Georgia Traveler; 303; Ghostly Tour of Georgia

Coming up on Georgia Traveler, it's the ghost tour of Georgia. On this episode of Georgia Traveler, it's our scariest show to date, the ghost tour of Georgia. We brave a haunted getaway in America, discover civil war apparitions in northwest Georgia and venture to what may be the nation's most haunted house. Yes, but we begin our ghost tour at a legendary restaurant located in America's most haunted city, Savannah.

Capturing the beauty of Savannah is worth a trip of its own. Take a walk through the historic district or stroll along River Street but make sure you find shelter by nightfall because evenings in Savannah belong to the spirit world. When embarking on a ghost tour of Georgia, you have to include America's most haunted city, Savannah. And right at the heart of Savannah's ghostly legends is the pirate's house restaurant. And, you know, who better to help me tell this story than my matey, the one and only, Captain Flint. Years before the town of Savannah was founded in the year 1733, the entire coast of Georgia was inhabited by pirates and smugglers. Ask the fine folks who work at the pirate's house, those who have spent years within these walls say the longer they work here, the more of a ghostly presence they feel. A very strange place, a very pleasant place to have a meal but also a very common place to have a really crazy experience.

I do believe it's true and I do believe they hang around here a lot. So maybe they're just in pass on or whatever but they do like hanging out here. There are ghosts all around the building. In one corner of the restaurant, you'll find some stairs that lead down to a place known as the Rumseller. This is where the tunnels are that go out to the Savannah River. What would happen is years ago people would fall into a drunken stupor, the pirates would take them through these tunnels and then they'd wake up the next morning on a pirate ship. But remember everyone, those are just legends. In the Rumseller there lies three tunnels. The first tunnel in the restaurant goes to the fourth. They used to be behind our restaurant. The second tunnel is the one that goes to our Savannah River. It was the most frequently used tunnel by the pirates because they smuggled their booze in and out the United States as well as when they shan't hide those that came into the bar. If you're familiar with shan't hiding, that means that the pirates would trick those that came into our restaurant and to be getting so drunk that they would pass out.

By the time they'd wake up, they'd find themselves already out to sea and put to work on a pirate ship. Now the final tunnel goes out west of Savannah to a cemetery. It was built during the early 1800s when the epidemic yellow fever struck. A lot of the pirates and men were dying. So they unfortunately built that tunnel to discard of the bodies. So be careful as you walk past these infamous tunnels. You never know who's waiting. Much of the pirate's house restaurant was built in the 1750s. But one dining area, a section known as the herb house, has been around since 1734, making it the oldest house in Georgia. And this area may well be the most haunted in the country. Legend tells an experience is proven that many a ghostly presence has been felt right here in these fairy walls. The ghost of the herb house made his presence first known years and years ago.

I've seen a blonde pirate four times. He's always mad about something. I don't know because I didn't get enough rum or whatever the case may be, but he's always mad. And it's always in the daytime, it's never at night. A little boy, his name is James. Now he plays jokes on people. He likes to come up with poor people's hair. And little children, especially very young children, three, four, five, six-year-olds, since his presence actually can seem to see him. But these ghosts have a way of making themselves be known. When they're ready to do it, there's no stop. And I mean, you don't ever know what it's going to be. I've seen tea orange just totally flip upside down. You know, trash cans turn over, chairs move around. You'll set them on way and come back and they're going a different way. It's just, it's very strange. Just don't know what to make of it. Other than they want us to know that they're here and want us to know this is their place. And they're going to do what they please.

It was up these stairs in the captain's quarters where Captain J. Flint muttered his final heart. The room where Flinty died. But before his death, legend has it. Captain Flint frequently met in these quarters with Scottish author Robert Lewis Stevenson inspiring the book Treasure Island. So while one eye is looking for apparitions, you may want to focus your other eye on the pirate's house menu. And less of course that other eye is obscured by an eye patch. One thing about the pirate's house, I think we give our guests pirate portions. The pirate's become fried chicken is kind of like dinner and dessert all in one. It's not too sweet, it's just right. Also we're known for the best shrimp and savanna hands down. It's lightly breaded and prepared to a tea. It is the essence of what you would call jumbo shrimp. We have pirates come in and go and then I'll walk you around and tell you the history that'll tell you ghost stories and take you on a little tour of the restaurant.

