Legends 15: Bonaventure Cemetery (ad-free) (Patreon)

Legends 15: Bonaventure Cemetery

Like all cemeteries, Savannah’s Bonaventure is the resting place to many people. But as time has proven, it’s also home to some dark legends.

Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Harry Marks and research by Cassandra de Alba.

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Further Reading

1. Allen, Chris. “Bonaventure Cemetery And It’s [sic] Amazing Stories.” Haunted Savannah. June 8, 2016. https://hauntedsavannahtours.com/amazing-stories-bonaventure-cemetery
2. Beine, Joe. “PX Monogram.” Cemeteries and Cemetery Symbols. September 5, 2006. https://cemeteries.wordpress.com/2006/09/05/px-monogram
3. Berendt, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story (Random House, 1994).
4. “Bonaventure Cemetery.” Gallivanter Tours. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://gallivantertours.com/savannah/historic-cemeteries/bonaventure-cemetery
5. Brittan, Belle. “Letter from Belle Brittan.” Daily Picayune. March 17, 1858. https://www.newspapers.com/image/25801432
6. Cheales, Alan Benjamin. Epigrams & Epigraphs, by the Author of Proverbial Folk-lore (Simkin, Marshall & Co., 1877).
7. “Colonial Park Cemetery.” City of Savannah. Accessed February 4, 2023. https://www.savannahga.gov/879/Colonial-Park-Cemetery
8. “Corinne Elliott Lawton.” Find a Grave. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5740305/corinne-elliott-lawton
9. Cothran, James R. & Erica Danylchak. Grave Landscapes: The Nineteenth-Century Rural Cemetery Movement (University of South Carolina Press, 2018).
10. “Dueling in Savannah.” Cobblestone Tours. June 6, 2016. https://www.ghostsavannah.com/2016/06/dueling-in-savannah
11. “Easter Dates from 1600 to 2099.” United States Census Bureau. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.census.gov/data/software/x13as/genhol/easter-dates.html
12. Edenfield, Enocha. “Boo Business: Little Gracie Watson is a small figure with a big story in Bonaventure Cemetery.” Savannah Now. April 25, 2022. https://www.savannahnow.com/story/entertainment/2022/04/25/bonaventure-cemetery-savannah-ga-little-gracie-watson-grave-statue/9516302002
13. “The Ghost of Gracie Watson.” Nightly Spirits. March 17, 2020. https://nightlyspirits.com/the-ghost-of-gracie-watson
14. Goldsmith, Oliver. “The Deserted Village.” Poetry Foundation. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44292/the-deserted-village
15. “Gracie Perry Watson.” Find a Grave. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5743256/gracie-watson
16. “Grave of Corinne Elliott Lawton.” Atlas Obscura. March 21, 2013. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-corinne-elliot-lawton
17. “Grave of Gracie Watson.” Atlas Obscura. May 8, 2020. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-gracie-watson
18. Grey, Orrin. “Ghosts in the Graveyard: The Haunted History of Savannah’s Colonial Park Cemetery.” The Lineup. September 2, 2016. https://the-line-up.com/colonial-park-cemetery
19. Hallberg, Mary. “The strange history of Bonaventure Cemetery.” Mary Hallberg. November 27, 2019. https://www.maryhallbergmedia.com/post/2019/11/27/the-strange-history-of-bonaventure-cemetery
20. Hancock, Daniel. “Bonaventure: From Plantation to Monument.” January 18, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoIJY39rxlo
21. “The Haunted Colonial Park Cemetery in Savannah.” Nightly Spirits. April 29, 2020. https://nightlyspirits.com/the-haunted-colonial-park-cemetery-in-savannah
22. “Haunted History of Bonaventure Cemetery.” Ghosts & Gravestones. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.ghostsandgravestones.com/savannah/bonaventure-cemetery
23. “Jack Leigh.” Find a Grave. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15088115/jack-leigh
24. Jones, Melanie K. “Bird Girl: Savannah’s Famous Statue from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” Go South! Savannah. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://gosouthsavannah.com/history/film/bird-girl.html
25. Kiernan, Kat. “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: The Story of the Bird Girl.” Don’t Take Pictures. June 28, 2018. https://www.donttakepictures.com/dtp-blog/2018/6/28/midnight-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil-the-story-of-the-bird-girl
26. Lamkin, Virginia. “Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery.” Seeks Ghosts. July 24, 2015. https://seeksghosts.blogspot.com/2015/07/savannahs-bonaventure-cemetery.html
27. Leroux, Charles. “Born in Chicago.” Chicago Tribune. August 25, 1999. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-08-25-9908250060-story.html
28. “Little Grace Watson’s Death.” Savannah Morning News. April 23, 1889. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5743256/gracie-perry-watson/photo
29. “Little Gracie, Bonaventure's most visitied [sic] Gravesite.” Gallivanter Tours. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://gallivantertours.com/savannah/historic-cemeteries/bonaventure-cemetery/little-gracie
30. “Lorraine Ethel Ganz.” Shalom Memorial. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.shalommemorial.org/in-memorial/2022/II%20Makhpela/Lorraine_Ganz
31. Maltenfort, Lee. “Little Gracie Watson.” Bonaventure Historical Society. April 12, 2016. https://www.bonaventurehistorical.org/little-gracie-watson
32. “The Most Haunted Cemeteries in Savannah.” Ghosts & Gravestones. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.ghostsandgravestones.com/savannah/haunted-cemeteries
33. Muir, John. A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (Houghton Mifflin, 1916).
34. “Pulaski House menu and unidentified letter.” Georgia Historical Society. Accessed February 2, 2023. http://ghs.galileo.usg.edu/ghs/view?docId=ead/MS%201723-ead.xml
35. Randolph, Eleanor. “With ‘Midnight,” garden becomes even more evil.” Tallahassee Democrat. January 24, 1997. https://www.newspapers.com/image/247314574
36. Rawls, Ruth. “Sarah Alexander Cunningham Helps Me Solve A Mystery.” Ruthrawl’s Blog. June 28, 2013. https://ruthrawls.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/sarah-alexander-cunningham-helps-me-solve-a-mystery
37. “Rene Rondolier in Savannah.” Cobblestone Tours. February 14, 2017. https://www.ghostsavannah.com/2017/02/rene-rondolier-in-savannah
38. Rubin, Anne Sarah. Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory (University of North Carolina Press, 2014).
39. Rubio, J’aime. Stories Of The Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered (CreateSpace, 2016).
40. Stollznow, Karen. “The Haunted (Pseudo) History of Bonaventure Cemetery.” Skeptical Inquirer. August 3, 2009. https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-haunted-pseudo-history-of-bonaventure-cemetery
41. “To Get The Old Cemetery.” The Morning News. April 11, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/image/852574242
42. Wilson, Amie Marie & Mandi Dale Johnson. Historic Bonaventure Cemetery (Arcadia Publishing, 1998).
43. Woods, Mark. “The 150th anniversary of John Muir's Florida-Georgia experience.” Florida Times-Union. October 26, 2017. https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/columns/mike-clark/2017/10/26/mark-woods-150th-anniversary-john-muir-s-florida-georgia-experience/15381103007
44. Zepke, Terrance. Ghosts of Savannah (Pineapple Press, 2016).