The Haunted Wright Square in Savannah, GA
Savannah, GA, is known for the overwhelming number of hauntings, legends, and lore that dot its many squares. But none are more famous than Wright Square, one of four squares that gave birth to the Hostess City Of The South. Haunted by the spirits of murderers and peacemakers alike, it is a bounty of supernatural activity waiting to be revealed. Take a Savannah Terrors ghost tour with US Ghost Adventures for a real-life look into the hauntings of Wright Square.
Who Haunts Wright Square in Savannah, GA?
Wright Square is the most haunted square in Savannah and home to the curious case of Alice Riley. She forever haunts the gallows where her life ended, searching for the soul of her newborn child. The voice of Tomo-Chi-Chi, a revered colonial Native American chief, is also heard and seen near a monument dedicated to his former grave. Many other spirits mingle in the shadow of the live oaks that line Wright Square.
History of Wright Square
Wright Square, one of the first constructed of Savannah’s twenty-four famous squares, was laid out in 1733 when the city of Savannah was formed. It was originally named Perceval Square after the man who gave Georgia its name, Viscount John Perceval. Perceval’s position in the British House of Commons was instrumental in securing funding for the colony of Georgia through a series of trustees that acted as a corporation.
He worked diligently with James Oglethorpe to establish a “charity colony” in the New World. This colony was the brainchild of Oglethorpe, a former military officer and known champion of the poor, debt-ridden, and oppressed of London. His idea was to establish a colony where all men could be free and work for themselves. This new colony would also act as a buffer between enemy colonies of Spanish Florida, French Louisiana, and the English colony of South Carolina.
On February 1st, 1733, Oglethorpe and 114 settlers arrived in what is today Savannah. Naming the new colony after King George II, he established a charter that allowed freedom of religion, welcomed one of the first Jewish settlements in the English colonies, and banned slavery. Wright Square was established during this relatively peaceful and harmonious time.
While Oglethorpe attempted to make peace with various Native American tribes, settlers from South Carolina began moving into the new colony. They had new demands, calling for the enactment of slavery and larger plots of land. Legal issues came into the headlights as the colony began to call for separation from the British corporation that created them.
Georgia officially became a royal colony in 1753, and a courthouse was built in Wright Square. It replaced a one-room building, originally used as a courthouse when the square was built, where gruesome hangings once took place.
Executions In Wright Square
Wright Square is considered one of the most haunted squares in Savannah. The epicenter of its paranormal activity tends to be near the old courthouse, and for good reasons. One of Savannah’s more infamous murders ended with its perpetrators meeting their ends in Wright Square.
Richard White and Alice Riley were poor Irish immigrants who had come to Savannah starving and desperate in service to a man named William Wise. Wish was a lecherous and vile character who paraded out of town with a prostitute he claimed was his daughter. Oglethorpe despised him and sent him across the river to Hutchinson Island, where he wretchedly mistreated White and Riley.
No longer able to tolerate their poor treatment, the two strangled him with a neckerchief and drowned the old man in a bucket of water on March 1st, 1734. It was the first murder in the new colony of Savannah.
They were arrested soon after the discovery of Wise’s body, and their trial was held on May 11th, 1734. White managed to escape prison but was caught and subsequently executed at the gallows in Wright Square. Alice Riley staved off her hanging because she was pregnant. It was not a pardon for her but for her unborn child.
Her son, James, was born on January 19, 1735. She was hanged hours after giving birth but went to the gallows insisting upon her innocence. Sadly, James died two weeks later. Both are buried together on a plot of land near the Square. Legend says she lived for three days while dangling from the rope around her neck and that her body mysteriously disappeared afterward. Her last words were a curse upon the town. Spanish moss in the area now refuses to grow at the site of her death.
The Ghost of Alice Riley
One foggy winter night in 1996, Rebecca Aalsburg, a local bank teller, had just finished up a particularly late night when she found herself below the usually tranquil trees of Wright Square. Rebecca felt a sense of unease as she heard a voice suddenly call for help.
