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Another haunted family vacation story with Jennifer

Strange things wander this earth, but also there are places on this land where strange things appear to linger. For Jennifer and her children, these odd, dark entities and feelings seem to pop up both at home and on vacation. 

How would you react if your children knew things that couldn’t be explained? Or if you yourself could feel the shadows of past evils lurking in the corners? Would you explore further, or would you turn over and just go to sleep? Let’s hear some stories, today, on Homespun Haints

Sorrel Weed House

The Sorrel Weed House is one of the most haunted buildings in Savannah, Georgia. Becky and Jennifer took a tour of the Sorrel Weed House together, and both experienced some of the same strange feelings, independently. Becky

Earth deva, elemental, or selkie?

Jennifer describes the entity in her yard as: a walking spirit, who didn’t want to be seen, wearing an animal’s skin as a cloak, and hiding behind the veil. Not a furry. Not the ghost of a rich lady in a fur coat. Are the fae being ousted from their forested habitats due to suburban sprawl? This is a known issue in Iceland, where inland development is done cautiously to avoid angering elves.

Becky thinks the spirit in Jennifer’s yard is “of the earth,” which rang true to Jennifer. An earth deva, or elemental, perhaps. But Diana thinks it could be a selkie. Mainly because she wants it to be, and what does it hurt to consider?

What is a Selkie?

Selkies, from Celtic mythology, are humanoids who can shapeshift into a particular animal. Traditionally, selkies would take would the form of a seal. Actually, perhaps it’s more accurate to call them animals that can shed their pelts to take on a human form, because while a selkie may spend years in the sea, she can only retain the human form for a limited time before growing very wistful and homesick for her animal form. Maybe it’s just that much more fun to be a seal than a human. Probably. Yeah, being a seal sounds pretty sweet right about now.

Gaelic and Irish Folklore about selkies usually has a star-crossed lovers aspect to it. Either the selkie becomes a human to court a human, like in The Little Mermaid, or much more commonly a sneaky horny human steals a selkie’s pelt while she’s having some human time. Possessing the pelt gives the human a certain degree of power and control over the selkie. The nature of the control is somewhat unclear; maybe the selkie is just afraid to disobey the pelt-holder, for fear that he’ll destroy their pelt as retribution, which would mean they could never return to their animal form. Or, maybe the pelt conveys a supernatural power to whoever controls it. But nobody else can use the selkie’s pelt to transform, nor can the selkie replace her pelt with another should it be lost.

Aren’t selkies seals?

Yes, most selkies are seals. That we know of. Etymologically, the word selkie literally translates to the diminutive form of “seal.” But since they exist on the fae spectrum, which most of us never notice, surely there are more types we’ve yet to discover? Also, selkies are said to interbreed with humans. The children of such pairings bear fishy deformities that their selkie parent does not necessarily display while in human form. But nobody talks about the next generation. Maybe the offspring of demi-selkies (probably not a real term) could occasionally be born with pelts of some sort. Since the pelt is a supernatural item, it might adapt to the environment.

Yes, this is all wild speculation based on nothing. But we aren’t the first to do so. The show Disenchantment Part 2 features a selkie character named Ursula. The name is a triple entendre: not only is there a famous folk tale about “Ursilla” of Orkney, who had a selkie lover, but on this show, Ursula is an ursine “forest selkie,” so she takes a bear form.

If a fictional character can do it, why not the spirit in Jennifer’s yard? Who’s with me?

Haunted Lofts and Family Vacations

It’s not like Jennifer means to keep bringing her daughter to spooky haunted places. The house Jennifer rented in Sonoma County, California, had a creepy bedroom and a creepy attic loft. The many dolls aren’t helping. And here are the photos we promised of little Diana and the spooky Colorado loft she somehow blocked from her memory.

What do you think was going on with the the loft? Why were the kids so scared? Why can’t Diana remember the one she spent so much time in over childhood summers in Colorado? We think it’s cool that Jennifer is a sensitive person with a sensitive kid, whom she’s teaching to be cautious yet unafraid in the presence of the supernatural. Jennifer’s multiple haunted family travel stories make her one of the best friends a horror podcast host could dream of. Thank you for your tales, Jennifer, we hope you have a spooky day!

