Little Gracie Watson loved to play in the trees in Johnson Square. She was known as an unofficial welcoming committee for the Pulaski Hotel, and she still welcomes guests to Johnson Square today, some 130 years later. Little Gracie succumbed to pneumonia two days before Easter 1889.
Legend has it that her ghost can be seen in a white dress playing in the square or quietly sitting on the benches at night. She’s a friendly ghost …or at least, not a frightening one. And she’s the specter at the center one of Savannah’s most well-known scary stories. Just a sample of what you’ll hear on one of Savannah’s many ghost tours.
All Hallow’s Eve is right around the corner, so now is the time to book that haunted history tour or spooky pub crawl. They say Savannah is built on its dead. So, is it the most haunted city in America? Find out for yourself on these five Savannah ghost tours this Halloween season.
Best Haunted Pub Crawl: Nightly Spirits
Whether you take a nip to enhance the fright factor or dull the terror, you’re sure to have a blast at Nightly Spirits Haunted Pub Crawls. With a swash-buckling style and irreverent tour guides, this is a great way to see the haunted underbelly of our fair city. Join the happy hour tour for drink specials and a stroll through Colonial Cemetery (something you can’t do after dark). Or join the night tour for some scary sips after dark.
Best Walking Tour: Genteel & Bard’s Dark History & Ghost Encounter Tour
Not only is Genteel & Bard’s Dark History & Ghost Encounter Tour the best walking tour in the city, it’s also most educational. Their tour guides are true connoisseurs of the macabre and walking history books with many years of performance and history training on their resumes. Passionate and provocative, they know their stuff.
Best Cemetery Tour: Shannon Scott’s Tour of Bonaventure Cemetery
Shannon Scott is a historian, storyteller, and author, and he’s been touring Bonaventure Cemetery since 2002. Of course, Bonaventure would be our best cemetery tour – it’s Savannah’s most iconic landmark. Learn about the famous folks buried there along with the history of the area all the way back to the 18th century. Don’t forget to check out Little Gracie’s statue, placed there by her father after her death.
Best Trolley Tour: Ghosts & Gravestones
A classic trolley tour, this is great for big groups with less mobility (or folks who just want to sit back, relax, and enjoy the jump scares). The knowledgeable guides navigate the city, narrating ghost stories along the way. These tours also have the opportunity to enter some of the haunted places in the city while other walking tours can’t. I might be biased though, we rented out two whole buses before our October Savannah wedding.
Best Haunted House Tour: Sorrel Weed House Tours
The Sorrel Weed House is by far the most haunted house in the most haunted city in America. Ghost Hunters even filmed an episode there. Learn the fraught history of the events that precipitated the hauntings and hear stories of personal encounters with the ghosts of the Sorrel Weed House.
