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12 W. Oglethorpe
12 West Oglethorpe is said to be haunted, one
of many such edifices in the City of Savannah. This
once elegant house doesn’t look very inviting. The facade is somber and gloomy. The deserted
interior can be seen through grimy windows.
Abandoned for several years, the stately residence at 12 W. Oglethorpe was once
the home of a Dr. Brown who came to Savannah from England in the early 1800’s to
fight the many Yellow Fever epidemics that claimed the lives of thousands of Savannahians
each year. His hospital was located at the back of the home where he treated
hundreds of patients weekly, fighting an ever losing battle against the plague known
by such ominous names as Yellow Jack, and Black Vomit.
Dr. Brown saw the passing of thousands of patients, but what took the greatest toll
on his mind was the passing of his wife and small children who fell to Yellow Fever
in this house. So distraught was the doctor that he bricked himself up in a room
on the second floor where he subsequently starved to death.
An 1888 Sanborn Map shows a smaller, wood-frame building on this site which may
or may not have existed in the 1820s and later covered in brick in 1900 to become
the existing house. In the early-mid
1900s, the building transitioned to a civic use. 12 W. Oglethorpe became an Elks
Lodge, as evidenced by the BPOE (Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks) inscribed
in the sidewalk.
Guests on a ghost tour stopped at 12 W. Oglethorpe, and after the guests looked
around and returned to the hearse, one of the female guests reviewed her digital
camera and screamed. In the photo was the outline of a figure. The tour guide explains
it could not have been a hoax because he saw the picture immediately after it was
taken.
One visitor noticed the door lock was open and went into the house to snap pictures.
She said "while in the back of the house taking photos, I suddenly felt a sharp
pain in my stomach. When I moved away from the house the pain subsided." This has
been experienced by others also.
It is said that the windows downstairs are boarded up simply because glass will
not stay in them. This is not because of vandalism..witnesses have seen the glass
burst out from the inside out.
Tourists have taken photos of the entrance and peered through the windows to get
pictures of a man descending the stairs. Several orbs have been captured and the
interior of the home has severe “cold spots”.
12 W. Oglethorpe is definitely
one of Savannah's most interesting "haunted" houses,
but
In 2009 much of the building was extensively damaged by fire.
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