Doctor Buzzard’s Goodtime Ghost Tour

Savannah’s best ghost stories often begin with a very real place, and Doctor Buzzard’s Goodtime Ghost Tour makes that connection its main attraction. Over about two hours, you walk from the Pulaski Monument through squares, cemeteries, former prisons, historic homes, and haunted inns while your guide links local folklore to Savannah’s grim past. The Old City Jail and Colonial Park Cemetery provide especially strong settings.

I like the small maximum of 16 people, which gives the guide room to tell stories rather than shout over a crowd. I also like the variety: you get tales of executions, yellow fever, rootwork, murder, suicide, poltergeists, and even a shape-shifting cat. The catch is simple: this is an outdoor walking tour, not a haunted-house visit, and most stops are viewed from the street.

Key points to know

• A two-hour walk through 12 historic locations, including the Old City Jail, Colonial Park Cemetery, Wright Square, and several famously haunted homes.
• Small groups capped at 16, with Janine receiving especially strong praise for her humor, storytelling, and command of local lore.
• No regular interior access, although the route includes the Old Sorrel Weed House, Hamilton-Turner House, Kehoe House, and other notable buildings.
• Admission to the Old Sorrel Weed House is not included, and some listed stops also note that entry is not included.
• The tour ends near Colonial Park Cemetery, never more than about 15 minutes on foot from the starting point.
• Good shoes and weather planning matter, since the tour involves considerable walking and can be canceled in poor weather.

Savannah’s ghosts come with a long paper trail

This tour works best when you enjoy stories that sit halfway between documented history and supernatural tradition. You will hear about actual prisons, cemeteries, family homes, inns, epidemics, executions, and tragic deaths. Then the guide moves into the legends attached to those places.

That mix gives the evening more substance than a parade of unexplained noises. The stories often ask you to consider how Savannah’s past shaped its ghost lore. A cemetery built over earlier graves feels different from a modern attraction, and a former jail carries a darker weight than a house simply labeled haunted.

The company also includes one download of America’s Most Haunted City: Savannah, a documentary connected to the experience. That adds value if you want more background after the walk, though the main product is still the live storytelling.

The price is $33.33 per person. For a two-hour guided walk with a group limit of 16, that is a reasonable price if you value local interpretation and atmospheric storytelling. It is less appealing if you expect access to several historic interiors or paranormal equipment. You are paying for the guide and the route, not a series of museum admissions.

Starting at the Old City Jail

Meet at the Casimir Pulaski Monument at 4 West Taylor Street. The route begins near the old Chatham County Jail, a building associated with roughly 600 prisoners, including people considered criminally insane or violent. It also contained an execution cell.

That background gives the first stop a clear purpose. Instead of opening with a vague ghost tale, the guide can establish the jail as a place of confinement, fear, and death. The building’s later use by an art college and a private Christian school adds another layer of uneasy local history.

You spend about 10 minutes here, and admission is free. Do not expect to tour the jail interior as part of this experience. The value comes from hearing the stories in the setting and understanding why the building has such a strong reputation.

Greene Square and the ghost of a troubled girl

At Greene Square, the stories move toward an old female orphanage and the grim fate of two bank robbers. The stop also includes a story about a teenage girl contemplating suicide and being comforted by a ghost who feels familiar to her.

This is one of the tour’s more emotional sections. The subject matter is heavy, and the story depends on your guide’s tone. Janine has been praised for making difficult material engaging without losing the sense of place, so she is a particularly good guide to hope for when available.

You spend about 10 minutes here. The square also gives you a pause from the jail setting and shows how Savannah’s public spaces can carry several different stories at once.

Conrad Aiken’s home and nearby supernatural tales

The Conrad Aiken Home stop connects a murder-suicide in childhood to the life of one of the world’s fascinating poets. The guide also brings in Colonial Park Cemetery, Police Precinct One, and other nearby supernatural accounts.

This is a good example of how the route uses more than one building at a time. You are not simply told that a house is haunted. You hear how nearby homes, law enforcement, cemeteries, and personal tragedy overlap in the same few blocks.

The stop lasts around 10 minutes. Because much of the route is viewed from outside, you should come ready to listen closely. Street views provide context, but they do not offer the same impact as entering a preserved room.

Calhoun Square, buried ground, and two haunted houses

Calhoun Square is now called Taylor Square, after a famous nurse. Beneath the square, according to the tour’s historical account, lies one of Savannah’s original Black burial grounds, covered as the city expanded.

