy enough to imagine that you’re never quite alone here..