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Episode Promotions

Acid Queen Jewelry

We fell in love with Acid Queen Jewelry’s distinctive aesthetic, and we stayed fans when we learned every piece is lovingly designed and hand-made by artist Alex Camacho. Each piece draws inspiration from folklore, myth, astrology magic, and science fiction.

You can get your own Acid Queen Jewelry work of wearable art at acidqueenjewelry.com.

Moving Past Murder

Our podcast promotion this week comes from Moving Past Murder by Collier Landry.

Sideshow Oddities at Graveface Museum

Upon entering the museum, you immediately meet Clementine, the five-legged cow. She is real, and sits in front of her original backdrop.

Continue wandering through the room and you’ll encounter a creature labeled as a two-headed African tiger (also real, but we’re not sure it’s a tiger), a two-headed fawn, and a two-headed pig.

There are also other sideshow oddities that aren’t merely creatures formed in the womb when God wasn’t looking. The museum holds a Haitian Vodou zombie skull and several shrunken heads.

And then there are the gaffs—creatures made from parts of other things to look like they’re real. This FeeJee Mermaid is a perfect example. And, in our interview, Chloë talks about the man who is responsible for the bulk of the gaffs that appeared around the country in the 1940s and ’50s.

About Chloë Manon

Chloë may help run Graveface Museum, but she’s also a skilled artist and taxidermist. Check out her work on her Instagram!

We hope you had fun listening to this episode and perusing the fantastic images from Graveface. Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post That’s Not a Real Mermaid, Is It? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

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Episode Summary

Most paranormal experiences are pretty subjective. That is why we are sometimes hesitant to share them. Scared though we may be during a ghost encounter, it’s tempting to shrug it off afterwards. “It must have been a shadow,” we tell ourselves, “maybe that was just the wind.”

But what perhaps should be less subjective is the real history behind the ghost story. On today’s interview, we learned that there are many tall tales circulating around Savannah. How do we know which stories are real, and which are, as today’s guest calls them, “torture porn”?

Homespun Haints Merch to make your ghosts jealous!

If you’ve been sitting on the fence about ordering that cute Ouija board t-shirt, now’s the perfect time to pick a side before your butt starts hurting. Check out our merch and get something truly unusual!

About the Guest: Enocha Edenfield

When the 2020 pandemic hit, journalist Enocha suddenly found herself spending a lot more time on TikTok. She decided to share some of her favorite historically-accurate ghost stories from her “city that thinks it’s a small town”, Savannah, Georgia. As her following grew, people started asking her if she could give them a little tour.

Those little tours grew up to be Enocha Edenfield Tours LLC. Enocha uses her journalism superpowers to dig for the truth about Savannah’s haunted history. Her family-friendly, accessible ghost and history tours of the most haunted locations in Savannah ring with both passion and truth.

For more fun and accurate stories about the history and hauntings of Savannah, follow Enocha on TikTok @saltwavesspanishmoss, on IG @eenieedenfield. Enocha also writes a monthly column in the Savannah Morning News called Boo Business. You can probably guess what about.

Savannah’s True Ghost Stories

The Ghost of Alice Riley

Alice Riley worked for a creepy dude who forced her to bathe him. Whereas you would probably quit this gig pretty quick, this was 1735 and she was a 15-year-old indentured servant, so she had to oblige. When the creep was found dead in the bath and Alice and another servant nowhere in sight, the guilty verdict was swift. This, the first murder trial in Georgia, resulted in her alleged co-conspirator being hanged. But Alice revealed that she was pregnant. She spent the rest of her pregnancy in jail, only to become the first woman hanged in Georgia shortly after delivering her baby.

Now she haunts Savannah’s Wright Square, where once the gallows stood. She appears as a 16-or 17-year-old girl dressed in a simple white dress, and will ask unsuspecting tourists if they’ve seen her baby. It may take a few seconds interacting with her before onlookers start to notice the blood still soaking her skirt.