That detail is among the most important on the route. It explains Savannah’s recurring image as a city built over its dead. The supernatural stories do not exist in isolation. They are tied to the city’s growth, its memorial spaces, and the people whose burial places were disturbed or forgotten.

The guide also discusses the Espy House and 432 Abercorn, two properties associated with haunting stories. You spend about 15 minutes here, making it one of the longer stops. Give your attention to the historical setting as much as the ghost tales.

Colonial Park Cemetery after dark

Colonial Park Cemetery is one of the tour’s strongest locations. It dates to the 1750s and is associated with colonial hangings, mass graves, yellow fever, and the Man in Blue apparition.

The cemetery also enters the story through root doctors, a term used in the supplied tour material for practitioners of folk healing and spiritual traditions. That gives the stop a distinctly Savannah character. You are hearing about death, disease, ritual, and local belief in one place.

The cemetery stop lasts about 10 minutes and admission is free. The guide ends the tour near here, so this is both a major story location and a useful orientation point. If you need to return to the starting area, save the Pulaski Monument or Monterey Square on your phone before the tour begins.

Juliette Gordon Low’s home

The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum is presented as one of Savannah’s most documented haunted homes. Accounts connected to the Gordon family home reportedly reach back more than a century, with stories tied both to the household and to the organization associated with Low.

This stop works well for anyone who likes hauntings linked to families and institutions rather than only violent incidents. It also broadens the tour’s subject matter. You are not limited to jails and graveyards, since the route includes a prominent home with a long public life.

The visit lasts roughly 10 minutes. The museum itself is not included as an admission stop, so treat the building as a setting for the guide’s account rather than as an indoor tour.

Hamilton-Turner House and a darker side of luxury

The Hamilton-Turner House was Savannah’s first electrified home and is now one of the city’s well-known inns. Its stories include major poltergeist activity, an unsolved murder, and connections to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

This is a useful stop if you want to see how wealth and elegance can coexist with unsettling stories. The house’s beauty is part of the effect. A grand residence with electricity, status, and literary associations feels far removed from the jail, yet the tour places both within the same night walk.

The stop lasts about 10 minutes. Again, you should not assume indoor entry. The guide’s storytelling is the central experience, and Janine’s humor and delivery have been singled out as major strengths when she leads.

Kehoe House and the uneasy honeymoon

Kehoe House began as a funeral home and later became a high-class inn. The tour includes stories of honeymoon stays turning frightful and of omens attached to the property.

This stop gives the walk a lighter but still unsettling change of tone. The idea of a romantic stay taking an ominous turn is familiar ghost-tour territory, but the former funeral-home use gives it a concrete historical hook.

You spend about 10 minutes here. If you are staying in Savannah, this part of the route may make you look twice at the city’s historic inns. If you are sensitive to stories about death in lodging places, keep in mind that the tour includes several such themes.

Davenport House and the shape-shifting cat

The Davenport House Museum brings yellow fever victims, rootwork, and a legendary shape-shifting cat into the evening. It is a short stop, about five minutes, but the cat story adds a welcome change from the tour’s more serious accounts.

The building is also a reminder that disease shaped Savannah’s supernatural traditions. Yellow fever appears at several points on the route, linking personal tragedy to wider outbreaks that affected homes and neighborhoods.

You will view the property as part of the walking route. Admission is not presented as part of the tour, so do not plan on a museum visit unless you arrange that separately.

Old Sorrel Weed House and the investigation angle

The Old Sorrel Weed House is among the most significant paranormal locations on the route. It dates to the 1830s and was filmed by the company founder for the first episode of Ghosthunters made outside that program’s home state. The property has also received extensive investigation.

This stop may appeal most to people who follow televised ghost investigations. It offers a direct connection between Savannah’s local stories and a wider paranormal media culture.

The tour allows about 10 minutes here, but admission is not included. That distinction matters. You will hear about the house and see it on the route, but this booking does not automatically provide an interior tour. If walking past it leaves you wanting more, you would need to arrange a separate visit.

Wright Square and Savannah’s buried past

Wright Square is tied to the idea of Savannah as a city built over its dead. About 300 burials are estimated to remain beneath the square, and in colonial times the area marked the edge of town. The city jail and hanging gallows once overlooked the early burial ground.

The square also brings in Alice Riley, an Irish sorceress who was imprisoned and executed. Early accounts connect her spirit to homes and businesses around the square.

