31 Days of Spook – Colonial Park Cemetery

Hello ghouls and ghosts – Mom/dad vacation yearly in historic Savannah, Georgia, I thought today I would focus on a wonderful cemetery in Savannah. Mom/dad have been here often and walked among the graves and tombstones… and perhaps some living and unliving. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

The cemetery I’m focusing on today is the Colonial Park Cemetery. It was established in 1750 and has been restored. It is located at the corner of Abercorn and Oglethorpe Streets in Savannah, Georgia. What an amazing archway they have to enter into the cemetery. This cemetery is amazing – so mom/dad says – snorts. I wouldn’t know first hoove but mom/dad did give me a lot of information by phone last night.

There are over 10,000 people buried here; however, there are only around 1,000 grave markers. Many people were buried in mass graves, others have had their grave markers knocked over and/or destroyed. The cemetery was actually closed for new burials before the Civil War and there are no confederate soldiers buried; however, the war did leave a mark. Federal troops took over the cemetery grounds during their occupation in Savannah. Many of the graves were looted and desecrated. It’s said that a lot of the union soldiers changed the dates on many of the headstones. Some dates look like the persons died before they were even born! Can you imagine with a lot of this information why some people are not having their final rest in peace? I’m sure some are still looking for their grave markers wanting to be remembered. Others are perhaps upset over the desecration of their headstones. It makes you wonder really who is walking beside you that you can’t see while you are visiting.

This cemetery closes at dark and there’s a good reason. Savannah has many Voodoo practitioners still living in and around the area. Before the cemetery started closing at night, it wasn’t uncommon for early morning visitors to find remnants of Voodoo rituals from the night before. Sometimes the soil from the graves was used in rituals and sometimes graves were raided in order to obtain human bones.

And, we can’t forget the story of Rene Asche Rondolier. He’s one of the most famous ghosts of Colonial Park Cemetery. Rondolier was a disfigured orphan who was said to call Colonial Park Cemetery his home in the early 1800’s. He was accused of murdering two young girls and their bodies were found in the cemetery. Rondolier was dragged to a nearby swamp, lynched and left for dead. More dead bodies turned up in the cemetery in the days that followed. The people in the town were convinced it was Rondolier’s ghost. Some even say that the cemetery is Rondolier’s playground.

Shivers! If that’s not enough to make you jump at things that go bump in the night! I’ll leave this cemetery for mom/dad to explore.

I want to thank my new friend Deborah Petite at http://www.visit-historic-savannah.com for allowing me to use her pictures. If you get a chance, check them out – tell them Bacon sent you 🙂

Oh, and before I go. I want to share something I found on YouTube on the Colonial Park Cemetery. A family was actually on vacation and caught something on camera. Their video made it on the news and is kind of intriguing. Here is the news clip from what they caught. Do you believe? What do you think now?