17Hundred90 Inn — High Mountains Drifter

The 17Hundred90 Inn

There are many places one could list in terms of paranormally active cities and towns. One could mention: St. Augustine, Portland, New Orleans or even Alton, Illinois and not be wrong. However, I’m putting my money on one of the oldest cities in the United States. It is a coastal town with a history of pirates, Civil War dabbling’s, yellow fever and segregation. These days, people flock here for its food, vibrant night life and ghosts. I’m talking about of course, Savannah, Georgia.

Savannah was founded in 1733 and is among the oldest cities in the United States. Georgia was the last colony to be founded and is named after King George II back in England. Because of its southern location, the colony functioned more as a buffer to the Carolina’s to the north from the invading Spanish located in [present day] Florida.

Being the first city to be planned in this newly-founded colony, Savannah escaped most of the turmoil and warfare that typically comes with a new cities creation. The city (and colony’s) founder, James Oglethorpe had the foresight and temerity to broker peace deals with the native Yamacraw ensuring a peaceful existence; and it worked. Savannah would go on to become the first ‘planned’ city in the America’s and for a time, rum, lawyers and slavery were forbidden. People were even allowed to practice whatever religion they wanted. For the early 1700’s, this was unusual and progressive.

I surprised Regina with an impromptu, three-day trip to this Hostess City of the South, location for a couple of well-known movies such as: Forrest Gump and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Fortunately, she knew nothing about Savannah. This was my second trip here. Even after my first brief trip a couple years ago (I was an OTR truck driver for a brief spell), I fell in love with the town…and she did too.

I booked the trip early enough that I was able to secure the most paranormally active room at the old 17Hundred90 Inn located in the Historic District.

The restaurant and Inn are housed in what were originally three separate residences. The western part of the building was built as a duplex between 1821 and 1823 by Steel White; the smaller eastern section was built by the Powers family in 1888. The ground level with its slate floor and soft brick walls are thought to date from a previous structure possibly destroyed in the great Savannah fire of 1820. Original wood shingles are visible in the attic and wooden pegs and wedges holding beams in place can be found throughout the building. It is Savannah’s oldest Inn even predating the square in which it sits.

The Inn has 14 rooms and the detached guest house, across the street has a number of overflow rooms as well. In fact, the guest house was built in 1875 and most of the painting on the ceiling in the parlor, was hand-painted by a Norwegian who stayed thee and did the work in lieu of rent.

We stayed two days and two nights in room #204, also known as ‘Anna’s Room’. According to folklore, Anna Powers, a former resident of one of the three properties from the late 18th century, was a bride of an arranged marriage who fell in love with a sailor. She is said to have thrown herself to her death from a third-floor window onto the brick courtyard below, just as the sails of his ship left her sight. Some suggest that she was pushed from the window by her angry husband-to-be who had paid for her passage to Savannah. However, like all folktales, the truth lies permanently buried under years of history and embellishment.

Reports from Anna’s room range from cold spots, creaking floors, the covers and sheets on the bed being moved, sobbing and even light nudges. But nothing on record states that Anna is malicious. Anna is a light and carefree spirit who simply likes to make her presence known.

A boy named Thaddeus is sometimes seen on the ground floor of the restaurant and tavern. Thaddeus leaves pennies lying on the tables and bar. He is a friendly spirit who is sometimes experienced as a warm presence. It’s not really known where Thaddeus comes from or his attachment to the building.

And lastly, another spirit which has been reported at the 17Hundred90 Inn over the years seems to reside in the kitchen. This spirit is more sinister in nature. This spirit isn't fond of women being in the kitchen. Pots & pans have been thrown, people have been pushed and touched, and pranks have been pulled on women who are working in the kitchen.

Staff believe this is the spirit of a servant who used to serve the family and lived in the house. The spirit in question was believed to be a practitioner of Voodoo. If this is true, does her belief in Voodoo help fuel the hauntings which are reported in the bar and kitchen area? Hard to say, but it certainly seems plausible.

