by Laura Beth Caldwell

Created on: July 03, 2008   Last Updated: July 07, 2008

A trip to Savannah Georgia is not complete without a ghost story or two and chances are you won't have to go very far for a tale of the strange and unusual. In Savannah ghosts are about as plentiful as Spanish moss and magnolia blossoms. If you find yourself intrigued by the paranormal and don't mind things that "go bump in the night", you may wish to try your luck at one of several haunted inns where the spirits of long departed mortals have lingered well past check out time.

Perhaps the most famous of Savannah's haunted inns is the Kehoe House. Built in 1892 by William Kehoe for his wife and ten children, the Queen Anne style mansion with its massive red brick facade, rounded windows and Corinthian columned porches is a formidable presence on Columbia Square. The fact that the Kehoe House served as a funeral parlor for much of the 20th century only adds to its intrigue and share of ghosts. The second floor of this stately mansion is said to be the most "active" with guests in rooms 201 and 203 having reported awakening to the touch of a caress on their face and the imprint of someone sitting next to them on the bed though there was no one else in the room. There have been accounts of guests waking up to the sensation of being watched only to find a group of transparent "mourners" looking down at them as if they were laying in wake! The sound of children has also been heard on the second floor laughing and playing though there were no children in the inn at the time. Perhaps these children are the spirits of the Kehoe twins who died tragically while playing in one of the house's massive chimneys, each of which have been bricked up. Whatever the occasion, a stay at the Kehoe House promises to be "surreal".

A tale of unrequited love has long haunted the 17Hundred90 Inn on E. York Street. Named after the year in which it was built, this white clapboard inn is the home of Annie Powers, the ghost of a young woman who is said to have taken her own life. Grieved over the departure of her seafaring lover, she threw herself from the third floor balcony to the courtyard below. Miss Powers has been heard weeping about the second floor of the inn and is especially fond of room 204, her former room. Guests have reported awakening to the strange sensation of an unearthly female presence.

Savannah is no stranger to tragedy, with large portions of its population wiped out by the Yellow Fever epidemics of the 19th century. The spirits of those who knew great suffering seem to

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