Ghosts Amongst the Graves: A Visit to Bonaventure Cemetery

Visit Savannah’s legendary Bonaventure Cemetery and take a chance to explore its haunted history – with stories of lost loves, war casualties, and ghosts among the graves!

Take a journey back in time and explore the secrets of Savannah’s mysterious Bonaventure Cemetery among the wild oak, marble statues and haunting beauty of the elaborate tombs. With stories of lost loves, war casualties, and allegedly haunted grounds, visitors can experience this eerie place and its rich history up close.

But of all the plants of these curious tree-gardens the most striking and characteristic is the so-called Long Moss. It drapes all the branches from top to bottom, hanging in long silvery-gray skeins, reaching a length of not less than eight or ten feet, and when slowly waving in the wind they produce a solemn funereal effect singularly impressive.
– Jon Muir “Camping in the Tombs,” from A Thousand Mile Walk

Introduction to Bonaventure Cemetery

Located in the marshy lowland of South Carolina, Bonaventure Cemetery was founded in 1845 and its nearly 300-acre grounds are home to a variety of interesting graves, monuments, and sculptures.

Read about more haunted cemeteries around the world: Here

It was built upon the former Bonaventure Plantation from the 1700s. When the land was converted to a cemetery it was formed as a traditional Victorian cemetery with curving paths and grassy areas and huge trees around. Perfect for a family picnic as the tradition was.

The Bonaventure Cemetery is said to be filled with ghostly spirits, tales of lost loves and tragedies, as well as legends about supernatural occurrences. Take a journey back in time and explore the secrets of this unique place up close – you never know what you might find hidden amongst the graves!

The Garden of Good and Evil

The cemetery has always been a scenic sight for the people in Savannah, but it became famous in 1994 when John Berendt wrote the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It is based on real life events in the 1980s of an antique dealer’s murder trial of a male prostitute.

The Bonaventure Cemetery was featured both in the novel as well as the statue Bird Girl being on the cover and became so iconic it became a stop on the tour buses.

Ancient Gravestones & Monumental Works of Art

While exploring the paths of Bonaventure Cemetery, you may come across some particularly interesting gravesites, including many monuments and sculptures that are centuries-old. Stroll past the tombs of fallen Civil War soldiers or take a moment to view the monumental sculptures created by contemporary sculptors. From angelic figures to intricate carvings of ships and flags, these grave markers can provide an insight into the lives and memories of those who have gone before us.

Long considered a haunted site, Bonaventure Cemetery holds some of the most popular legends among locals and visitors alike. Take the time to read through the plots, statues and carvings around the grounds. Here you’ll find stories of lost loves, war casualties, and mysterious figures said to wander throughout the cemetery in search of something eternally lost. Take caution when walking after dark—you may just catch a glimpse of something paranormal lurking amongst the graves!

Unsolved Mysteries & Paranormal Hauntings

A visit to Bonaventure Cemetery is certainly not complete without hearing a few of the legends and stories of hauntings that have occurred here. Many visitors believe that numerous ghosts, spirits, and other powerful entities wander these grounds on a regular basis.

Some of the ghosts that are supposed to wander among the graves are from those that were buried alive and there are rumors of being graves that had scratch marks inside of the caskets.

The Grave of Gracie

One of the more famous graves in the cemetery is the grave belonging to Gracie Watkins. She was only six years old when she died of pneumonia in 1889 and is said to haunt the Regions Bank on Johnson Square in Savannah city.

Her parents commissioned to make a sculpture of her in her favorite dress, a practice common in the Victorian era to those who could afford it. People to this day are still bringing her toys and flowers, wishing her to rest peacefully in the afterlife.

Best leave the presents left for her alone, because according to local lore, her statue will cry tears of blood if you steal anything.

Among the Tombs

It is said that some are simply lost souls looking for comfort in eternity while others may be seeking revenge from beyond death’s door. Who is what in the Bonaventure Cemetery is difficult to tell.

With stories of phantom carriage rides deep in the night and discordant voices calling from the shadows, spend an evening in Bonaventure to explore this graveyard’s paranormal possibilities.

I gazed awe-stricken as one new-arrived from another world. Bonaventure is called a graveyard, a town of the dead, but the few graves are powerless in such a depth of life. The rippling of living waters, the song of birds, the joyous confidence of flowers, the calm, undisturbable grandeur of the oaks, mark this place of graves as one of the Lord’s most favored abodes of life and light.”
– Jon Muir “Camping in the Tombs,” from A Thousand Mile Walk