Foolish Mortals

If you take a trip to Savannah, GA at some point you’ll notice there are a lot of Girl Scouts in that town. As you wander the tree-lined cobblestone streets, it is not unusual to encounter a large group of girls, all decked out in their vests and sashes, headed en masse with noble purpose. If you run into one of these groups, do not get in their way. Do nothing that might delay their troop. Savannah is the heart of Girl Scout. It’s the birthplace of the founder, Juliette Gordon Low. It’s where she founded the first Girl Scout troop. It is sentimental, meaningful, and fundamental to the Girl Scout identity.

So when our troop went, we gave ourselves 72 hours to see everything.

The town of Savannah is no fool. This town is very aware crowds of Girl Scouts visit each month. The number of activities for the troops must outnumber the actual residents of Savannah two to one. Figuring out what to do was a challenge. One activity the girls had their hearts set on was a ghost tour. We, in perhaps the most sensible and most foolish decision of the trip, settled on The Old Savannah Trolley Ghost Tour.

After a pleasant dinner of all the southern comfort food we could stuff ourselves with, it was time for the key event of the evening… the ghost tour! Our guide arrived. We quickly gathered our belongings and boarded the trolley.

Well, that’s the way we like to imagine it happened. In reality, we stopped for restroom breaks, wandered out the wrong door, tried to go to the gift shop, ran back inside for forgotten bags, and then stopped for second restroom breaks.

Finally, all 33 of us made it on the open-air trolley bus and ready to go. Our guide and driver, a grey-haired and mustached man named Bill, was as laid back as he was entertaining. We slowly wound our way through the narrow Savannah street, passing by square after square, learning the famous and not so famous ghosts and ghostly happenings in the city’s history. As the sun slowly set, we drew near the Colonial Park Cemetery, the most haunted cemetery in Savannah… at least according to Bill.

The trolley slowed and stopped. The group grew silent.

“Over 100 years ago, there was a man who lived on this street with his mother. He was strange… a little scary. He scared a lot of people. The cemetery groundman frequently found dead animals in the cemetery. Strangled animals left on top of graves. People said it was this man killing animals for fun. No one did anything about it. They just stayed away,” Bill said. “But then one day a young girl went missing. Everyone came out to search for her. Finally, they discovered her body in the cemetery. Someone had strangled her just like all those animals.”

A gasp arose throughout the trolley. The girls glanced around, unsure of how to feel.

“His mother pleaded with the crowd to let her watch over him. She assured everyone he would not leave their house. The townspeople agreed, and he stayed home,” continued Bill. “But one day a huge fire broke out in Savannah. Everyone had to help fight it, including the man’s caretakers. He escaped the house. Again he killed a young girl. The townspeople had to do something. They took the man and hung him.”

“Now no one wanted him buried in the cemetery where he’d caused so much grief, so they buried him out at the edge of town where no one would ever build… except many years later someone built on it. They built a hotel.”

“I hope it’s not the Embassy Suites.” came a little voice from the back.

“It was the Embassy Suites!” said Bill. “Some say his ghost still roams the halls. Y’all aren’t staying there, are you?”

“Yes,” said an even tinier voice.

“Well, as long as you’re not on the second floor.”

“Shew… that was close. We’re on the third.”

“Or the third!” Bill boomed, eyes twinkling in the rearview mirror at the anxious faces staring out into the darkness.

So begins the night the lights stayed on in Georgia.