The atmosphere is amusing to children and it definitely gives the older children an experience as well. Generally, when it comes to the pirate's house, it's the adults that are leaving with the pirates hats on their heads. Delicious story to travel. Elijah invites restaurant goers to bring their camera and can near guarantee some form of apparition once the picture is developed. So come of you dare partake in the scrumptious cuisine because the odds are you are not alone. Next we head north to America's Georgia to join Valerie for a stay at the historic Windsor Hotel. In the mid 1800s, America's was a bustling railroad distribution point for the state's cotton crop. Earning the nickname, Metropolis of Southwest Georgia. At the center of the city sits the stately Windsor Hotel. Built in 1892 to attract northerners flocking south for the winter, the Windsor features towers, turrets, balconies and a three-story atrium lobby.

The trains are long gone but downtown America's remains a busy place, with the Windsor Hotel at its heart. It was part of the whole rebuilding reconstruction after the war between the states. They wanted the morish influence in the architecture. It's reflected as you go in and take pictures of the hotel. There are a less shaped openings up on the third floor. You have your circular windows and also very strong Victorian influence. These days the Windsor is known as much for the ghosts which grace its hallways as it is for its stunning architecture. I've actually had a couple experiences with the ghosts and it's quite fun. I mean it's there's areas of the third floor that are haunted that I've had some experiences with. This is late at night and I was down at the desk and we had a little clock radio that turned on the volume got real loud and then it shut off real quickly.

I don't know if that was a short in the line or maybe one of the ghosts greeting me. Then I was bringing some towels up to a guest on the third floor and felt some cold breezes along my ear and everything. So there's parts of the floor I won't go on anymore just because of that. In the 1920s a hotel maid and her daughter fell victim to the rage of a jealous boyfriend. Guests of the Windsor now say the figure of a woman and that a little girl are often spotted on the third floor. We're here on the third floor where there's a lot of activity. What can one expect to hear and see? A few weeks ago actually I had a guest call down and say that she saw the figure of a woman sitting at the edge of her bed. She opened up her door and the lady was there and of course that guest asked to be moved to the second floor I would too. Now I understand the little girl responds to a song.

Yes ma'am. The children's rhyme twinkle twinkle little star. If you sing that you actually have to sit Indian style down on the floor and if you sing that song you'll either respond or laugh kind of titter. Let's do it. Sure. Twinkle twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are. Even at night the beauty of the Windsor is evident in the hotel's wide windows and generous balconies. So inviting in fact one of the hotel's most famous residents refuses to leave. We do have a known ghost, the ghost of Mr. Floyd Lowry. He was a hotel bellman and elevator operator for about 40 years. Didn't die in the hotel but they say because he liked it so much. He likes to hang around and that's actually our pub. Floyd's pub is named after Mr. Lowry. Now understand long after his death Floyd continued to work. People would call downstairs.

Yes ma'am we've had people actually get in our elevator and see kind of a shadowy figure in the elevator and then it would recede into the carriage or wall. So he's still around but he's a friendly ghost. Ghost hunters have spent countless hours at the Windsor checking out some of the hotel's haunted hot spots. They find ectoplasm, footsteps, voices in the attic area where the service staff used to work. And take care of everything for the hotel and in the areas that go into the hallway on the third floor there are other more adult ghosts who are seen coming and going up there. Places that you can go down into the old brick areas that are around where the elevator now is settled. And sometimes there are very very very cold spots down there as well. So in the attic all over the third floor, ectoplasm has been filmed over the balconies upstairs.

They recorded whispers. You could clearly hear distinctly hear words. The last ones who were here when I was here actually were in the attic area, heard footsteps. And you know the old fabrics would swish when people walked and they heard the swishing in the footsteps. And there was no one there and they came downstairs and went into the third floor and heard the ghost telling the other ghosts. Those are the ones I told you about. So here we are on the hidden staircase at the back of the Windsor Hotel which leads to the attic. Now the funny thing is we tried to get on the elevator and come up here but we seemed to get nowhere. Almost as if the spirits didn't want us up here. There's been some hauntings up here. Maybe a lot of noise. We won't know until we have a look. Let's go see what we can find.

It's just after two in the morning and here we are in the attic of the Windsor Hotel where I understand it's haunted. We haven't seen any sightings yet. We've been told things don't get started until after three. It's hot up here, there's no air conditioning. Right now I'm feeling a little disjointed if you know what I mean. A new day dawns here in America and unfortunately we didn't find any ghosts at the Windsor. But there is a lot of history around America and the magnificent Windsor Hotel and its permanent residents are just part of it. We have such history.

