Our Savannah Adventure, Pt. 4...THE END!

Where, oh, where do I begin this post, my friends?  You know me...once I get started, I can ramble on for HOURS!  Well, I'll do my best to not get too carried away, but I do have some more stories and pics. to share!  Make sure that you're not sitting alone in a dark room...what I'm about to tell you and show you might freak you out just a bit.

Now, yesterday, I left off at the part where I showed pics. that Abby and I took when we were standing on the burial grounds of THOUSANDS of slaves. Well, just a short distance from the burial grounds is a very EERIE house...located at 432 Abercorn Street.  I'm going to admit right here that it had to have been the SPOOKIEST house I have ever seen...hand's down!  It became even spookier when our tour guide told us the story behind it. The house was built back in 1868 for Gen. Benjamin Wilson.  His wife died in this upstairs bedroom giving birth to their only child, a daughter.

This, of course, left Gen. Wilson under a tremendous amount of stress, which he often took out on his little girl.  As she grew older, he didn't appove of her playing with children from the 'lower class'.  So, as a punishment, he would tie her to a chair and sit her by an open window on the first floor for hours in the BLAZING Savannah sun...with no A/C, mind you. Apparently, one time, he gave her a severe beating before placing her in the chair. One of the slave ladies was outside coming back from the ice box and she looked up and saw the young girl in the window and knew she didn't look good.  She rushed inside to find her skin had, literally, melted off her face and she died right in that very chair where her father had placed her..

Here's the window where she was said to have been found dead. 

Now, just to the left of the window is an image of what is said to be a spitting image of Gen. Wilson.  The white color around it was caused by the scrubbing workers did in an attempt to remove the image...but to no avail. 

These next pics. are ones Abby took with her camera of the house.  Tell me it isn't CREEPY?

Here's our tour guide shining her flashlight on the 'image'.  Notice that in this picture and the two above, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

Well, what do you say about his one?  Abby snapped it in between the other pics. she took and it looks like it's snowing!  When she showed it to our tour guide, she stood there saying, "Oh, my gosh...I've never seen anything like that!"

As I said before, I'm a big ol' skeptic when it comes to things like ghosts and actual haunted houses.  However, seeing Abby's pictures and finding absolutely nothing on mine really makes me wonder.  I'm the kind of person that wants to make sense out of things, but I have no logical way of explaining what she captured.  I do beleive that there's much more going on in Savannah than meets the eye. I'm already planning to go back this summer with just my girls...IF we're brave enough!

Our Savannah Adventure, Pt. 3

Our last full day in Savannah started out with drizzle, overcast skies, and the temps. dropped from the mid-80's to the 50's overnight. Talk about a rude awakening! Thankfully, we remembered to bring jackets with us! Of course, by later in the day, it cleared off and warmed up nicely.

We decided that we wanted to get out and see as much as we possibly could. We must have walked miles upon miles...my poor hip bones were ACHING by day's end!

I couldn't resist snapping pictures of some of the gorgeous homes that we saw lining the streets. Many of them dated back to the 1700 and 1800's.

The attention to detail was very impressive.

Of course, Abby couldn't resist hamming it up!

Here's Ms. Paula Deen's famous restaurant, Lady & Sons. Do you know that you had to stand in line beginning at 8 AM to try and secure a reservation for dinner that night? We opted to pass on it...maybe next time!

We popped in another antique store and there was a back room filled with deer heads selling for $60! Sort of left me at a loss for words.

After another full day of sightseeing, we grabbed dinner at Mellow Mushroom and had some of the best cheesy bread I've ever put in my mouth! The pizza wasn't half bad, either! Then, we walked a couple of blocks (as if I wasn't already sore enough!) to the spot where we were supposed to meet for our ghost tour at 9 PM.

We ran into a little market for a quick bathroom break and a bar of chocolate to help keep our energy up...at least that's MY excuse! We saw the hearse for another ghost tour pull in for a fill-up...that's something you don't see every day!

We met up with our tour group in a parking lot. Our tour guide led us through the dark streets to Colonial Park Cemetery. She gave us some history about the cemetery and said there have been numerous accounts of paranormal activity going on there. In fact, she said a lady on the tour the night before captured an image of a little girl sitting on top of one of the family vaults. She told us that if we wanted to have a greater chance of capturing 'something' on a picture, we needed to summon the spirits. Well, I am the biggest skeptic around, so I was fairly lighthearted about it. When she took us to the outside of the fence where the family vault was located and most of the paranormal activity had been detected, I held my camera and commanded, "C'mon, ghosts, show yourself to us!" Both Abby and I snapped away, but we didn't capture anything out of the ordinary. It was pretty creepy, though.

