Sorrel Weed House

The Sorrel Weed House is a historic landmark and museum located at 6 West Harris Street in Savannah, Georgia, and has a reputation for being one of the most haunted buildings in Savannah. Famous architect Charles Cluskey designed the home and built the imposing structure for Francis Sorrel, a wealthy shipping merchant of Savannah. The home takes up 16,000 square feet, and to this day is still one of the largest houses in the city. In 1954, the state of Georgia made it a State Landmark.

Tragic Women of the Sorrel Weed House

The most common stories center around Francis Sorrel’s wife Matilda. According to legend, the tragedies began when Matilda discovered her husband having an affair with one of their maids, Molly. The heart-broken Matilda subsequently jumped to her death from the balcony. A few weeks later, Molly’s body was found hanging in her room, also an apparent suicide. Rumors began to circulate that Matilda’s ghost led Molly to commit suicide.

Both Becky and our podcast guest Enocha Edenfield have found evidence that the most commonly told stories about the Sorrel Weed house are not exactly what actually happened. For example, Matilda did likely commit suicide, but in the house next door. But that doesn’t mean the place doesn’t have plenty of spirits.

Ghosts of the Sorrel Weed House

Do the ghosts of Matilda and Molly really haunt the Sorrel Weed House? There are definitely some spooky things afoot within it’s walls.

In an article in Country Living titled “I Captured Something Disturbing on Camera at Savannah’s Sorrel Weed House” David Duran writes, “a series of photographs show the reflection of someone who wasn’t in the room with us suddenly appearing in the mirror.”

The home has a history of images capturing dark shadows and orbs. Investigators have also captured recordings of screams and creepy voices. A common occurrence is that people have a strange sensation of nausea and feeling choked in the basement. People who consider themselves “sensitive” or psychic have described feeling panicked in the house for no reason. Also, people’s cell phone and camera batteries drain by the end of the tour. Even though participants fully charged their devices ahead of time.

Others claim to hear the sounds of people talking in the living room. However, when someone approaches, the sounds abruptly stop. Even though no investigators have discovered the exact origins of these sounds, many believe they are the echoes of social events held in the home’s bygone years.

Is the Sorrel Weed House really haunted, and by whom?

When Becky visited, she didn’t get spooked…until she entered the basement. As in many of the houses in the region of the day, the basement would have been slave quarters. Enslaved people toiled in incredible misery in the dark, hot, foul basement for years, with no end in sight. Becky could feel empathetic echoes of the oppression and hopelessness that must have been felt by so many people in those rooms.

Becky also felt a presence behind her on the basement stairs. It was so powerful a feeling, that she turned around to usher that person into the room…only to realize she was the last in line. After Becky’s personal paranormal experiences in the house, she’s convinced that the house is indeed haunted. Perhaps by the famous upstairs dwellers. But certainly more so by the cellar dwellers, whose names history has forgotten.

Sorrel-Weed House Trivia:

• The opening scene of the 1994 film Forrest Gump was filmed from the rooftop of The Sorrel Weed House and is a popular tourist stop.
• The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) investigated the home during a Halloween Special episode of Ghost Hunters.
• HGTV’s If Walls Could Talk featured the home.
• The Ghost Adventures crew has investigated the home. 
• The Travel Channel featured the house on its show “The Most Terrifying Places in America”​
• USA Today listed the Sorrel–Weed House as a top 10 Halloween travel destination.
• Condé Nast wrote that Savannah is one of the eight best cities to visit at Halloween, citing the Sorrel–Weed House’s reputation for paranormal activity as “a great way to spend Halloween.”

Visit the Sorrel-Weed House

The Sorrel Weed House hosts History and Architecture Tours during the day, but we know you’re really interested in the evening Haunted Savannah Ghost Tours. There are actually two different ghost tours, tickets for which can be purchased in advance online. The nightly Ghost Hunters House & Walking Tours spend an hour exploring the house while a paranormal investigator explains the house’s history and shares the evidence of hauntings collected there by various ghost hunting teams. At the time of this writing, tickets are $20 per adult, $10 per child (12 and up only for tours starting at 9pm or later). As an add-on, the tour then continues for a second hour as a walking tour of other paranormal hotspots around Savannah. Including the house tour and the walking tour add on, tickets are $28 per adult, $12 per child.

The second tour, called The Ghosts of Sorrel Weed, is actually all about spooky ghost story telling! A professional storyteller details the tragic history of the house and the experiences witnessed there. The House hosts this 90 minute tour and storytelling experience only on select nights, beginning at 10pm. At the time of this writing, you can purchase tickets for this tour at $30 per person (ages 13 and up permitted).

Savannah Paranormal Investigation Tours

Idling in the audience not your thing? Sign up for the After Hours Paranormal Investigation, starting at 11:30 on select nights, where you’ll be experiencing and participating in a live ghost hunt. At the time of this writing, you can purchase tickets for $50 per person (only ages 18 and up allowed).

If you’re lucky, you can catch a longer version of the tour offered on certain evenings. These special activities feature even more paranormal investigation equipment (and occasional special guest investigators) for smaller groups of 12 people or less, at $125 per person.

Accessibility

One Trip Advisor reviewer states: “While not ADA accessible, the staff helped us navigate the house by having places to sit on the tour. They also let me look at the house beforehand to see if it was manageable. If [you] can do a few flights of stairs, it is, but if you cannot, you will only be able to peek in the property.”

Have you been to the Sorrel Weed House?

If you have had a paranormal experience or been on a tour at the Sorrel-Weed House, what did you think? Please leave a comment below, or submit your experiences so we can add them to this article!

www.sorrelweedhouse.com