Ghost Cities · The Research Desk
Haunted Georgia: Savannah First, Then the Ghost Towns
We lead walking tours in Arizona. We research haunted history everywhere. Field notes and honest picks for Georgia, from the same team that leads our tours in Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott.
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The city we cover in Georgia
Savannah
Savannah is often called America's most haunted city, and it earns the conversation. The squares were laid out over more than one early graveyard, the antebellum houses kept their stories, and the moss-draped oaks handle the atmosphere for free. Our Savannah guide sorts the hearse tours, pub crawls and cemetery walks by what guests actually rate best.
Georgia's gold rush ghost towns
Here is a piece of Georgia history that surprises people: the state had a gold rush before California did. Gold turned up in the north Georgia hills in the late 1820s and boom towns followed. Auraria, dating to 1828, filled with prospectors and then emptied as the rush faded through the 1840s; by 1855 it was a ghost town in the truest sense, its post office standing empty.
Other towns fell to other forces. Ebenezer, settled in 1734 by Salzburger immigrants, thrived for generations before fading in the late 1800s. Scull Shoals, a paper-mill town on the Oconee River, was undone in part by the same river that powered it, with flooding hastening its decline by the 1920s. White Sulphur Springs, a resort built on its healing springs in the 1840s, lost its clientele to a fire and the advance of modern medicine. The ruins and markers are still out there for travelers who like their history without a queue.
Questions people ask
What is the most haunted city in Georgia?
Savannah, by nearly every account, and it is not close. The city has leaned into the title for decades, which means more tours, more research and more competition among operators, all of it good news for visitors who choose carefully.
Is Savannah worth visiting for ghost tours?
Yes. It may be the single best ghost tour city in the South: compact, walkable, photogenic and stocked with documented history. The hard part is choosing among dozens of operators, which is what our Savannah picks are for.
When should you go?
Savannah walks run year-round in the evening. Spring and fall bring the best walking weather, summer is humid but atmospheric, and October fills fastest, so reserve ahead for Halloween season.
Keep planning with the rest of our haunted city guides, or come see how we do it ourselves on our Arizona walks in Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott.
The One State Where We Hold the Lantern
Coming to Arizona? Walk with us.
Everywhere else, we write the guide. In Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott we lead the tour, nightly, in person, with five generations of Arizona roots behind every story.