Savannah's Delights, Conclusion: Ghosts, Ghosts and more Ghosts

Last Night in Savannah: Yikes! It's a ghost!

Our last day in Savannah, and we had to end with a famous ghost tour. I mean, Savannah is labeled America's most Haunted City. How could we not?  The above picture was taken right outside Clary's, a cafe near one of the squares, not far from Jones Street. This is where our tour began.

After much research, we ultimately booked our tour through Sixth Sense Ghost Tours http://www.sixthsensesavannah.com/. We signed up for the tour that begins at 9:30pm and it lasts about 2 1/2 hours. It is a walking tour, and no children are allowed due to the nature of the stories and the places you visit.

The reason we decided to go with Sixth Sense is mainly due to the many positive reviews we came across. STAY AWAY from the Hearse Tours in Savannah if you want the "real stories." Although it looks kinda fun to be able to ride around in a hearse while they drive by the haunted places, picture opportunities are fairly slim, and the reviews both online and by people we met in Savannah, say it is not worth your money.

I can honestly say that we agreed with the reviews for Sixth Sense. Our tour guide was amazing. It was like listening to a story by a young Vincent Price, and you are allowed to take pictures. The stories are of real places in history- some of the homes are still being lived in (and some are not due to the paranormal activity).

The pics below are some of the places we visited. We visited many places--and I took way too many pics to put into this one post, so I am just going to highlight a couple of places.

Matthew caught orb activity with his camera in the middle of a beautiful park square that is still today, a slave burial ground underneath, and no-one realizes it is there. There are so many spirits caught beneath the cobblestone walkways, but people like you and me have no idea it's there because no headstones remain. It looks like a regular park.

Forsyth Park: In addition to underground tunnels that lead from the Warren Candler Hospital (pics further below) to Forsyth Park, apparently hundreds upon hundreds of slaves were buried beneath the walkways of the square and were left with no headstones. A beautiful park, trees, and benches sit above this unknown slave cemetery.



Look very carefully for the orbs among the tree branches. The orbs are said to be the friendly spirits of slaves past.



The Mercer House:  Where do I begin? And which story to tell? The home originally belonged to General Hugh Mercer, grandfather of singer Johnny Mercer. Due to the civil war, the home construction was constantly interrupted, so no actual Mercer has ever lived in the home. It eventually fell into the hands of Jim Williams.

(Excerpt below from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/mercer_house/1_index.html)

"It eventually came into the hands of the notorious Jim Williams, an antiques dealer who was responsible for saving and restoring around fifty of the town's historic buildings. Willams decided that he would live in the Mercer House. It took him two years to restore it, and thereafter he used the spacious carriage house for his international antiques restoration business.

Millions of readers and movie fans know Williams as the slightly sinister character at the heart of John Berendt's "nonfiction novel," Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which starred Kevin Spacey when it was made into a film by Clint Eastwood. By that time, Williams himself was dead. The reason he gained such notoriety was because of the shooting that occurred on May 2, 1981 in Mercer House, which resulted in the death of a young hustler named Danny Hansford (played in the film by Jude Law)."

Mercer House-The history of murders in the Mercer house is so unique because every person who has lived in the home, has died tragically in or around the home. The particular post the guide is pointing to is the broken post from where a young boy was impaled (pushed off the top of the roof of the house) by an evil spirit that still remains in the home. 






Mercer House- The person living in the home currently is an old woman who is a family member of a young boy who was impaled on the fence post; (supposedly pushed by Danny Hansford's ghost) whom still lives in the house. She was peering out the window in the top right hand corner, from behind the curtain. Because of the publicity and story that follows this house, she wards off anyone from entering. It is said she lives in peace with the spirits of the house.





 



Closer view of the fence post. Apparently, it is said you can stand by the area where the young boy died and feel a cold chill. I felt it. I don't know if it was because the guide put that into my head or because of the ghost stories we were hearing. Either way, it was chilling.



Warren Candler Hospital: If this doesn't chill you, I don't know what will. This was Georgia's very first hospital. It also became a mental hospital. There are spirits that still create so many paranormal disturbances, the police force of Savannah will get called to investigate, and some refuse to go in.

We creeped up the steps and I peered inside. It was chilling and creepy just going up the steps. There are tunnels that lead underground to Forsyth Park--you can tour these tunnels on a actual paranormal investigation if you sign up through this link: http://blueorbtours.com/about/paranormal-investigations-in-savannah-georgia. This group assigns you to a team (much like in the TV show Ghost Hunters) and you become involved in possibly communicating with the paranormal. I'd personally love it, but we just didn't have time this trip. That, and talking to ghosts who died of Yellow Fever or other mental illnesses kind of weird me out a bit. I think I will let Zak Bagons from Ghost Adventures handle them!

Well, that about concludes our brief adventure to Savannah for my 40th birthday. We plan on returning, only next time, we are wanting to check out Tybee Island and all of it's many delights.

Tomorrow, I plan on delving into some educational issues and challenges we are currently experiencing here in Atlanta. If you are ever planning on moving to Atlanta, you may want to heed my advice when it comes to getting your child into a good school. Or do you have a choice?

Tune in to find out!!