Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, like its Northern counterpart Gettysburg, is often called the most haunted city in America by those who claim expertise in such things. Savannah was the site of the second bloodiest siege of the American Revolution, and one of the least studied. The Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski was among its casualties, and his spirit is one of many which are believed by those so inclined to haunt some of the city’s famous squares. Revolutionary War hero and Rhode Island Quaker Nathaniel Greene died and was buried in Savannah following the war, and his spirit as well as that of his son has been encountered by people when approaching a monument erected to his memory, after his first grave was vandalized during the Civil War.
The British occupied Savannah early in the war, and in 1779 a joint French and American force attacked the city from the west, hoping to capture it quickly through an assault rather than a protracted siege. When the first assault failed the American and French forces laid the city under siege, beginning in mid-September. By October the supporting French fleet was running low on supplies and the beginning signs of scurvy among some of the crews were being noted by officers. On October 16, wanting to end the siege as quickly as possible, the French and American ground forces assaulted the British works, and were repulsed.
There were heavy losses among the French and Americans, among them Pulaski and an American sergeant named William Jasper. Years later a statue memorializing William Jasper – who was a hero of the defense of Charleston early in the war – was erected in Savannah’s Madison Square. Local lore says the ghost of William Jasper has been seen many times, in Revolutionary uniform, moving about Madison Square in preparation to face the British troops. Other reports of apparitions, apparently British, in the area of the square have been talked about in Savannah for decades.
When Casimir Pulaski died he was hastily buried as the American and French armies abandoned the siege and withdrew. His gravesite was unknown for many years, though a statue was erected to his memory in Monterrey Square. In 1996 the statue was renovated, and in the process was discovered to contain a box which held skeletal remains. Although DNA testing was inconclusive, the bones bore marks consistent with Pulaski’s wounds. To many locals, their presence explains much of the paranormal activity reported over the years in Monterrey Square (all of Savannah’s squares seem to be haunted).
Nathaniel Greene and his son were interred side by side in Colonial Park Cemetery. Their grave locations were later lost. A monument to Green’s memory was erected in Johnson Square in 1825. In the early 1900s the graves of Greene and his son were discovered, and their remains were removed to Johnson Square. According to many of the citizens of Savannah, Greene’s ghost has frequently appeared when the spot at which he is interred is approached too closely, presumably perturbed at having his rest disturbed several times since he was originally interred.