Due to some epic winter driving from Ridgway to Denver on horrible roads and missing our flight because of weather delays, we arrived at the Savannah/Hilton Head Airport around 11:30 pm, a full 12 hours after we left Ridgway. The General Manager was amazing in that, he stayed until we arrived. In fact, while Regina was unpacking a few things, he and I talked out in the hallway about the local Civil War history. We thanked him for his amazing hospitality, freshened up and hit downtown for a couple hours to finally get something to eat that didn’t consist of bagged peanuts.

As we were exiting the room to leave, about to close & lock the door, I thought to activate a recorder and let it run while we were gone. I went back into the room, grabbed a small digital recorder and began speaking. As I was talking, conducting a short EVP session, I received a direct and very clear answer to my question before I set the device down and closed the door. Of course, we didn’t know it then. But upon evidence review the next morning, we were both shocked to our core.

Night One

We found a dive bar downtown and ordered simple bar food with a couple Yuengling’s. Due to distribution rights, we can’t get that beer out in Colorado. Unfortunately, because of the stress of the day, we made haste back to the room as we were both exhausted. Plus, I was excited to sleep in a known, haunted room.

Like I mentioned, the prior day was painfully long. Being forced to drive on winter roads and hours waiting in two airports really took a toll on us. When we got back to the room, sadly, we didn’t stay up investigating. I stopped the recorder from earlier, got out the bi-directional one (more sensitive) and set it on the TV across the room and let it run all night as we slept. I also put out a couple trigger objects: a small teddy bear that I moved from the hearth onto a small table next to the bathroom and I stood a K2 meter up on its end on the same table. I felt like this night was a wasted opportunity to investigate. But as it turned out, we did gather some great evidence, we just didn’t know it yet.

Sadly, the next morning, none of the objects we left out had moved. On the bi-directional recorder, there were many knocks, shuffling and random sounds. But considering the building dates back to 1790, I wrote these off as the building settling. However, some of the sounds we heard were just too…close. They didn’t sound like natural cracks of settling wood but more like things being messed with & shuffled around. If they were legit, I attributed them to residual sounds. Basically, we captured a mix of what I believe to be natural sounds and perhaps some suspicious ones. And then there was the issue of the EVP we caught.

Remember earlier when I said I took a very brief EVP session before setting the recorder down while we went out to eat? As I was holding the recorder out speaking, I said, “Thanks for letting us stay in your room tonight, Anna. We are going out to have something to eat. But when we come back, we would like to speak with you, alright?” Then I set the recorder down and we left. I’m sure you see where this is going. Well, that morning during evidence review, what we heard was this…. “Thanks for letting us stay in your room tonight, Anna. We are going out to have something to eat. But when we come back, we would like to speak with you, alright?” “-ALRIGHT!” The EVP was clear as day and said in a loud whisper as if it was literally right there in front of me. When Regina and I heard that, our eyes almost popped out of our heads. Regina was roughly five steps behind me waiting out in the hallway. We were NOT expecting anything even remotely like that. What a way to start the day off!

Throughout the second day, we explored Savannah. We visited non-paranormal locations like: Churchill’s (for brunch), walked the downtown and had a phenomenal dinner at a place called Alligator Soul. We also visited two other ‘haunted’ locations as well. We stopped by the Moon River Brewery located in the historic North District by the Savannah River and we spent a healthy amount of time at the famous Bonaventure Cemetery in the Avondale District.

The Ghost Adventures team (from The Travel Channel) had investigated the Moon River Brewery many years prior. And from watching that episode, I wanted to go there myself. The libations were average but the staff was friendly. Compared to the upstairs, the basement is definitely of a different vibe. It’s colder, stoic and the original stonework foundation of the building can be evidenced. From a historical perspective, it’s fascinating. The basement supposedly has activity. If they ever offered overnight tours and investigative sessions, I would be the first to sign up.

Bonaventure Cemetery, founded in 1846, was impressive and humbling. On a full moon, the place would be positively creepy, something out of a Romero movie. We do plan on going back to Savannah, and when we do, this will be a place we come back to investigate. We lingered here for perhaps several hours engaging in a self-guided tour. Large parts of the movie, ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ were filmed in this location.

