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Savannah has earned a reputation as America’s ghost tour capital, and once you take one, you’ll understand why. Whether you’re looking for a hearse tour, walking tour, pub crawl, or an interactive paranormal experience, our city offers a mix of it all.
As a Savannah-based travel blogger, I decided to take two that consistently get excellent reviews: The Immersive Interactive Paranormal Walking Ghost Tour from Spirit XExperience and The Haunted Pub Crawl by Spooky Savannah Ghost Tours. Although vastly different in their tour itineraries, they share two important elements: they are both locally owned companies and have excellent storytellers. I also chose to write about this because there are over 20 ghost and haunted-tour experiences in Savannah, and it’s hard to sift through so many choices.
Spirit Xperience Paranormal Walking Ghost Tour: My Honest Review
I decided to take my first tour on a Friday night in early September. As I waited for all the guests to arrive at our meeting point in the middle of Monterey Square, I chatted with the diverse group of ghost hunters ready to explore.
We had couples in the group and a lot of 30-ish-year-old men who were visiting Savannah together. The young men were extremely pumped about the night and were serious about getting their hands on the equipment and using it correctly.
What to Expect on the Spirit Xperience Savannah Paranormal Tour
This isn’t a stroll-and-listen ghost tour. From the beginning of the tour, we are holding bent metal rods and getting down to business. It’s hands-on, which makes it perfect for families, couples, or a solo traveler.
Before you even start walking, tour operators/owners Mike and Ty hand out the equipment we’ll use during the night and explain how it works.
During the tour, the group utilizes a REM POD, K2 Meters, Dowsing Rods, Catballs, Spirit Boxes, Laser Grid, and a trigger object that is a Raggedy Ann doll that they have named Lil’ Annie, which spent over 100 hours in the Warren Occult Museum with the real Annabelle doll made infamous in The Conjuring movie franchise. The doll is used as a trigger object to entice certain spirits to communicate with the group.
Ty walks you through how to hold the rods so they can move freely, and throughout the night, you’re encouraged to keep your phone out for photos, video, and voice recordings. If you catch something, they genuinely want you to share it.
Fair warning: between the photos, video, and voice recordings, your phone battery will not make it two and a half hours on its own. I never leave home without a Portable Phone Charger tucked in my bag for nights like this.
Speaking of catching something, you get to use K2 Meters throughout the tour to “catch” readings of possible spirits around you. Here’s the science behind the gadgets: the K2 senses shifts in the electromagnetic field as you move about and translates them into lights, running from green for a calm reading up to red when something spikes.
Ghost hunters believe spirits are pure energy, so an unexplained jump, especially one that happens right after someone asks a question, gets treated as a possible response. It’s hard not to get chills when a spike lines up with the right question at the right moment.
One thing I appreciated: Mike and Ty were clear that they only attempt to communicate with spirits they’ve built a relationship with over their years of touring. No unknown entities, and nothing angelic or demonic. Just Savannahians who once walked these same uneven sidewalks in physical form.
Meet the Guides Behind Spirit Xperience Savannah
Spirit Xperience is owned and operated by a husband-and-wife team, Mike and Ty. The company itself is just a couple of years old, but Mike and Ty have been leading ghost tours around Savannah for more than six years, and it shows. They used to guide for other companies before striking out on their own, and their reason why says a lot about what you’re in for: they didn’t love being rushed through one tour to make room for the next one on the schedule.
Mike is a former Reverend who studied at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and he brings that background into how he talks about the supernatural. Ty goes by “Spooky” (a nickname she came by honestly), and she’s a clairvoyant who grew up learning rootwork and herbal traditions from her grandfather, a healer back in Mexico. She’s quick to tell you she’s not a medium and she’s not psychic. She simply sees things other people don’t.
Together, they keep their groups small on purpose. Real paranormal investigations take hours at a single location, so a tight group is what makes it possible to actually interact with the spirits instead of just walking past a haunted building and hearing a story about it.
The Haunted History of Savannah’s Pulaski Monument
At the Pulaski Monument, Mike shared a story I hadn’t heard before. The Siege of Savannah, fought during the American Revolutionary War, was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war, with roughly 500 casualties on each side. The monument honors General Casimir Pulaski, a Polish soldier who came to fight at George Washington’s personal request (and who, in a twist of fate, had saved Washington’s life in an earlier battle).