A gaunt, redheaded woman stumbled through the fog towards her. She was clearly in great distress, tears streaming down her incredibly pale cheeks. Rebecca was left dumbfounded as the woman begged for help and explained that her baby was lost. Finally coming to her senses, Rebecca moved to help search, but not before noticing several deep and purple bruises all along the woman’s throat. She insisted that she would help find the child, but after a look over her shoulder, she discovered that the woman was gone.
Concerned, she called the police. The nearest city police cruiser came by, but it was quickly apparent that they had not come to help in the search. The officer explained the story of Alice Riley’s ghost to Rebecca and how they would receive at least one call every week from someone enlisted to help find the child.
Chief Tomo-Chi-Chi’s Monument
In its early days, Wright Square had a monument to the Native American leader Tomo-Chi-Chi. A chief of the Yamacraw tribe, Tomo-Chi-Chi was a great friend to the people of Savannah. After much debate, he allowed Oglethorpe and his settlers to form Savannah. He also acted as an ambassador to other native tribes, helping Georgia maintain the healthiest relationship with the Native people in the colonies. Oglethorpe, Tomo-Chi-Chi, and King George II devised the Articles of Friendship and Commerce, which allowed for continued peaceful British settlement in the area. In 1736, the first Native school opened thanks to Tomo-ChiChi’s efforts.
Upon Chief Tomochichi’s death in 1739, Oglethorpe ensured that Tomochichi was buried with great respect in a place of honor at the center of Wright Square. His grave was marked with a pyramid of stones built by the colonists and remained undisturbed for over a century.
However, in 1883, the Central of Georgia Railroad created a monument to its founder, William G. Gordon, destroying the grave and, as legend has it, scattering Tomo-Chi-Chi’s bones. His tomb was a mere pile of rocks by this time, but they were paid no mind. Gordon’s granddaughter, Nellie Gordon, was outraged by the obscene desecration and paid for a new monument to Tomo-Chi-Chi in 1899.
Nellie Gordon and the philanthropic Colonial Dames ordered an immense boulder of Granite from the Stone Mountain Company. Thanks to their “extremely worthy cause” and through the benefit of Gordon’s grandfather building the railroads, they were only charged $1 for it all.
Hauntings of Wright Square
Tomo-Chi-Chi’s people, the Yamacraws, believed that spiritual energy resides closest to the bones of the deceased. Savannah is all too familiar with this belief. The city was built upon thousands of graves and is considered one of the most haunted places in the United States.
While no one knows precisely when Tomo-Chi-Chi’s tomb was dismantled or what exactly happened to his skeleton, it is evident that his soul has remained behind. Wright Square is bursting with paranormal activity.
It is said that if one circles the monument three times and asks, “Where is Tomochichi?” the ghost of the Yamacraw Chief will whisper in response, “Nowhere,” regarding the desecration and removal of his bones.
His spirit is joined by other lost souls of Savannah’s past. Paranormal investigations in Wright Square and its surrounding buildings have dredged anything from strange noises to disappearing cutlery.
Many have seen the apparition of a man and woman dressed in period clothing. They appear to be extras in a period piece, but once glanced upon twice, they disappear. Some think they may be Alice Riley and Richard White.
Haunted Savannah
One can only hope that Alice Riley finds her lost child and is at peace in her grave. Until then, be wary of redheads calling for help in the night and listen closely for the words of Tomochichi around his monument in Wright Square.
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Sources:
www.savannahnow.com/accent/2014-10-30/murder-lies-ghost-savannahs-wright-square
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp01441/john-perceval-1st-earl-of-egmont
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squares_of_Savannah,_Georgia#Wright_Square
www.officialsavannahguide.com/page/wright-square-savannah
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_gacoch_chatham-county-courthouse
https://www.savannahlodging.com/savannahs-historical-squares-wright-square/
https://oglethorpe.edu/about/history-traditions/james-edward-oglethorpe/
https://savannahdreamvacations.com/tomochichi-grave-savannah-memorial/
