Tag Archives: tradition

The 4 Nights of Halloween Savannah Exclusive Weekend

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It’s hard to say when exactly Halloween came to Savannah but yes, with one witch from Ireland arriving to Savannah ala shipwreck, certain pagan traditions with a tint and hint of Christianity formed around many holidays or rituals, Hallow’s Eve or Samhain was never far from the life experience of superstitious people. Savannahians certainly cleaned it up, but it remains fascinating to me that until the 1950s, they burned 50-foot bonfires in Johnson Square and Washington Square, an act that we can trace back to the 1840s in Savannah. Naturally, the pagan regalia of early got traded up for Ben Franklin 5 & 10 costumes with Hanna Barbera themes, but in the earliest hours, no question that this was an active solstice mid-term for scaring away demons from the crops so that there was a cornucopia to share. It’s exactly what “Shout at The Devil” really means!

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By the 1950s, the Savannah Fire Department would stand around the edges of our city squares where the fire festival was happening, and they would simultaneously spray down the facades of the buildings to keep them safe. When Trick O’Treating became the main game of suburbia and suburban sprawl took root while Savannah’s Historic District died off for a time, all of the above disappeared and few to none of the nouveau riche living here now, know anything about it. Some Savannhians who are still around from those days, and trust me, there aren’t too many, recollect those hours with a fondness that warms the heart. They also recall parents taking 40 or 50 at a time in costume, then parading them around Bonaventure Cemetery for some good-natured spooky times. They told the ghost stories of Little Gracie, many of which came from caretaker families who lived in the cemetery for years. That tradition also went by the way for one reason or the other. 

So we decided to remedy the missing link by adding something Halloween-ish but respectful to the old dame, Madame Bonaventure Cemetery, and several years ago began an exclusive event, now referred to as The 4 Nights of Halloween

The event offers people an exclusive exploration of Bonaventure Cemetery after dark as only host, Shannon Scott can provide, and as we’re such purists, we’re about the only event happening on actual Halloween Night which as readers know, is a Monday! Trust us when we say you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything to do that’s worth the ticket price on a Monday night in Savannah except this! And yes, the PREMIERE evening is Saturday October 29th which includes the 3 Hour After Dark Tour, a private dinner at Erica Davis Lowcountry where we’ve rented out the facility for the evening and music provided by the spooky, kooky but always rocking band, The Donna Savage Band! (See Video Below). The evening will have firepits, a FULL BAR, Shannon Scott’s “Morbid Museum” collection on display and then really incredible prizes that are beyond the pale! ALL OF THESE EVENTS HAVE LIMITED TICKETS! As you might guess, they sell out every year so we cannot stress enough, if any of these evenings strike your fancy – DO NOT DELAY! GO BIG FOR HALLOWEEN BY GOING BONAVENTURE! 
              WWW.4HALLOWEENNIGHTS.COM

Lambs of God In Cemeteries

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People often think my life just starts and ends with Bonaventure Cemetery or that I’m just another tour guide or tour company owner. This is hardly the case and a perception that is unfortunate at times. If you ever meet me in person you’ll see I have broad shoulders. Some of that comes from digging graves as a teenager. I’ve done the hard labor and the mental labor equally. All of which lives in my company spirit and how we do things. In the 1980s, while working in a Victorian Cemetery in high school, on a hot summer’s day, I was weedeating at the very edge of the cemetery overlooking a farmer’s field from a higher point where it dropped off a few feet down. Suddenly, the wire blade began kicking up tiny bones, some of them in medical bags, some of them far older. It turns out I’d uncovered a forgotten section where stillborn infants had been reposited. Over time, the erosion had washed that edge more into the farmer’s field bringing the bones closer to the surface. In the end I suppose I saved it by bringing it to the attention of those in charge, but it to this day, remains unmarked and cannot say whether its any more protected than it once was. The world is full of such cemetery sections. Its like a dark secret. Most are only known to certain elders of towns or authorities. And when they die, that knowledge tends to go with them I’ve found. Today its unusual to find a family with 4 children let alone 10, 12 or 16. Having such stock was once seen as the ultimate statement of a family’s richness vs what they simply “owned.” It certainly meant longevity but was also a practical matter. Mothers and fathers knew the deal and at times wondered about the loving faces smiling up at them, “Will we all be together by Christmas? or “Will we all know each other next Spring?” It was not a question of “if,” but rather “WHO” — would end up dying young. This theme has stayed with me as in many ways, children were the number one customers and drivers of the funeral industry in America’s 19th century. Its a bittersweet subject of course but inescapable in my work so I wanted to make this video as a devotion of a kind. It will be one of many. Hope you enjoy it.