The Top 4 Things About the Most Haunted City in the Country

I apologize for the long delay of this post, but I figured Halloween would be the best time to write about our trip to Savannah, GA – known to many as “the most haunted city in the USA”.

 We went to Savannah with two goals: hear all the ghost stories and to try all the great food we kept hearing that Savannah had.  I will say, even though the ghost stories were more interesting than scary, we failed at neither goal.  I gained a whole new respect for both the idea of the afterlife – the city does have a cemetary as a city park – but also the possibility of some of those that passed remaining around for one reason or another.  And I swear I gained 30 pounds over the course of 3 days.

To help organize the ideas, I decided to put them in a handy-dandy list, but with no particular order:

1. The ‘feel’ of the city: The first thing I noticed was that Savannah has a general vibe to it.  You know that feeling when you walk into your elderly neighbor’s house and it just feels like she and her stuff has occupied that house for generations?  Multiply that by a thousand and that is close to the vibe I felt coming off the city.  As strange as it sounds, to me the city just had an energy about it – one of history, like you could feel all the people that have been and still are in the city since it was founded.

The trees have a large part in this.  My god the trees.  The entire city is under a canopy of huge old trees, all covered in moss and giving the city a feel of murkiness.  But it’s not a negative feeling, it actually was quite a positive thing.  It’s really hard to put into words, so I’ll move on.  But go and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

2.  The cemeteries, colonials, and pirates:  I talked about the park in the middle of the city that was an old cemetary – it actually dated back to the 1700’s.  Bonaventure is another large cemetary outside of the city, but is an amazing place to visit.  There is so much history and art in one place, it’s pretty unbelievable to take in all at once.  And I don’t know another cemetary I would ever say that about. 

 The first place we actually had dinner was the Pirate House – a home for pirates to come to and to make deals as well as find new sailors.  It’s located in one of the oldest sections of the city, right next to one of the oldest buildings in the South.  The idea of what had happened centuries before in the same room I was eating stuff salmon in had my imagination running on overdrive.

We also got to visit Ft. Jackson, a fortification critical to the early United States as well as the Confederate army.  It was amazing that I put my head through a slot in a wall where possibly 200 years ago a man was defending his life and his country.

3. The food:  Thankfully I had a friend send me a list of places to go eat.  Every meal we had was unbelievable.  In fact, our least favorite was the most commercially popular – Paula Dean’s brother’s restaurant wasn’t all I was told it would be.  But Spanky’s, Elizabeth, and the Firefly Cafe are three places I could easily drive 4 hours just to eat at again.  And it would totally be worth the trip.

4. The ghosts: If you talked to our tour guides and those we met living in the city you would think that every house in Savannah has a ghost in it.  A highlight of the trip was going on a midnight walk of the city with Shannon Scott, the former co-host of “The World’s Scariest Places”.  If such a thing exists, he was the expert on all things Savannah ghosts and legends.  And having him tell the stories in front of the houses, cemeteries and in the squares where all these stories happened -and that it was 2AM- just added to the coolness of the night.

So here is one of my more ‘infamous’ “ghost” pics- see the little ball or “orb” floating in the room (there are actually several, but a large bright one floating right in front of the portal entrance).  This was taken in the cellar of the Pirate House, considered one of the most highly charged rooms in the city due to the events that happened in this room (I won’t ruin that story).  Believe it if you want- but I freely admit you could feel a strong energy in this place, among other locations we visited in the city.

We also went on a “creepy pub crawl” where you basically drink and move from bar to bar while hearing ghost stories.  Best kind of crawl I’ve ever been on.

I know this may have been brief, but it really is hard for me to capture in words just how much I really loved the city of Savannah.  I will go back at any time and would even probably move there if the opportunity ever arose.  It truly is a city worth visiting, whether you’re into the historical or spooky side of things, because Savannah had plenty to cover both.  And don’t even get me started on the food again….

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