The stories of savannah
Before you enter the haunt, here's the bone-chilling background on the locations we've recreated.
Colonial Park Cemetery:
Established in 1750, Colonial Park Cemetery served as Savannah’s primary burial ground for over a century. More than 9,000 people rest here—among them early settlers, Revolutionary War figures, and roughly 700 victims of the devastating 1820 yellow fever epidemic. It was also the city’s traditional dueling ground.
During the Civil War, Union troops under General Sherman camped among the graves. Local legend holds that bored or vengeful soldiers altered headstones, changing dates so some residents appeared to have lived for centuries, and disturbed crypts. Today, visitors report cold drafts on hot days, shadowy figures, green mist, and the voice of a young girl who once answered “Kate” during a late-night recording session. The most famous spirit is the towering Rene Rondolier, said to have murdered two girls on the grounds before being hanged from a tree that still stands near the southern wall.
Sorrel-Weed House;
This striking Greek Revival and Regency mansion, completed in 1840 for wealthy shipping merchant Francis Sorrel and designed by Charles Cluskey, stands on Madison Square. It was the boyhood home of Confederate General Moxley Sorrel and hosted visits from Robert E. Lee. The opening feather sequence of Forrest Gump was filmed from its rooftop.
The house’s haunted reputation centers on tragedy. In 1859, Francis’s wife Matilda died after falling from an upper-story window—an event recorded by a family friend as occurring “in a fit of lunacy.” Popular legend ties her death to discovering an affair between Francis and a young enslaved woman named Molly, who was later found hanged in the carriage house. While no historical records confirm Molly’s existence or the affair, the story has endured. Guests and investigators report dark energy, choking sensations, a sorrowful woman in white, and activity concentrated in the upper rooms and carriage house. The house has been featured on multiple ghost-hunting programs.
Mercer-Williams House;
Designed by John S. Norris for Confederate General Hugh Mercer (great-grandfather of songwriter Johnny Mercer), construction of this Italianate mansion began in 1860 but was interrupted by the Civil War. Completed in 1868 by a later owner, no member of the Mercer family ever lived here. In 1969, preservationist Jim Williams bought the then-vacant house and restored it.
The home became internationally famous through John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In 1981, Williams shot and killed his assistant and lover, Danny Hansford, in the study, claiming self-defense. After four trials he was acquitted; he died in the house in 1990. Earlier, in 1969, 11-year-old Tommy Downs fell from the roof (or upper balcony) of the vacant house while chasing birds and was impaled on the wrought-iron fence. Visitors report the spirits of Hansford, Williams, and the young boy, along with residual energy from Williams’s legendary parties.
Factors Walk;
Factors Walk is the multi-level cobblestone and iron-bridge corridor that runs between Bay Street and River Street, roughly 40 feet below the bluff. Named for the 19th-century cotton “factors” (brokers who graded, priced, and sold cotton), it was the commercial backbone of Savannah when the city was one of the world’s leading cotton ports. Warehouses rose on the river side; the factors’ offices and counting houses occupied the upper levels, connected by the distinctive iron walkways and bridges still visible today. The cobblestones and ballast-stone retaining walls were largely laid by enslaved laborers, and the same waterfront saw the arrival of ships carrying both cotton and enslaved people.
Beneath the walkways and bridges are the Cluskey Embankment Stores (brick vaults built in the 1840s) and a network of sealed tunnels that once connected to the basements of buildings along Bay Street. These tunnels and lower levels are tied to the area’s darkest history: the movement of goods, the holding of enslaved people in warehouses, and the reported practice of shanghaiing (forcing or drugging men into shipboard labor). Accidental deaths from falls on the steep stone stairs and ramps also occurred over the decades.
Today, visitors and ghost-tour guides describe Factors Walk as one of the most atmospherically heavy spots on the riverfront. Common reports include dark shadow figures that move along the cobblestones or dart between the iron bridges, sudden cold spots near the sealed tunnel entrances, and disembodied voices or moans echoing from the vaults and bricked-up passages. Some claim to sense a tall, menacing presence that follows walkers before vanishing. The residual energy of the cotton trade, the forced labor, and the lives lost or broken along this stretch of the waterfront is said to linger especially after dark, when the iron bridges and stone walls feel far older—and far less empty—than they appear in daylight.
The Pirates' House;
One of Georgia’s oldest surviving structures, the Herb House portion dates to 1734 and originally housed the gardener of the Trustees’ Garden—America’s first public experimental garden. By the 1750s it had become an inn and tavern for sailors and, according to local lore, pirates. Stories persist of men being drugged and “shanghaied” through a rum-cellar tunnel leading to the river and waiting ships.
Robert Louis Stevenson referenced Savannah in Treasure Island, and legend claims the fictional Captain Flint died here; his ghost is said to still call for rum. Staff and guests report glasses and bottles moving on their own, footsteps after hours, a blonde boy in a white shirt on the stairs, a woman in an 18th-century blue dress, and the residual energy of seamen. The building was saved from demolition in the 1940s and has operated as a restaurant since the 1950s.
Chippewa Square;
Laid out in 1815 and named for the Battle of Chippewa in the War of 1812, Chippewa Square is anchored by the bronze statue of General James Oglethorpe (facing south toward Spanish Florida). Long before the square existed, the surrounding ground saw heavy fighting during the 1779 Siege of Savannah; some say the soil was soaked in blood. The nearby Savannah Theatre, opened in 1818 and one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the country, carries its own ghosts—including an actress who died in a candlelit fire, a mischievous child spirit in the balcony, and a director who still shouts critiques.
The square is best known to many as the filming location for the bus-stop bench scenes in Forrest Gump. Late at night, locals report shadowy figures among the oaks and the distant sound of marching boots—echoes, perhaps, of Revolutionary War soldiers who never left the battlefield.
Foley House Inn;
Built in 1896 on Chippewa Square by widow Honoria Foley, this elegant inn hides a grim secret. During 1987 renovations, workers discovered a complete human skeleton sealed inside a wall. The long-told legend is that a persistent male guest made unwanted advances on Honoria; when he entered her bedroom one night, she struck him with a candlestick in self-defense, killing him. With help from a carpenter friend, she concealed the body in the wall. On her deathbed in 1914, she reportedly confessed.
Staff and guests have since reported a pale, top-hatted man—nicknamed “Wally”—wandering the gardens, cold spots, unexplained footsteps, and a spectral figure leading visitors to the exact spot where the remains were found. Whether the deathbed confession is fully accurate or not, the discovery of the skeleton is real, and the inn remains one of Savannah’s most talked-about haunted stays.
And More;
The Haunted Savannah has several other sections designed to add to the eerie experience that will leave you screaming for more...or less....