Most Haunted Places in America: Bonaventure Cemetery

In order to start at the beginning of the history of Bonaventure Cemetery you have to go back to March of 1764. This is when Colonel John Mullryne, his wife Claudia and his daughter of South Carolina advised the Georgia Council they were coming to live in the Province. He named his home Bonaventure or “Good Fortune” and eventually it included 600 acres in all.

It was during the years 1776-1779 that the first people were believed buried at Bonaventure. It was here that the then Royal Governor evaded capture and fled. In late 1779 the Bonaventure plantation became a hospital for French troops who were trying to secure Savannah from British rule. Many of the French troops may lie buried at Bonaventure. Savannah was finally taken from British rule in 1782 and the Mullrynes were considered traitors and left Bonaventure.

In 1785 Josiah Tattnall, youngest grandson of the Mullrynes, bought the property and in 1802 his wife Harriet died and was buried next to her 6 children. Harriet is officially considered the first adult buried in Bonaventure Cemetery. The 600 acres was sold to Peter Wiltberger in 1846 and the following year he incorporated a 70 acre tract to the Evergreen Cemetery Company of Bonaventure for a public cemetery. The first burial at Evergreen not to be a transfer from another cemetery was Susan Wiltberger, Peter’s wife.

It was in July of 1907 that the City of Savannah bought Evergreen and it became Bonaventure Cemetery. In 1909, Savannah’s Jewish Congregation expanded Bonaventure by purchasing more land to its south. In 1994 the Bonaventure Historical Society was organized and in 2001 the cemetery was placed in the National Registry of Historic Places.

One of the people said to haunt the grounds of Bonaventure if Josiah Tattnall Jr. He was the owner of record that sold the property to Peter Wiltberger. Josiah was known for the great social events held at the plantation. The plantation house caught fire during one of these grand events and it is said that Josiah moved the party outside and it continued as the house burnt down. Visitors to the cemetery claim they can still hear parties going on and people having a good time.

I know that most people think humans when they think ghost but Bonaventure does have an interesting twist to this in their cemetery. It has been reports of people hearing dogs running through the cemetery. Not unusually but these dogs seem to be ghost dogs. Reports of intimidating growls and barking have been reported as well as some saying these ghost dogs have even chased them through the cemetery. No one however has ever reported seeing these dogs.

Then of course, there is little Gracie Watson. Though only 6 years old at the time of her death she was very well liked by many in Savannah and there is a life like statue of here at her grave site. Some of the paranormal activity here is people hearing a female crying, an overwhelming feeling of sadness around the grave site and some have even reported tears that fall from the statues eyes.

Bonaventure was not part of our scheduled investigations sites but we did go there for a visit during the day Saturday and two unusual experiences happen.

Ray Couch of Southern Ghosts was at the grave site of legendary songwriter, Johnny Mercer. He had three people with him and Angela and I were one row in front of him. He starting going over some of the songs and singing some softly that he knew when he saw a mist forming in a stream of sunlight out the corner of his eye. He called out to take pictures and we all did but it was disappeared as fast as it appeared.

The other was at the grave site of John F. Wheaton, Captain in the Confederate army. I took a picture of his grave site that included his wife. I zoomed in to get a picture of just his gravestone when my camera malfunctioned and battery light came on. In hopes of getting this one last shot, I turned the camera off and on and took the picture no problem. I turned the camera off again to preserve what little battery I had left. I walked away and that is when the incident above happened, I turned on the camera and not thinking took 2-3 shots. Then noticed the battery light off and went on to take almost 30 more pictures that day.

Could it been a camera malfunction? Possibly, I changed the batteries out when I got to the hotel so not sure how much longer they would have lasted. Can I tell you either of these experiences were paranormal, no but interesting timing for them to occur. We tried to go to the ruins still on the property but they were overgrown and we decided not to try and get to them.  We ended our day to get some rest for the upcoming Moon River investigation.  Bonventure Cemetery is a beautiful place and we spent a wonderful afternoon walking the grounds.

Related posts:

1. Greenwood Cemetery’s Paranormal Activity
2. The Union Cemetery Hauntings
3. West Middlebury Cemetery Hauntings
4. The Green Lady of Burlington Cemetery
5. Haunted Places: Marietta City Cemetery & Confederate Cemetery