The Sorrel Weed House

We can’t talk about Savannah ghosts without bringing up the controversial stories surrounding one of the most haunted locations in Savannah, the Sorrel Weed House. While this place may be ridiculously haunted, the reasons why are different from its popular legends. Diana and Becky made a video after Becky went to visit the site in March, and Enocha goes into even more detail in this episode.

About a decade ago, archaeologists excavated a trash pit in Sorrel Weed’s basement and uncovered artifacts from the Siege of Savannah and from the enslaved people working in Sorrel Weed, painting a clearer picture of what life was really like for the servants in this mansion.

Ghost stories of the haunted Kehoe House in Savannah

Kehoe house ghost stories include multiple ghosts of children; twins who purportedly got stuck and died while hiding in the chimney. That is another story Enocha debunks on her historically-accurate private Savannah ghost walks.

The Siege of Savannah

Also known as the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, at least 1200 soldiers (and likely more) lost their lives in this incredibly haunted spot. Enocha made a YouTube video entitled The Ghosts of the Siege of Savannah explaining all about it.

Colonial Park Cemetery

In operation from 1750-1853, Colonial Park Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Savannah, and one of the haunted locations in Savannah you might visit on a tour with Enocha.

Ghost stories of the haunted Owens Thomas House in Savannah

This 18th century Savannah home boasts some ghosts. The classic grey lady who roams the garden at dusk may just be the spirit of Margaret Thomas, the house’s last resident. Employees swear that objects move about, and sometimes a ghostly man walks through a wall. Ask Enocha to tell you the full story on your private Savannah ghost tour.

Wait, does Haint Blue actually WORK at repelling insects and evil spirits?

We’ve talked about Haint Blue before. You know, the Gullah tradition of painting window frames, door frames, and porch ceilings blue to keep the haints out. Becky has said that realtors in the South will explain the very historic yet less-than-trendy color by saying that it repels wasps. All while knowing damn well that it doesn’t.

…Or does it?

No. The color blue isn’t a reliable way to repel wasps. Fun fact, some studies suggest colors like black and red do attract insects like bees and mosquitoes, while colors like green and purple are less visible to them and attract less attention, especially from the bitey ones.

And the story about Haint Blue confusing evil ghosts by mimicking water is just insulting. C’mon, these ghosts didn’t die yesterday. They know that’s paint. It’s on the ceiling, for Pete’s sake.

But Enocha clued us in to a power of the specific blue dye within the original Haint Blue paints. The people who popularized this color of house paint were actually those forced into the US through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. If you trace the color back to Western Africa, the color blue in Haint Blue paint was made from indigo.

Does indigo repel haints?

While we know indigo as the I in ROY G BIV and the blue in blue jeans, it’s more than just a color. Indigo is a tree with medicinal properties. It just so happens that one of the properties of the indigo plant is repelling mosquitoes. Aha! So the original indigo-colored Haint Blue paint may just have repelled insects after all!

African tradition also describes indigo as a color symbolic of protection. This makes perfect sense to us: repelling more mosquitoes equals reducing risk of malaria. Today, Southerners use Haint Blue paint to block evil haints from entering the home. A haint is the bad kind of spirit that makes you sick. Sounds like a disease-ridden mosquito to me. The wasps? Likely just a red herring.

We hope you enjoyed learning some of the real history behind the ghost stories of haunted Savannah!

Becky wishes she’d found Enocha while she was in Savannah earlier this year. She laments that, after taking a ghost tour of the haunted Sorrel Weed House, she read some historical accounts that contradicted some of the popular legends. Someday, the Homespun Haints team is going back to Savannah to have Enocha tell us the truth behind the scariest Savannah ghost stories. In the mean time, if you’ve taken a Savannah haunted ghost tour with Enocha Edenfield Tours, please drop a review or shout-out in the comments below.

Until next time, have a spooky day!

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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

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