Next, we were taken to the burial grounds of about 21,000 slaves, which was located smack dab in the hub of the historic downtown area. Savannah is called "The City of Dead" for a very good reason. Apparently, everywhere you walk, you're tramping on top of buried bodies from long ago. Savannah was Georgia's first city founded in 1733. As the colony grew, gravestones in cemeteries had to be moved in order to make room for buildings, sidewalks, and roads. Savannah is known for many bloody battles where a lot of human lives were lost, namely the Siege of Savannah.  There were, also, two major fires that devasted the city, not to mention the Yellow Fever epidemic.  Savannah, therefore, is referred to as "America's Most Haunted City".  Do you have goosebumps yet?

Well, as we were standing on the burial grounds, our tour guide was telling us how you could give about five thrusts with a shovel and you'd hit bones.  She even said that there are some locals who perform voodoo and dig up the bones, crush them, make an elixir with them, and drink it.  OK...that gave me the 'heebie jeebies'!  The whole time she was talking, Abby snapped pics. with her small digital camera and I took a few myself.  Out of the blue, she said, "Mom, you have to see this." and showed me a picture she'd just taken.  Here it is... 

And this is a picture Abby snapped just seconds after she took the first one...

Keep in mind that it wasn't raining or drizzling...it was a PERFECT night!

This is a picture I took with my camera in the same location.  As you can see, it doesn't show anything other than some lights and a building.

I have absolutely no way of explaining what Abby captured that night.  Our tour guide said that was the most 'orbs' she'd ever seen show up in a picture.  Abby captured a few more spooky pictures, but I'll save those for tomorrow.  Sorry for being so long-winded...I still have some tales to tell!

Our Savannah Adventure, Pt. 2

Our 2nd day in Savannah was a BUSY one! We got up and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast before catching the transit bus. We stood outside of our hotel to wait on it around 9:30 AM...it was scheduled to arrive every 15 mins. Well, we stood there and waited...and waited...and WAITED! Finally, Chris took a look at the map we'd been given and it stated that the first bus wouldn't come until 11 AM. Oops! So, we jumped in our car and off we went for another exciting AND exhausting day of exploring!

We decided to drive to the outskirts of downtown to Bonaventure Cemetery. I'd read some things about it and knew it was one place I didn't want to miss. Well, we were definitely not disappointed...it was BEAUTIFUL! It was filled with those gorgeous oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss and the biggest and prettiest azaleas I think I've ever seen! Every corner we turned looked like a painting that had come to life! Take a look for yourself!

There are many OLD graves in Bonaventure Cemetery, but this is one of the most well-known..."Little Gracie Watson". Two days before Easter in 1889, she died from pneumonia at just 6 years of age. In 1890, a rising sculptor carved this marble statue from a photograph of Gracie and it's drawn the attention of everyone who has visited the cemetery.

After we left the cemetery, we headed over to Forsyth Park, which was just as stunning! Families and couples were stretched out on blankets enjoying the beautiful weather. This is the fountain at the entrance to the park.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Forsyth Park Cafe, then walked all over just taking in all the sights. I thought this was pretty interesting.

I really loved all the pretty wrought iron fences.

We wandered inside St. John the Baptist Cathedral. All I can say is, "WOW!"

Abby and I took a tour of the Sorrel-Weed House...it has a reputation of being one of the "most haunted" houses in Savannah.

Here's the formal living room with an original cornice above the window.


Apparently, the wife of the original owner of the house caught her husband in bed with the nurse maid. Soon, thereafter, she jumped to her death from the second story balcony and landed right where we were standing. Pretty eerie!

We wandered into this really neat antique store that had all sorts of treasures.

These pictures caught my eye immediately.

I would love to have snagged this chandelier...it dated back from the 1800's.

Abby couldn't resist exploring this little dungeon room.

For dinner that evening, we drove over to Tybee Island to eat at the Crab Shack.

Chris and I inhaled plates of Low Country Boil (steamed shrimp, sausage, and corn on the cob), but Abby opted for a BIG Bar BQ sandwich.

We ended our day by taking another stroll along River Street where these street performers were strumming and singing...one was playing a saw!

Our last day in Savannah would bring about some things we simply couldn't explain...you don't want to miss it!