Here’s where it gets strange: when the monument was built, workers tried to move Pulaski’s remains to be buried beneath it. But the body they exhumed didn’t quite match his description. To this day, no one is fully certain whose remains are actually there. Mike and Ty have taken to calling him, with equal parts humor and affection, “Mr. Farmer.”
It’s a perfect example of what makes Savannah such fertile ground for a tour like this. As Mike put it, in this city, you are never far from a body.
Spirit Xperience Savannah Ghost Tour: Price, Schedule & Details
If you’re planning your own Savannah ghost hunt, here’s what to know:
- Two tour options: the Wright Square Tour (Wednesday and Friday) or the Monterey Square Tour (Thursday and Saturday), both starting at 7:30 p.m.
- Length: about two and a half hours, covering roughly half a mile at an easy pace
- Where to Book: Spirit Xperience Paranormal Walking Ghost Tour
- Price: $34.95 for adults and youth, $24.95 for kids 5 to 12 with a paying adult, and free for little ones under 5
- Private tours are available Sunday through Tuesday if the regular schedule doesn’t work for your group
- Wear comfortable shoes. Savannah’s sidewalks are anything but level, and you’ll want your phone’s flashlight handy after dark
- A Crossbody Travel Bag keeps your hands free for holding rods and meters while still having your phone and essentials on you
- The tour closes with an optional cleansing using white sage or holy water, whichever you prefer
Is the Spirit Xperience Savannah Ghost Tour Worth It?
If you want a tour where you sit back and let a guide entertain you, this isn’t it. Spirit Xperience wants you leaning in, holding the rods, watching the meters, and genuinely participating. For a group of curious travelers (or a girls’ trip looking for something memorable), I think that’s exactly the point.
Spooky Savannah Haunted Pub Crawl: My Local Review
My second haunted tour, The Haunted Pub Crawl by Spooky Savannah Ghost Tours, took place during a humid September night with a huge thunderstorm approaching. I had signed up for this one since it’s one of Savannah’s best-rated.
What to Expect on the Spooky Savannah Haunted Pub Crawl
Because of the rainstorm, they delayed our tour until it was safe. The pouring rain didn’t bother me one bit. I was already tucked inside the 1790 Inn and Restaurant with fellow content creator Sarah Parker @olemoneyinsav, and we were thrilled to find legendary bartender Martha Bowers behind the bar! I had heard about the famous “Martharita” and how it is supposed to be the best margarita in Savannah. AND IT IS! I am now a devoted Martharita brand ambassador because it was insanely delicious, frothy, and not too tart or sweet.
As we waited for the tour to begin, the company did an outstanding job texting us with alerts to let us know how many minutes we would be delayed. That type of customer service may be one of the many reasons this is voted best pub crawl three years running. Savannah storms roll in fast and hard, especially in September, so a Packable Rain Jacket is one of those things you don’t think you need until you really do.
Because Savannah attracts a lot of bachelorette parties, our tour was in an extra celebratory mood because we had two bridal parties in our group. These young women were so adorable in their cute little black dresses and high heels, and it was a hoot watching them navigate the gigantic puddles all night! I always suggest resort-wear sneakers for Savannah so you can wear them all day with different kinds of outfits.
If you are interested in staying in a spooky hotel, the 1790 Inn and Restaurant is supposedly haunted, as are The Marshall House and Kehoe House.
What to Expect From Spooky Savannah Ghost Tour Guides
Spooky Savannah runs their tours seven nights a week with a rotating cast of guides who go by names like Hoodoo Joe, Madam Redrum, Abby Normal, Maddy Marrow, and Penny Dreadful. They’re a local family business, and about two years ago they merged with what used to be Captain Stoner’s Dive Bar Ghost Walk, so if you’ve heard of that tour too, don’t worry, it’s the same crew now under one roof.
My guide that night made a point of telling our group upfront that he considers himself a purveyor of stories, not a historian claiming everything is gospel. I loved that honesty. It’s the difference between a tour that feels like theater and one that feels like you’re actually being let in on the city’s secrets.
