While I do believe in ghosts and the supernatural, I am not much of a believer in the plethora of ghost tours that thrive in my favorite southern city of Savannah. I find it difficult to comprehend that those in the afterlife choose to perform on command 3 times a night for the tourists. Still, when my friends wanted to do a late-night ghost tour of the Sorrel-Weed house, I went along for the fun. At the very least, it was an opportunity to get some photos...and create a blog post!
The group who had signed up for the 11pm tour waited in the courtyard between the back of the house and the Carriage House.
I couldn't sit still and took the opportunity to snap a few shots before everyone arrived. Here's an interior of the carriage house, where Sorrel's wife Matilda leapt to her death from the second floor upon discovering her husband was having an affair with a slave girl. At least that's the story guests are told. However, by the time of Matilda's suicide in 1859, the Sorrel family had already moved to a different home. Oops.
When everyone had assembled, we were ushered into the Carriage House for the 411 on our evening. We were given not only ghost hunting tips, but equipment as well, including an EVP detector. For those not in the know, EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena.
There were three areas that our groups would be visiting at different times throughout the night. The basement/cellar area:
The main level of the house:
Our directions from the tour guide were given with the lights on:
The living room, where I positioned myself for most of the night testing the low light settings of my camera.
My friend Grant was more into the spirit of the proceedings, testing out the EVP equipment. And yes, the lights were completely out for us.
Except for a light in the hallway by the staircase to the cellar. Spooky!
Our next assignment was to hunt ghosts in the cellar. I was probably most spooked in this area.
Here are the silhouettes of Grant and Shawn, who actually felt something push his leg when he was seated on the couch.
Our last tour of duty was on the second floor of the Carriage House. I was probably more concerned about whether this dilapidated structure would hold us. The house is in very bad need of some structural restoration!
By this time all three of us were pretty tired, as it was close to one in the morning.
Although there were a few tales of mild paranormal activity from people in the different groups (emphasis on mild), I would say that overall the night was a bust. Still, it was a ton of fun and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this kind of thing. Just keep your expectations low.
More Sorrel-Weed House photos at my
main website.<
