THE HAUNTED SQUARES OF
SAVANNAH By Andrea Six
Madison Square
Unsettling stories of torture, suicide and war sulk in the shadows of homes and historic areas all around Georgia’s First City. Though much of the landscape has changed, a few things have not. Some say these things are spirits who won’t leave their places of tragedy, while others say people’s minds play tricks on them. If you’d like to find out for yourself, explore these supposedly supernatural squares in Savannah.
Just beyond Madison Square is the ground on which many lives were lost fighting during the Battle of Savannah. Before it was named after President James Madison, rumors of spirits and reports of paranormal activity surfaced. Some say a mass grave for dead soldiers lay in this very location, though there is no confirmation. Anchored by the statue of William Jasper, the square’s most common ghost has an eerie resemblance to the sculpture—a solid black shadow in the shape of a full-grown man. Perhaps even more unnerving is the fact that the Sorrel-Weed House—a home where Matilda Sorrel supposedly committed suicide which has been investigated by “Ghost Hunters” and featured on HGTV’s “If Walls Could Talk” and Travel Channel’s “The Most Terrifying Places in America”—opens on to the square. Also notable is that the Green-Meldrim House is on this square, which was General Sherman’s Headquarters during the Civil War.
Reynolds Square Yellow Fever’s devastion plagued the early days of Savannah but, just off Reynolds Square, there is rumored to have been a property where malaria patients were committed that included a makeshift crematorium. Legend says victims were wrapped in sheets and burned, right in the middle of what is now Reynolds Square, to keep the disease from spreading. Perhaps that’s why visitors’ photos of John Wesley’s monument feature strange apparitions and spots in the background?