Rosa Velt, when he was campaigning for president, addressed people of Sumter County from our balconies and had a fundraiser in our restaurant. Charles Lindbergh, a lot of people don't know, he did his first solo flight right here at Sumter Field. President Carter is from this area, he has actually slept in the presidential suite here. In addition to the Windsor's permanent ghostly residents and its notable living guests, it's also been rumored that the infamous gangster Al Capone spent many a night in this very room. Allegedly it's true, Highway 19 was the rum running highway from the golf that comes out down around Fort Myers and they were able to unload their illicit goods at that time and bring them up Highway 19 to the North for distribution. The Windsor Hotel in America is about two hours southeast of Columbus and about the same distance headed southwest from Macon. It isn't hard to find the Windsor once you get to America, just ask any of the locals living or not.

Much blood was shed during the 1863 battle of Chikamaga, but legend has it a few ghostly spirits remain. Chikamaga, known back in the 1860s as Crawfish Springs, was actually one of the bloodiest battles in the entire Civil War. But you know where there's bloodshed, spirits often remain. This has been gone on for years and years, people who say they've experienced that, that's whereabouts. That's whereabouts. The 5500 acre Chikamaga battlefield was the scene of the last major Confederate victory of the Civil War, but it was costly for both sides. Union casualties over 16,000 and Confederate losses around 18,000. Death and carnage like we had up there and all the stories of the soldiers who were far, far from home. If you believe in the Bible then you've got the believing spirits.

On the evening of September 20th 1863, the battle had ended and darkness settled across the land. Women crept onto the field searching for the bodies of their loved ones. It is said that they let out cries of anguish throughout the night. But many will tell you that the screams continue to this very day, and one particular lady in white still roams the fields. The lady in white is supposedly looking for her dead husband who got killed in the battle of Chikamaga. It could have been someone who lived on a farm there who lost a husband or fiance in the battle of Chikamaga, and she's roaming the battlefield looking for her fiance or hub. It's been now. You've got one Confederate soldier actually buried on Chikamaga Battle for a private John Anger who lived with the Reed family. He's killed on the 19th and he's actually buried on the battlefield, but they are reasons to believe there are other soldiers buried there. The lady in white, however, was not the first supernatural presence to inhabit the Chikamaga area.

Cherokee Indians who were settled in this region long before the Civil War spoke of a phantom-like creature who roams the hills. Long, scrambling hair, a cape that flaps despite the lack of wind accompanied by a terrible groan, and of course... The glowing green eyes. It goes back to the Native American times, that's what it came from, this preacher who walks on two legs, who has these green glowing eyes, just like in the injured woods, a twilight or in the dark, just glowing eyes. It's not just a couple of reports. No, no, no, this has been going on for years and years, you know, it's just common knowledge. People claim to feel that they are being watched as they travel around the park, bushes part as if someone is coming through, but no one ever does. And with every story, the legend grows. You could kind of laugh at green eyes or the lady in white, but these days, many of our witnesses accounts say we actually experience that.

It is said that Chikamaga Creek was known in Cherokee as the river of death. Illness, war, and random unfortunate circumstance through the years deemed this name appropriate. You had your deaths during the battle of Chikamaga, but the Chikamaga battlefield became the largest training ground for Spanish-American priests during the Spanish-American War. A typhoid fever broke out and over four hundred and fifty men died of typhoid. Then you read the history of the Cherokees and the Native Americans that were here. And supposedly, there's an epidemic that went up and down the Chikamaga Creek that killed a lot of Native Americans. And in my study of the history of early Walker County Cross fish brains to the Native Americans was sort of a hunting place. The ghosts of Chikamaga extend beyond the battlefield and into the historic district, especially one of the town's oldest buildings, the first general store, now known as Scarlet's T-Round.

Just about every old house or building in the area, you know, someone has a story. They say that this building is got a spirit. Penelope is what we've named her, or yet, don't know which one it is. She's thrown things in the back, she's knocked glasses over, and we do have a lot of customers that do come in here that want to hear about Penelope. They want to know about Penelope. Some have even experienced her presence, whether it be, you know, something moved or, you know, a real cold feeling or a warm feeling. Years ago, the KKK was the meeting room because upstairs where the owners lived. So there's lots of spooky, scary things, I guess. Scarlet's T-Round fits in very well with all this the war history that's in the areas. We get all kinds of stories from people as they come in to have lunch about gum with the wind and their experience, the first time they thought.

