"Today Is a Sunny Day In Savannah"

So this post actually starts on Saturday night, but who's counting...I went on a Savannah Ghost Walk - not quite as good as the one I went on with my mom in Charleston last year, but entertaining in its way. I have to say it was so fun to just be walking around Savannah in the dark with hundreds of other like-minded tourists that the guide could've been giving a lecture on the Henderson-Hasselback equation and I wouldn't have minded a bit. So we walked around a few squares, and as we stopped in front of a bed-and-breakfast, two women who seemed to have been waiting on its porch (literally) ran down to meet our group. They said "Can we listen in while you talk about this house because we're staying here, and we've been watching the tour groups come by, and we want to know some of the history because some strange things have been going on." It turns out that this house is supposedly very haunted (but not with mean ghosts), and it once was used as a mortuary for a time. There is even a break in the granite paving stones for where they used to slide the coffins in and out of the basement! So anyways, these women were the leaders of a group of Girl Scouts who'd rented the entire B&B out for the weekend. When they'd first gotten there, a group of girls went up to play on the 4th (attic) floor. Before they opened the door, they realized that the room was already being used by other kids (or so it seemed!) as they could hear the sounds of their playing outside the door. They were wondering how some of their fellow Girl Scouts had beaten them up there, as there was only one way in/out, and when they opened the door, no one was in there! And then one of the women told us that on the first night, she'd been awakened at about 1:30am by the sounds of the girls playing in the hallway. She opened her door, ready to yell at them to get back to bed, and realized the hall was empty. She assumed they'd just heard her getting up and had beaten her back into their rooms. The next morning, she was chastizing several of the parents for letting their girls stay up so late, and they were all like, "What are you talking about? We were all asleep at 10!" (!!!) It turns out that that house is haunted by sounds of children all the time, though no one knows who the particular children are/were. Pretty spooky!!

*****

The picture below is of the 1790 House, which houses a poltergeist ("messy spirit") in room 204. Apparently when you book this room they make it abundantly clear that you will be spending the night with Anna, the resident poltergeist, and that as you have clearly been warned in advance, there will be no refunds. Apparently she likes to turn the faucets and shower on and off, flush the toilet all night, and steal women's lingerie (to what purpose, I cannot imagine). When we were walking by (this isn't of room 204), our guide shouted "Look there!" to scare us. The funny thing is that whomever propped up this sad mannequin "ghost" neglected to notice her missing hand. She looked more like a defective prop from "The Ring" than a real ghost, but it was campy and funny nonetheless.

So to explain the title of this post: If you didn't know, I'm on a neurology rotation right now. Every day, when my attending checks various patients for dysarthria (slurred speech, often as a result of a stroke or a TIA), he asks them to recite "Today is a sunny day in Savannah." So I kept thinking of that as I was meandering about (what felt like) the entirety of Savannah. I started out at Panera, per usual, and then I took my copy of "Midnight In The Garden Of Good & Evil" which I'm re-reading for the umpteenth time to the prettiest square I could find with an adjacent coffee shop (Chippewa Square, as it turned out). I got myself a sandwich and drink and settled down on a park bench and read for a while, until the very-attentive gnats got the better of me. I could try to explain how peaceful and beautiful it was there, with all the azaleas in full bloom, surrounded by statues of famous Savannahans, but I think you just had to be there. So after reading for a while, I figured I'd best get down to being a serious tourist for a while. So I walked until I found the Owens-Thomas House, which is one of the best-preserved houses in Savannah, and also the house from which le Marquis de Lafayette made his famous address, although few understood it as it was in French. It was such an incredible preservation - they have done a remarkable job. They have it painted the same colors the original owners would have, and gave so many details and historical tidbits throughout the tour that I was very impressed. The balcony on the right of the house (right over the pickup truck's bed) is the balcony from which Lafayette spoke.

Next I wandered over to the Colonial Park Cemetery, which was one of the two main cemeteries in the town during its heyday. The reason I took the picture below is to illustrate how bare it is. Even though it's smack dab in the middle of the town, there are hardly any graves. Why? might one ask. It's because of the 10,000 or so Union soldiers that were encamped there for 10 weeks in the War of Northern Aggression. They moved the tombstones around willy-nilly, and the only ones that are left either couldn't be moved, or were conveniently not in the way of a tent. The soldiers didn't stop there however. They defaced many of the tomstones, changing birth/death dates so that some people are now 400 years old, changed male names into female names and vice versa, and generally defaced what should have been hallowed ground. Kind of hard to believe they did so much damage with apparently no remorse (or discipline).

So when the city came back into the hands of the Georgians, they were left with all these tomstones, with no idea where to put them. They decided that the best, and most respectful way to diplay them was to mount them on the brick wall that surrounds the cemetery.

After that I drove out to Bonaventure Cemetery (the "Garden" part of "Midnight In The Garden Of Good & Evil") but it was closed, so I drove on to Tybee Island, which wasn't. They have a very cute lighthouse (which was, of course, closed, otherwise I would have climbed it), and a very nice beach - just like I pictured a southeast-coast beach...salt grass, and lots of shells.
The day was getting to be partly cloudy and you could see plenty of the "fingers of God" (the Renaissance term for when light breaks through clouds in rays) coming down from the sky. I really can't believe this picture came from MY camera, but I promise it did:


Another view down the beach on Tybee Island:

Even though I had errands to run later I just had to get in the water so I can say I've set foot in the Atlantic ocean, so I did, but not much more than that.

I just went to Kroger with sandy feet. I'm sure they'll get over it someday.

Savannah Ghost Walk

Yesterday was my big touring day in Savannah. First I went on the Old Town Trolley Tour, where they drive you all over town in this eye-catching orange and green trolley. I just wanted to get an overview of the town and figure out where I wanted to go spend more time later. It was so great - our tour guide was Denise, and she was hilarious. Lots of town gossip and speculation, and who cares if it was true - it was entertainment! Then last night I went on a Savannah Ghost Walk. It was OK - not nearly as good as the one I went on in Charleston, but a good way to kill an hour or two and possibly learn a bit more about the town. The best part was when we were stopped in front of a particular bed & breakfast, and two women excitedly ran down the steps and said, "We've been watching the tour groups stop here and talk, and we want to know what's going on with this house, because some weird things have been happening!" It turns out that they were leaders of a group of Girl Scouts who had rented the house out for the weekend. When they first arrived, a group of girls were headed up to the attic floor to play, and before they opened the door, they heard a group of other kids already playing in the room. They were wondering how some of their group had already beaten them up there, as there was only one way in and one way out, and when they opened the door, no one was there! And then one of the leaders said she'd been woken up at about 1am by what she thought were the girls playing in the hallway. When she opened her door to yell at them to get back to bed, there was no one there. She thought they'd just been faster than her and gotten back into their rooms before she could see them, and when she asked several parents the next morning if they'd let their kids out during the night, they all said no! Here's a picture of that house (I know, it's kind of dark, but this is actually my only picture that turned out!):

(The people in the doorway were some of the little Girl Scouts whose moms wouldn't let them come down and hear what our tour guide was saying, because they didn't want them to be even more scared!)