• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 596 0

Hampton-Lillibridge House. During the restoration of this home, workers were freaked about all sorts of unexplainable events, so much so that many of them bailed on the job, and a priest performed an exorcism of the house. It didn’t take.

Late afternoon is the best time to stroll Savannah’s most eerie burial grounds, the Bonaventure Cemetery, located on the outskirts of town. The gravestones here are picturesque even for those who aren’t cemetery buffs, but once you stumble upon little Gracie Watson’s harrowing grave, you’ll hightail it out of there so fast, you’ll think twice about returning to a cemetery again. “Little Gracie” died in 1889, during Savannah’s yellow fever epidemic. Her ghost is said to wander the rooms and halls at Marshall House, another fine historic hotel in Savannah where guests report strange caresses and careless whispers. Sculpted from a photo taken shortly before her death, her gravestone depicts Gracie in her Easter finery. It looks like a cross between the long-haired silhouette in The Ring and every image of a ghost you’ve ever seen. Creepy. If I were you, I’d get out of there. The gates are snapping shut soon.

Kevin Raub

* * *

TRIP INFORMATION

GETTING THERE

From Atlanta, head south on I-75 to Macon, where you’ll pick up I-16 east straight into Savannah.

DO

Mercer-Williams House Museum

This elegant mansion was the scene of the murder in Midnight. 912-236-6352; www.mercerhouse.com; 429 Bull St; adult/child $12.50/8; 10:30am-4:10pm Mon-Sat, 12:30-4:10pm Sun

Shop SCAD

Savannah’s most eclectic shop, full of wares from the city’s art students. 912-525-5180; www.shopscadonline.com; 340 Bull St; 9am-5:30pm Mon-Wed, 9am-8pm Thu & Fri, 10am-8pm Sat, 12-5pm Sun

Sorrel-Weed House

Tour this 1840 Greek Revival mansion featured on the Sci-Fi channel’s Ghost Hunters. Yes, they found ghosts. 912-236-8888; www.savannahtours.net; 6 W Harris St; adult/child $15/10; 10am-4pm;

“The Book”

Your one-stop book and gift shop for all things Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. 912-233-3867; 127 E Gordon St; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 11am-4:30pm Sun

EAT & DRINK

Clary’s Café

Savannahians always flocked to this all-day-breakfast café; the rest of the world has only been coming since reading about it in Midnight. 912-233-0402; cnr Abercorn & Jones; mains $5-12; 7am-4pm Mon-Thu, 8am-5pm Sat, 8am-4pm Sun;

Club One

Lady Chablis still performs once a month at this gay cabaret bar, voted the city’s best dance club since 1997. 912-232-0200; 1 Jefferson St; 7:30am-10pm Mon-Fri, 7:30am-11pm Sat & Sun

Pirate’s House

Seafaring ghosts from the 1700s loiter in the basement and secret tunnels beneath this Lowcountry staple. 912-233-5757; 20 E Broad St; mains $17-26; 11am-9:30pm Sun-Thu, to 10pm Fri & Sat;

Shrimp Factory

Servers at this coastal seafooder cringe when asked to retrieve anything from the haunted wine cellar. 912-236-4229; 313 E River St; mains $21-29; 11am-10pm Mon-Thu, 11am-11pm Fri & Sat, noon-10pm Sun;

SLEEP

17 Hundred 90 Inn

The shrieks of Anna, who plunged to her death from room 204, still linger in the night here. 912-236-7123; www.17hundred90.com; 307 E President St; r $160-215;

Kehoe House

Twins died in this exquisite Queen Anne–style B&B (rooms 201 and 203 are the supernatural epicenter). 912-232-1020; www.kehoehouse.com; 123 Habersham St; r $200-400;

Marshall House

Dismembered bones once occupied the basement of this former Civil War hospital, now an upscale hotel. Strange caresses in the night could be Gracie, a yellow fever victim. 912-644-7896; www.marshallhouse.com; 123 E Broughton St; r $199-249;

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.savcvb.com

* * *

* * *

LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner

TRIP

2 Antebellum South

30 Brunswick & the Golden Isles

32 Savannah’s Seafood & Soul Food

* * *

Return to beginning of chapter

TRIP 32

Savannah’s Seafood & Soul Food

* * *

WHY GO Lady & Sons might have put Savannah’s culinary heritage on the foodie map, but that’s merely the tip of the