A Haunting Experience (Savannah, GA)

I was recently in Savannah Georgia for work.  We rented the whole Kehoe House for our meeting/sleeping rooms.  The Kehoe house is rumored to be haunted, as much of the historic district of Savannah is said to be. 

The Kehoe House is a grand queen Anne style building that was a private house for William Kehoe, his wife and their 10 children and later became a funeral parlor, Joe Namath purchased it and then a bed and breakfast.  The Kehoe house is a four star B&B.  I am not sure what they use to base the star ratings on, but let me tell you what I thought of the place.

The house was old and grand.  The walls on the main floor are about 14 feet.  The wall colors and moldings fit the style of house.  The sleeping rooms were spacious.  Each bedroom has their own bathroom and some have a private or shared balcony.  The staircase was grand.  They have an elevator which you can access any of the floors.  They have a loft which we used as meeting space.

My room was the Caroline Finch room.  The room had a king size bed, chaise, and a separate place for the toilet/shower sink.  A chandelier hung from the ceiling, a fireplace (which was closed) and an older armorer.

You pick out your breakfast the day before with quite a selection foods.  The apple pecan pancakes were delicious.  But choices ranged from cereal, pancakes, french toast, eggs/omelet and of course you get two sides which included either sausage, bacon, grits (regular or cheese), yogurt, or fresh fruit.  Breakfast is served between 7:30am and 10am. At 4pm the house offers tea and dessert.  From 5-7pm the house puts out red and white wine, cheese, grapes, crackers and a spread and they keep the dessert which was usually some sort of cake.  This was perfect to meet up for a drink before heading out to dinner.  The bedroom turn down service also set out 2 cookies on your bed and had music on for when you came home.

All very wonderful things so far.  My one problem with the house was the dirtiness of it.  From afar it looks clean, but there was grime and dust.  I believe the hole in my ceiling in the bathroom for the sprinkler was covered in black mold.  I was sneezing like crazy in the three days I was there.  I wasn't sure if it was just me, but my clients felt the same way.  One complained to the concierge about the layer of dust on the light and nightstand.  One needed help opening the window to the balcony and there was a massive amount of dust/dirt there.  Sure, I understand dust...but as a 'hotel' type of establishment, the rooms/entry ways should be cleaned on a regular basis. A good cleaning.  The crevasses, the walls, the floors, the fixtures. 

So, lets talking about the hauntings.  It is rumored that two twin boys of William Kehoe died in a fireplace and stayed in the house to be near their mother after they died.  Some say that they here children running, others have claimed to have heard the kids asking to play with them.  Can you believe what others say? Do they really see/hear it or do they want to believe it?

One client of mine didn't know about the history.  She told us at breakfast that she was awoken in the middle of the night by a text message and her dream after that was very strange...she dreamt that these boys were playing in the house and walking through the walls. She said it was so strange it was so real and not dream like, but of course it was a dream.

That night, we went on a hearse tour that brought you past some of the 'haunted houses'. It was not scary by any means, just informative about the history and why it is 'haunted'.  The driver told us to summons the ghosts, to hopefully get pictures with them in it (or dots or whatever it is).  At one point I call out to them to show themselves and snap a few pictures. Of course I was doubtful it would work (none of my pictures showed anything abnormal).  That night we got back late and I hopped into bed. I woke at 3am and had a very difficult time sleeping.  My mind starts to wander, like it usually does and I think about the ghosts and the tour and then of course about the twins that haunt our B&B.  At 4am I started falling into a sleep in which I was asking the kids if they wanted to play cards and eat cookies.  At 4:05am all of a sudden I get the worse chills.  I start convulsing and shaking.  I felt so cold and my mouth felt a little paralyzed.  In my mind I told the kids that they had to go away - that I couldn't play, I needed sleep (b/c I had to meet my clients at 7:30) and that my tongue felt numb.  The shaking stopped. And then by 4:08 I was so hot.  It was strange.  I didn't sleep after that, I tried, but I couldn't.  I tried to make sense of what happened.  It couldn't have been ghosts. I believe but I don't.  Was it my mind that imagined that is what it would feel like if a ghost passes through you or near you? But if so, how would I have known?  Was my mind playing tricks on me?  Did I have a fever for 10 minutes? Did I have a seizure?  Needless to say I slept with the light on the next night.