Reverend John Wesley stands as a statue in Reynolds Square with the same commanding presence he had when he used to clutch his bible under his arm and preach to his flock in the very same spot. After growing up and receiving his religious training in England, Reverend Wesley undertook a mission to spread the word in Savannah which lasted from 1735–1738. He started the Methodist church and established the first Sunday school class in America.
Reverend Wesley stood outside his home which was located at his statue when addressing Native Americans in the great outdoors. This practice cause controversy within the church because the custom was to deliver the Gospel within the church.
Reverend Wesley began seeing a young woman in his congregation, but refused to marry her. His mistress would go to the square and stand under a tree to listen to him preach even though he heartlessly shamed her. During the conservative period, once he ruined her reputation, the community rebuked her. The woman fled Savannah and never returned.
However, her spirit still haunts Reynold’s Square. There is a blue spirit orb in the tree that looks over the statue.
Poor indentured servant, Annie, wanders the Oglethorpe Square where she hanged to death. Early teen, which was marriageable material for the times, Annie was physically and emotionally abused by her influential owner. Like any other young lady, she yearned for love and acceptance. She found her soul mate in a boy who also worked for the man.
When she discovered she was pregnant, Annie asked for freedom but her cruel employer refused. Determined to give her child a better life, Annie and her soul mate sliced her employer’s neck while she washed his hair.
The authorities found her guilty of murder and hanged her. Her spirit lingers in the square. Above her execution spot, Spanish moss never grows, even though the rest of the trees remain covered. Visitors regularly report speaking to a hysterical woman in search of her lost baby. There are ghost orbs in the above photo.
Oftentimes, visitors of the DAR cemetery have seen a child dressed in a white dress sitting on a bench, crying her heart out. Those who walked over to comfort her witness her transform into a white light and vanished as soon as she noticed them getting close to her. She was a victim of the Bay Street killer.
In the late 1800s, a teenage boy named Renee had been accused of snapping the necks of numerous children and animals, and then tossing their dead bodies into the graveyard and alleyways. The community arrested Renee and placed him behind bars. The killings ceased. Renee managed to escape during a city fire and the deaths increased, once again.
Outraged, a mob attacked Renee and strung him by the neck from a tree along the river on Bay Street. Alas, the townspeople made a mistake. Within days, the bodies of additional animals and children were discovered with broken necks. Unless, the folklore is true and Renee’s ghost continues to kill. The only way to ward away his spirit is with iron since it held him captive during his life.
Renee ‘s red spirit is visible at the DAR cemetery. He hovers over the unmarked spot where his body was tossed after his execution.
Ghosts love being alive in stories. In my novel, Surfer Murder, when a surfer returns to the water after her sister’s death, she is confronted by spirits that lead her to a murder.