After a full day of exploring Savannah by foot and by taxi, visiting locations both old and new, getting our drink on and eating some amazing food, we sauntered our way back to the Inn and prepped ourselves for basically the only night of investigating. When we got back to the room, one of Regina’s earrings was on the floor! She had set a pair down on the small table knowing Anna liked jewelry. We hoped something would happen. We took this as a good sign of things to come.

Night Two

We started off laying our equipment across the foot of the bed. In our arsenal, we brought a couple K2 meters, the [witching] wands, two digital recorders, an infrared camcorder and of course, our smartphones (for still pictures). It would have been nice to bring more equipment, but with checked baggage fees, I wasn’t keen on paying an extra $35-55. We settled for what we could fit into a carry-on.

Obviously, investigating a single room with a queen bed, things are going to be tight. We started off with the wands and K2 meters keeping quiet when one wasn’t asking questions or trying to engage. We canvassed the room, including the bathroom while paying close attention to the mantle and the bed itself. Activity in Anna’s Room tended to focus on these two areas (bed and the fireplace).

We took a brief break around 11:00 pm and read some of the entries in the room’s guestbook. Most of the entries explained a pleasant stay with oddly, very vivid and detailed dreams. This is something that we experienced for ourselves both nights. After reading enough of these accounts, we looked at each other and understood it wasn’t just us. Regina normally dreams a lot but can’t recall most of them. I on the other hand, rarely dream but when I do, they are extremely detailed and prolonged. Not paranormal per se, but definitely something to take into consideration.

About 11:45 pm, we picked up the small recorder and began an EVP session in conjunction with using the wands. We did this back-and-forth technique for perhaps 30 minutes. Afterwards, Regina set the wands down and we continued the EVP session for another 30 minutes in the dark. The only source of light being what filtered in through the window.

Around 1:00 am or so, we decided to turn in. Once again, I set a K2 meter up on its end on the small, glass-topped table. I also set the camcorder on the table facing the K2 meter and let it run. The other trinkets on the table were my keys, wallet and a small pocketful of coins. At first, having a thin plane of glass was irritating as it was loud. But then common sense took over and I understood, if anything was moved, we’d clearly hear it. I set the bidirectional recorder back’ on top of the TV and let it run all night. Then we settled in and fell into the black abyss of sleep.

We woke sometime shortly after 7:00 am. I hopped out of bed (the mattress was elevated) and sauntered into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Regina shortly thereafter, walked around the foot of the bed towards the bathroom. Not that up until this point, Regina needed to experience anything to convince her of the existence of a hereafter, but what happened next, I think eliminated all doubt.

As I was brushing my teeth, I started to hear, ”Kiefer. Kiefer. Kiefer!” I leaned out of the bathroom and somewhat irritatingly said, “What?” She was stopped next to the table not quite in between it and the bed. She was looking at me and looking down at the floor. I looked down and cocked my head to one side with a puzzled look. “Did you knock into…”

“No. I didn’t knock the table. It fu*king flipped off the table in front me!”

“What do you mean, flipped? It fell?”

“No. It actually lifted off the table and did like a somersault in the air and hit the floor.” I was looking at the K2 meter on the floor. When I got out of bed, everything was exactly as it had been the night before. The K2 meter was still standing up and I had my IR camera filming it all night until the batteries drained. The coins were still there and my keys, which I perched just right on my wallet so even the slightest nudge would send them spilling over on the glass hadn’t moved all night. But now, at 7:10 am in the morning, right in front of Regina, the K2 meter had flipped off the table, with some notable arc and landed on the carpet at her feet. If ‘Anna’ or whatever haunts this room was there, it seemed to like Regina. First it was her earrings, now this.

We walked in between the table and bed a few times, we stomped and jumped and still couldn’t get the K2 meter to fall over. My keys on the other hand, did shift onto the glass. We had it perched standing up for two nights and it never moved or fell over…until now.

The bidirectional recorder was again, full of odd noises including what sounded like a “Shhhhh.” But since it was also picking up noises from outside (cars going by and hoof noises from horses), I took the recording with a grain of salt.

All in all, not only was Savannah a great trip, but the 17Hundred90 Inn is in my opinion, haunted. There’s definitely something going on there. We will be back.

Second floor hallway at the 17Hundred90 Inn