Savannah

I’ve been wanting to go to Salem, MA in October for a few years now. But everything is always booked and ridiculously expensive. And — is Salem really the ultimate place for Halloween, anyway? I declare that it is not.

This October, I planned a trip for one of America’s most haunted cities and it did not disappoint. There are ghosts abound in Savannah with all its varied haunted history. I made sure to hit everything that claims to be super haunted and we had some pretty cool paranormal experiences.

You can find my entire Savannah itinerary below.

Ok, so first off — my favorite part of the trip has to be the 17hundred90 Inn and Pub. We got a drink at the pub on our second day and the atmosphere — as well as the drinks — were amazing! Check out the pics in my gallery. You definitely want to stop here for a drink. More on this place later.

We stayed at The Marshall House which not only was incredibly beautiful but super hospitable. I guess I should have expected that in the south, though. Our concierge, Josh, was relatable and fun to chat with. All the staff were very accommodating and helpful and I can’t say enough good things about our experience there. If there weren’t so many other haunted and historical places to stay in Savannah, I’d definitely book them for my next trip! The rooms were comfortable and well-preserved, with the hallways decorated with frames of original letters from pirates and political influencers of the time. It was like living in a time capsule for the weekend.

But my favorite part about the Marshall House was the complimentary wine and live music in the library. every. night. I’m a big wine nerd so this made me so happy — they had a dry red, white, and champagne along with a cheese board and some very talented musicians. It was really nice, specially as a New Jerseyan, to just enjoy time with other guests staying at the hotel and sip some wine before heading out for whatever adventure we had planned that night.

Ok, so now the ghostly parts — thanks for sticking with me so far. Our first night we did the paranormal investigation of the Savannah Theater. The first half hour or so was a tour of the theater accompanied by stories and history of the tragedies that occurred throughout time. They have rem pods and laser grids set up throughout the theater and live stream each paranormal investigation. They also provide you with a K-2 meter and a professional camera to use throughout the theater. I won’t spoil the stories for you, you’ll have to book an investigation to find out, but I will tell you that Steven was following around my boyfriend, Kenny, because he kept calling him “Brian” on accident. It wasn’t until we realized he was calling him the wrong name that he stopped coming through on our equipment. We also felt a severe heaviness in the old projector room where they say a shadow man has been spotted several times.

The most exciting part was doing the Estes method in the women’s dressing room. I went under with a rem pod in the room while the rest of the team was on the other side of the wall. While I didn’t hear anything come through on the spirit box, apparently someone was in there who enjoyed my humming. You can watch the video here at 1:25.27.

Since I wasn’t hearing anything come through besides random music from various radio stations, I eventually started humming along to whatever I heard. That’s when the rem pod started going insane. There’s supposedly a ghost named Elizabeth who was an extremely talented actress in the 1820’s. She died in the theater during a fire (they used lit candles on a wooden stage for lighting back then) and has been a resident spirit ever since. I like to think she enjoyed my humming.

The second paranormal investigation we did was the Sorrel-Weed house. Its here that I discovered how much spirits like to interact with a pendulum. The house is incredibly gorgeous. They’ve renovated the first floor and basement and are currently working on the upstairs. My favorite story has to be of the young male ghost in the Gentleman’s Parlor who was a bit of a womanizer in life. Now, he spends the afterlife touching women’s butts. How would you like to be known as the butt-grabbing ghost? While I’m not really sure if he touched *my* butt, I did feel a weird static tingle when I teased him about his legacy.

The basement was very cool. Through our ghost boxes, the spirits asked me to sit in the breezeway and I also seemed to be favored by a child spirit named Sarah. Each room had a pendulum and dousing rods for us to use to connect with the spirits. I never really thought much of those items for ghost hunting though — I was always intrigued by the more tech-based stuff like rem pods and XLS cameras. But when our tour guide, Amber, picked up a pendulum and used it to talk with the spirits, I was baffled. Kenny and I bought our own after the investigation and I use it all the time now. I think its easy for spirits to manipulate so they like using that method to communicate. Even though it’s kind of limiting, as you can really only ask “yes” or “no” questions, it’s become my go-to way to communicate with spirit.

The other place worth mentioning is the Thomas-Owens house. In a video I’ve posted, you can catch was looks like an orb floating through the middle of the room during our guided tour.

If you’ve been considering a visit to Savannah for some ghost hunting — or never even realized it was a hot spot for the paranormal — definitely book your next trip there. Its a city rich in history, amazing food, and beautiful architecture. I promise you, it will not disappoint.