So, a little while ago, I took a poll asking you what topics you would choose to read. The choices were 1) Spooky and haunted places, or 2)Myths, Legends and Monsters. It was close. But you decided locations. Unfortunately, it was so close that I am going to have to alternate between the two topics as we move forward, hopefully keeping all of you entertained.
As we make our travels through these little adventures, keep in mind that I had to do a lot of fact-checking to spin you this little yarn. Though I may embellish a bit here and there, I am the writer, and that's my prerogative. I hope that you enjoy it.
There are a plethora of haunted locations and places that will make your skin crawl just by the site of them. No matter where you live, there is a place you don't want to go at night. It could be a road that mysterious pedestrians walk along alone in the dark that disappear when someone tries to help them. Perhaps it's a long-abandoned building, filled with graffiti; dust and debris have accumulated through disuse over the years. Cemeteries are always a creepy place after dark, the unnatural silence that settles over the area after visitors have vacated and traffic from the roadways quiet down. Shadows play over the headstones and statues of Angels that watch over the dead, desperately trying to keep those that have passed in the ground.
Asylums, hospitals (both presently in use and long-abandoned) surely will all be discussed as we take our travels through the creepy and unnatural. Along with schools, jails, passenger ships, hotels, and anything else under the bright blue sky that I can find to discuss because some of these places we don't want to think about at night.
But the first place I want to bring you too is not dank, dark, creepy, abandoned, colorless, or quiet. It is a loud, bustling, colorful piece of history in one of my favorite cities in the country.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present to you, The Pirate's House, located in Savannah, Georgia.
The first thing that you have to understand about our tale is a brief history of Savannah. And when I say brief, I mean four-inch paintbrush strokes here. I could spend hours talking about and writing about this city - it is not a coincidence that Joined takes you to the city and lets you explore it with the characters. For this purpose, however, you only have to understand the broad strokes of things that happened in the history of the city.
In 1733, General James Oglethorpe landed inland on the Savannah River, names the colony Georgia in honor of King George II and beings planning the city. Savannah becomes the first planned city of the United States. The city is plotted in grids, with wide streets and parks used for gathering places set throughout the city.
Rumor is that initially, these parks that were plotted were graveyards. Unfortunately, the city sits at or below sea level so, buried coffins would be pushed from the earth after a hard rain and had to be buried deeper each time. Eventually, the graveyards were moved (Some say just headstones, others say the bodies were moved as well……). But surely that is just a rumor. Right?
The initial Charter for the colony allowed for one to practice religion as they saw fit, but rum, lawyers and slavery were outlawed. Well, they were outlawed initially.
When the colonists arrived, they were not sure what would grow in the new, unfamiliar soil. So they created an experimental garden, which everyone would tend, and through trial and error, they found what would work and what wouldn't. This detail is only necessary because this will become the site of the Inn and Tavern, which in turn will come to be known as The Pirate House.
England begins sending their 'Working Poor' over in droves. Lower educated people that were willing to work hard discovered the new area prosperous for them. It helped the city thrive, grow, and expand. However, not all of the people that came over were saints, and general crime rose steadily with the questionable morals of the people that were flooding the city.
By 1753 the colonists had a good grasp on what would grow well and make money for the colonists. Gradually large cotton plantations developed further inland of the river, and the land the experimental garden sat on was taken over and developed into the Inn and Tavern.
The Inn and Tavern was designed for the travelers coming to the city by land and the sailors coming into the harbor to seek a drink and safe refuge.
I couldn't find an official record of when the tunnels were built, but we know that they were made after the tavern was erected. Why? To bring in rum of course. I mean, you cannot have a pirate story without the rum.
After the revolutionary war, these tunnels (they had expanded from River Street through downtown Savannah) were also used to bring in slaves. Something that was no longer outlawed because the Charter with England was broken.
Slavery resulted in the boom of the cotton cash crop and wealth filled the pockets of those who owned plantations. Lavish homes were built, improvements were made, and Savannah began rivaling Charleston for the busiest seaport in the south. All because of the tunnels.
The truth that is often forgotten about tunnels that is that not only can they be used to bring things in, but also to take things out. And thats what was happening at The Pirate's House. Passengers from ships coming into the city would look to the boarding house for a place to stay and a stiff drink. After several stiff drinks, the man would require, and get, assistance to their room. However, instead of waking up in their room the next morning, they would be on the deck of a ship. The choices? Become a pirate or walk the plank.
Some would resist, coming too in the tunnels or perhaps they wouldn't be as drunk as their new 'friends' thought. Many died in the tunnels as a result of a botched attempt at 'recruiting'.
Tales of swashbuckling pirate adventures and search for Spanish treasure coming out of The Pirates House were renowned. The inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island came from stories that he heard while staying at the old boarding house.
The character of Captain Flint was directly inspired by someone Mr. Stevenson met there and died in an upstairs bedroom at the inn. According to some, he never left. His footfalls are heard softly tapping from the bed to the window, presumably looking for his ship that has long sailed away, leaving him at the inn.
And so it went, until 1945 when the area was slated from destruction. It was saved as a historic site and has changed over and over throughout the recent history of the city.
Now, you're thinking okay, Steve. You said bustling, colorful, and loud, and I promise you that it is. The Pirate's House is now a restaurant that remains open in Savannah to this day. The tunnels from the rum cellar were closed off long ago, as a matter of safety. But the physical boundaries of brick and mortar do not prevent the sounds of weeping and moaning from escaping in the silent quiet of the early morning.
So when you find yourself in the Hostess City of the South, swing by, grab some Rum, enjoy a meal. While you are enjoying that meal, if you see a picture move, a glass fall, a beer tap randomly open, remember that the ghosts were there first, and you are just the visitor. But no matter what, don't let a stranger walk you to your room. (Mainly because the inn no longer exists, but really why would you risk it.)
