Kehoe House
Savannah is infamous for it's spooky tourist trade, and there is no bigger attraction than the Kehoe House. The Kehoe House is Savannah's only four-star bed and breakfast hotel, one of a few in the South, and the only one known to be haunted in America.
The Kehoe House was built in 1892 for William Kehoe, an Irish ironworks foundry owner, on Savannah's Columbia Square. Kehoe had ten children, but none are more notable than the twins who are rumored to have died while playing in one of the room's chimneys. This rumor is the source of Kehoe House's legend, and is compounded by the occurrences in rooms 201 and 203.
One occurrence happened when a female hotel guest, who was staying in room 201 with her husband, awoke to find a little child stroking her hair and face, who then promptly disappeared. A similar thing happened to one of two sisters staying in room 203, when one sister woke up to see someone sitting on her bed. No one was there, but she saw an impression on the bedclothes as if someone was sitting next to her. Even the staff have their stories, one of which comes from a front desk clerk who heard someone ringing the front doorbell, though no one was at the door. The ringing persisted, and the clerk was about to call maintenance, when the front door and all the other doors to the outside unlocked and opened on their own.
Marshall House
The Marshall House, built in 1851, is known for supernatural activity, and has been featured on the Travel channel. This hotel used to be a hospital twice during the nineteenth century, seeing Savannah through it's yellow fever epidemics, and again for Union soldiers during the Civil War. Today it is considered one of the most haunted places in America, and provides hotel packages, complete with your choice of the scary Savannah Walk or the Oglethorpe Trolley Ghost tour.
Stories of guests experiencing ghostly activity are as abundant as they are creepy. Guests often are awakened during the night to the feeling of someone checking their wrist for a pulse. During one of the hotels renovations, reports tell that human remains, believed to be amputated limbs from Union soldiers, were found buried in the rear yard. Guests have reported seeing ghosts of Civil War soldiers wandering the halls, including one soldier holding his severed arm, looking for someone to reattach it. Staff keep a journal of each time guests or employees mention unexplainable occurrences, such as water faucets turning on spontaneously, door knobs rattling for no reason and the sounds of children playing in the halls.
More Spooky Accommodations
Other Savannah "haunts" you can lay your head to rest in include the Eliza Thompson House, built in 1847, where the ghosts of Confederate soldiers can be seen, as can the spooky appearance of a young girl wearing white, walking through the hotel's halls. The Olde Harbour and East Bay Inns both are known for being homes to their own "live-in" specters; the cigar-smoking "Hank" at the Olde Harbour, and "Charley," whom you can see a picture of when you check in, at the East Bay.
