Most Haunted City in America

Well, I've been told on more than one occasion now that Savannah is the most haunted city in America. My dorm, Oglethorpe House, is supposed to be the most haunted dormitory at SCAD. Although with the amount of noise perpetually around this place, anything could be attributed to a ghost. I've heard extremely noisy footsteps overhead at 5:00 AM which may seem odd, until you remember that college kids never sleep (why else would I hear anything at 5:00 AM myself?). But whether you believe in ghosts or not, my floor seems to be off limits to the spirits; according to a website that tracks all of the O-house ghost stories, nothing exciting seems to happen on the 2nd floor. We do have a devil shower though; it seems to mutually hate me. Every time I turn the water on, the second I turn my back from the shower I find my scrub lying on the floor of the tub, requiring me to reach in to the scalding-hot water to pick it up. I have never actually witnessed the scrub fall; maybe I should keep my eye on it and play a game of wills with it. Oh, how I hate our evil shower (apparently, there's a ghost who messes with the faucets in the showers; guess we don't get along very well).

Anyway, the real inspiration for this ghostly post is the CVS on Bull Street. It's the only pharmacy within walking distance of the dorm. Conveniently located, it has the WORST hours. While most of the city will stay open into the evening, the CVS closes at 6:00 PM. Sorry folks; no prescriptions, no bathroom needs, no last-minute supplies in the evenings. Coming from a place where drug stores stay open until at least midnight if not 24 hour, this highly irks me. Two sources have explained to me the reasoning for the 6:00 PM closing time: The CVS is highly haunted, and the employees flat out refuse to work after dark. I've never heard such a reason for a business to close outside of a movie or TV show!

So I did some research into the subject, and sure enough plenty of sources explain the story behind the haunted CVS. Apparently, the CVS stands on the site of an 18th-century jail which housed the first woman to be hung in Georgia. The woman was pregnant, which post-poned her imminent execution (sounds like something out of Chicago or Raising Hope to me), and now in death she searches through the CVS every night for her baby. Has nobody informed the ghost that her baby is long dead too? According to another source, this CVS is the only store in the country to close so early. Eerie!

As Halloween approaches, this city is gearing up to celebrate; it's a very big deal, here in America's most haunted city. While many businesses close around dark, the various tours around Savannah - especially the ghost tours - continue well into the evening. I once saw a horse-carriage tour going at 11:00 PM when only the bars were open.

Living downtown is host to some other odd occurrences; yesterday morning around 6:00 AM, Erica and I heard a loud crash somewhere outside. I don't think too much of loud noises, being familiar with military base noises (and there's a base near here, too). But this one prompted Erica to loudly ask "WHAT was THAT?!" which then piqued my interest as something out of the ordinary. Almost instantly with the crashing sound, my iPhone buzzed twice - which I took to mean I had received a text (at a very odd time...). A few moments later, as we were still puzzling over the source of the sound, every device in the room buzzed back to life; Pete again buzzed twice, the computers hummed to life, and the printers very noisily turned on. Pete's initial buzzes were an indication that power had been cut, and the later symphony was the power returning. Our theory is that somebody drove into a power source; although they must not have done too much damage, because we really only had a glorified power blip. One of the printers, however, obnoxiously needed the last word and proceeded to throw out random noises for the next few minutes. I mean, really.

Tonight, I'm going down to the river (River Street, that is) for dinner with Margo and to experience a place which serves alcoholic smoothies; mmmm sounds fun! :) My only other foray so far down to River Street was last weekend, briefly, but it had a very charming, old feeling about it. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to hunt down the square and the bench where Forrest Gump sat telling his story to any person waiting for the bus willing to listen, and take some pictures of Chazz and Ginger recreating a scene (not a hard task; they'll sit on the bench).