Ghost Stories at Savannah’s Colonial Park Cemetery
Our first real chill of the night came outside Colonial Park Cemetery. Legend has it a young man once wandered the graveyard between two old settlements and killed several women in the alley connecting them. After he was hanged, his ashes were scattered across the nearby rooftops, and that’s when the sightings began.
Visitors near the cemetery at dusk describe the same thing again and again. A shadow that doesn’t quite match its surroundings, broad shoulders, an oversized head rising taller than the tombstones, and footsteps that seem to follow as they walk away.
Was I fully convinced? I’ll let you decide for yourself when you take the tour. But my eyes did fixate on this one tombstone as I tried to figure out if I was seeing a shadow of something.
Tomochichi, Wright Square & Savannah Ghost Stories
Not every stop on this tour is pure fright. One of my favorite moments was the story of Tomochichi, the Native American leader who helped found Savannah, whose original monument mysteriously vanished from the middle of one of the city’s squares one night. The city replaced it with a monument to William Gordon instead, until Gordon’s own daughter-in-law, the mother of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, protested to have Tomochichi honored too. He eventually got his own boulder, hauled down from near Atlanta by train.
Our guide swore that if you don’t believe in ghosts, you should walk around Tomochichi’s grave three times at midnight and ask him how his evening is going. Apparently he always answers the same way. Nothing. (Ba ha ha.)
The Ghost Story of Alice Riley in Savannah
The story that stuck with me most was Alice Riley’s. An indentured servant in colonial Savannah, she was accused alongside her common-law husband of strangling her master in his own bathtub. She was sentenced to hang and famously delayed her execution by announcing she was pregnant. Only days after giving birth, they carried out the sentence anyway.
Local legend says Spanish moss refuses to grow where innocent people were executed, and some visitors still report seeing her shadow swaying from the old gallows trees, or a figure in ragged clothing wandering the square late at night, searching for the child she never got to raise.
Haunted Bars in Savannah: The Totally Awesome Bar
The bars have their own folklore too. One stop was The Totally Awesome Bar, once a speakeasy with a hidden basement where illegal gambling and dog fights reportedly took place. Its support pillars connect to the old underground tunnel system beneath downtown Savannah, originally built for delivery trucks.
Legend has it one of the fighters died down there and still pushes people on the stairs today. Traditionally, if the ghost got you, you’d sign a “book of the dead” kept behind the bar, though it’s apparently gone missing since the bar changed hands. My advice, straight from our guide? Hold the rail on your way up.
Is the Spooky Savannah Haunted Pub Crawl Worth It?
If you’re planning a girls trip, a bachelorette weekend, or you’re simply the kind of traveler who wants your history with a side of goosebumps, I’d recommend it.
Since Spooky Savannah runs several different experiences depending on the night, make sure you read the tour description before you book it. Please note that the drinks you purchase at the pubs will be additional to the cost of the ticket of $34.99.
Spirit Xperience vs. Spooky Savannah: Which Ghost Tour Is Right for You?
Despite the humidity in South Georgia in September, Savannah never disappoints, and interesting tours like this one remind me why I keep falling for this city over and over again. If you like to stay active and enjoy exploring a city in a unique way, the Paranormal Tour is a perfect choice for you.
You’ll find Mike and Ty to be authentic, knowledgeable, and engaging. If entertainment is high on your list and you want to stop and have drinks and be more social, I recommend the Pub Crawl for the evening. It has a score of 4.6 out of 5 stars on TripAdvisor.
If a Savannah trip has been on your list, I’d love to help you plan a visit that includes all the charm, the history, and yes, maybe even a ghost story or two of your own.
Savannah Paranormal Trolley and Museum Tour
If two nights of ghost tours still haven’t scratched the itch, save room on your itinerary for the Savannah Paranormal Trolley and Museum Tour. The second you walk into the Museum, you’re greeted with a wall-sized map pinpointing Savannah’s most haunted addresses, which is basically a treasure map for planning the rest of your trip.
Inside, you’ll find a collection of paranormal artifacts gathered from around the world, each with its own unsettling backstory, and plenty of room to decide for yourself whether you feel something in the air. It’s become one of the most talked-about stops for visitors chasing Savannah’s supernatural side, and after everything I experienced on these two tours, I can say it earns the hype.
