The Bittersweet Ghosts of Savannah's Kehoe House
The Kehoe House is a personal favorite of this writer; from the gorgeous, soaring turrets to the stately, Victorian-style architecture, this home is truly a beauty. Despite its homely exterior, however; this house has quite a peculiar history. Before it was a luxury bed and breakfast, it was a funeral home for the grieving families of Savannah. The basement of the home, now filled with elegant suites and bedrooms, was used as the morgue for the funeral home.
The house was originally built as a family home for the Kehoes, a large family that amassed great wealth in the booming iron industry of the 1800s. Mrs. Kehoe was known as a loving mother, and was well respected in her community. Truly a matron of the masses, she made sure to make all whom she met feel welcome and safe. One day, Mrs. Kehoe had left her two youngest children at home while she ran some errands. These two little rascals were known to be hyper and full of life, always running around and playing games with each other. Their shouts of glee and bouncing laughter could be heard on every corner of the square.
When Mrs. Kehoe returned to an unusually quiet home, she was baffled. She called to her children, only to have the empty echo of her voice responding back to her. A bolt of panic laced through her heart, before a sly smile broke out across her face. Her impish children were known for their surprise games of hide and seek. She began to wander the house, calling out to her babies. She leapt around corners, yanked curtains back, only to be met with an empty silence that hung over the house like a Savannah storm cloud.
As she climbed the stairs of her large home, she began to hear the shouts and screams of her children from…somewhere. As she approached the fireplace in the second-floor sitting room, the children’s screams grew louder. Her hand flew up to her mouth as a sob escaped her throat, realizing where her precious children were hiding: they were stuck in the chimney. She tried for a few moments to get them out before realizing it was a hopeless endeavor on her own. She notified the lawmen, the firemen, and anyone who could possibly help her kids escape their tower of terror.
After hours of working to free her children with no luck, the family was forced to lay the issue to rest until the next day, when more help was available. It was no use. Her children would not survive the night. As the years passed, and the family home was sold to other hands, the children’s souls stayed in that home. Even as renovations were made to bring the bed and breakfast to life, the little footsteps of mischievous children and their joyous laughter still echoed through the home. Today, visitors report the same occurrences, and others that are much more peculiar. The scent of an older woman’s perfume has been said to randomly waft into rooms and down hallways, as if someone has just breezed past the hotel’s patrons. Some people even report a feeling of a gentle hand caressing their faces as they lay down in slumber at night. It truly makes you wonder- is it the benevolent Mrs. Kehoe, still using her gracious heart to comfort guests and visitors? Is she still inhabiting the home alongside her children, daring not to leave her babies alone once more?