The Stone Angels

There are stories about the statues at Bonaventure: whispers of them moving locations when no one is looking, stories of statues possessed… And they do seem to have a life to them I’ve never seen in stone before.

Savannah was built on cemeteries, and the tales there run thick — not just from Bonaventure Cemetery, which lies along a stretch of water away from the historic downtown area. On New Year’s Eve, my boyfriend and I found ourselves on a ghost tour, walking around Savannah’s historic streets and listening to some truly frightening tales. I’m not one to scare easily, but I still find myself waking in the middle of the night now and then with stories running through my head: the hag who latches on to women and tortures them at night, the ghost child who paces around a house with a dark history, the stone statues that refuse to stay still.

It was in Bonaventure that Savannah’s haunted tales meet its southern charm most obviously. There was a light rain the morning we wandered the grounds and though it was quiet, it was still humming with mystery and memories.

There was Gracie, a young girl who tragically died and who is said to possess the statue her father commissioned to honor her memory. Some have claimed to have heard Gracie laugh, others have seen a tear of blood roll down her marble cheek if a toy or doll is removed from her grave site. She was quiet when we visited.

Offerings are left with other statues as well: apples, bracelets, flowers. One statue we encountered wore a scarf. In Bonaventure, the living interact with the dead regularly.

And in Savannah, you cannot avoid or ignore the ghosts.