And then I have people who really gum with the wind, they aren't particular about. They like the fact that it's a nice quiet, quiet atmosphere in the T-Round that they can just come and sit and enjoy their time with their friend or their family member that they're with. Maybe the ghosts who haunt this area came for the traditional southern charm. They could just be big fans of gone with the wind memorabilia. Or maybe they're like the rest of the town and simply crave the T-Round's delectable chicken salad. So while you stroll along these historic downtown streets and peruse the battlefields historical markers and monuments, keep an eye out for the lady in white and maybe bring a friend to share the experience. Because if you encounter old green eyes alone, no one will believe your tale and no one will hear you scream. So if you are not scared by now, we aren't pressed for those of you who remain,

gather the entire family and enter Netherworld. Rising from the darkness just outside of Atlanta is a haunted house so scary and so thrilling. It could only have come from truly the minted mine. So we thought we'd sin fill to check it out. The Netherworld is a place of yawning graves where monsters dwell. It's a festering pit of creatures for another dimension and occasionally it rips open into our world and monsters pour pour. Upon his arrival, Phil met up with co-founder Ben Armstrong. Oh wait, make that.

Lord Conrack. I've Lord Conrack, I've Lord of the Well. Okay Conrack. So that sounds like a, you know one of those detectives from the 70s, doesn't it? Conrack. I like it. Are you really kin the Colombo? I'm not sure. But you know, I kind of get around so. Lord, with that in mind, Lord, give us a little history of the Netherworld. For years, friends of mine and myself, we really wanted to do an original haunted house. Back in the day, when we started, everyone was just using movie themes, Freddy, Jason, etc. We wanted an original story like a movie, something people would remember, something special, something unique. And that's what Netherworld came from. It's just great when people come here and they just don't know what to expect and they just lose their minds. It would experience chaos beyond imagination, incredible special effects, gigantic monsters, live-action, disguised as hideous things from beyond time and space. In the beginning, most of our actors are doing shock scares.

But over the years, the indebted seminars teach you how to interact with the public. And that whole green thing you got going on. That wasn't there when we were hanging out. Well, you know, that does that to people. You know, it changes you're from the inside out and sometimes you change your face. It starts to decay and then it peels off a little bit. It's okay because I got a good plastic surgeon who said all back together. How did you develop deep characters? How did you crazy stunts like sliding and knocking out the slime on the bungees? So some of the introductory jobs are more easy to master. Just the simple shock of terrifying a person. But the more elaborate things involving big costumes or stunts or into the dialogue comes with time. Another world scares do not start once visitors enter the house. The scene and atmosphere is set up as soon as you step out of your car. Here is an automatic response that occurs when a stimulus that your mind has is danger. Happens to you.

A surge of adrenaline and hormones goes into you and it causes a lot of things to happen. Your eyes open wide. Your sudden burst of energy. You will fight or flight. And when it also releases endorphins to the pleasure centers of your brain. There are moments where you actually spin your disbelief and think that you're actually in danger. That's when the fear is most extreme. But it's a good kind of fear because you know it's not real. You can step that from it and realize it's all in fun and that's when you're laughing at a good time. A truth be told. There's a lot of little kids who come through here laughing and having a good time. It's the dads that curl up and fall on the floor and crunch. Do you mean like me? Yes. I'm a friendly character, right? You like me, don't you? See? Did you enjoy your haunted house experience? Yeah. You like the spinning tunnels?

Yeah. It's also a great thing to bond groups together. They have tales of all the humorous events. Who was screaming and who was running makes for great conversation and fun later on. Wow, super terrible! Another world is open every year around Halloween and you can check out their website at fearworld.com for exact dates and times. Hey man, I can't find my keys. My keys are there. I don't know. Maybe he hates them. You come to the other world and no telling what's happening. I know another world. I can't get no help and no respect. Well, that does it for our Georgia Traveler Ghost Tour of Georgia. We hope you join us next time. Until then, I'm David Zelski. And I'm Valerie Edwards, wishing you pleasant journeys.

Well, I kind of think you're cute for an overgrown man. But I kind of like overgrown. I was going to say, you obviously have done this before. We love watching you. Georgia Traveler is produced in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development.