This is one of the route’s best historical stops because it explains the city’s layout as well as its folklore. The square was the fourth of the 24 planned squares that eventually shaped Savannah. You get a sense of urban planning, punishment, burial customs, and ghost lore in one place.

About 10 minutes are allotted here. As with several later stops, admission is not included, though the main experience remains outside.

The 1790 Inn and the final stories

The 1790 Inn was named for the year associated with its early history, then burned in the great fire of 1820. The tour tells of Anna White, who ended her life there during a controlling marriage.

Later owners reportedly dealt with continuing paranormal activity, and the property was investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, the demonologist couple associated with the Amityville case. The inn also keeps a guest register containing accounts from people who left during the night.

This is a strong closing setting because it combines fire, domestic tragedy, famous investigators, and modern lodging stories. The tour gives you about 10 minutes here before ending near Colonial Park Cemetery.

The ending point is practical. It is never more than about 15 minutes on foot from the start, but it is not necessarily the exact starting point. Save both locations before setting out.

What the group size and pace mean for you

The maximum group size is 16, and that is one of the tour’s best practical features. A smaller group makes it easier to hear the guide and ask a question. It also keeps the walk more personal, especially when the guide is a strong storyteller.

Janine has received especially warm praise for being funny, engaging, and well informed about the material. One particularly small outing had only four people, creating an almost private-tour feel. Group size can vary, but the stated limit keeps this from becoming a huge procession through downtown.

The route covers a lot of ground. One person found the amount of walking tiring and felt the evening was mostly talking from outside buildings. That is a fair warning. You need a moderate level of physical fitness, and the tour is not recommended if you have walking concerns.

Wear comfortable shoes. Bring bottled water because it is not supplied. Bathrooms are not included, so use one before meeting the guide.

Who should book Doctor Buzzard’s tour

I would choose this tour if you want Savannah’s ghost stories tied to actual places and local history. It suits people who enjoy cemeteries, old homes, tragic biographies, folklore, and the question of how a city’s past becomes a supernatural legend.

It is also a good fit if you prefer a small group and a guide-led walk over a theatrical attraction. The included documentary is a useful extra for anyone who wants to continue the subject after the evening ends.

I would hesitate if your main goal is to enter haunted buildings. Most stops are outside, and the Old Sorrel Weed House admission is not included. I would also think twice if you dislike long walks, heavy subjects such as suicide and execution, or ghost stories delivered in cold or wet weather.

Book at least a few weeks ahead if your schedule is fixed. The experience averages booking about 24 days in advance, which suggests that popular dates can fill. Free cancellation is available up to 24 hours before the start time. Poor weather or failure to meet the minimum group size can lead to a new date or a full refund.

Should you book it?

Book Doctor Buzzard’s Goodtime Ghost Tour if you want a compact, small-group introduction to Savannah’s haunted places, especially with a guide such as Janine at the helm. The best parts are the Old City Jail, Colonial Park Cemetery, Wright Square, and the stories tied to buried ground and documented local tragedies.

Skip it if you expect a haunted-house attraction with indoor access, special effects, or a paranormal investigation. At $33.33, the value is in the route, the guide, and the storytelling. For the right audience, that is plenty. For everyone else, the amount of walking and outdoor listening may feel like too much.

FAQ

How long is Doctor Buzzard’s Goodtime Ghost Tour?

The tour lasts approximately two hours.

How much does the tour cost?

The listed price is $33.33 per person.

Where does the tour begin?

The meeting point is the Casimir Pulaski Monument at 4 West Taylor Street in Savannah.

Where does the tour end?

The guide ends near Colonial Park Cemetery at 200 Abercorn Street. The ending point is never more than about 15 minutes walking from the starting area.

Is admission to the historic buildings included?

Most stops are presented from outside. Admission to the Old Sorrel Weed House is not included, and the listed information also marks Wright Square and the 1790 Inn with admission not included.

Is the tour suitable for someone with walking concerns?

No. A moderate level of physical fitness is required, and the tour is not recommended for anyone with walking concerns.

How large is the group?

The experience has a maximum of 16 people.

Is the tour offered in English?

Yes. The tour is offered in English and uses a mobile ticket.

What happens if the weather is bad or the tour is canceled?

If poor weather causes cancellation, you can choose a different date or receive a full refund. If the minimum number of people is not reached, you are offered a different date or experience, or a full refund.