Photograph by Matthew Odom
When Enocha Edenfield moved into her first apartment in Savannah several years ago, her neighbor warned her that the ghost haunting his unit sometimes visited hers.
“When his apartment was vacant, my cats would stop and stare at the doorway to our shared hallway as if somebody had walked through,” says Edenfield. “I started calling the ghost ‘Bob.’ So any time my cats would do that, I’d lean over and say, ‘Hey, Bob, how’s it going?’ Then I’d keep doing whatever I was doing.”
These days, Savannah’s ghosts play a much larger role in Edenfield’s life, as she’s the founder of Enocha Edenfield Tours.
Ghost stories have fascinated humans since the dawn of time, spawning entire movie genres and tourism industries. Savannah is widely considered to be one of America’s most haunted cities, due in part to its tangled history as a major hub in the domestic slave trade and as the site of several Revolutionary and Civil War battles. Accordingly, it has no shortage of ghost tours.
Edenfield originally arrived in 2010, moving from Florida to take a job as a broadcast news producer. “In Florida, you don’t get to see a lot of this history, because it’s either been knocked down by hurricanes or developers,” she says. “So driving through Savannah and getting to see all these beautiful historic buildings, I thought immediately, I have to move here.”
She worked that job until 2020, but when a new opportunity fell through due to the pandemic, Edenfield found herself stuck at home. Still enchanted by Savannah’s history, Edenfield turned to TikTok, where users were sharing ghost stories as a fun escape from the dreary lockdown summer.
“I thought, Well, I live in Savannah, and it’s one of the most haunted cities in the country,” she recalls. “Let’s make some silly little videos about Savannah’s weird history and ghost stories. I was doing it just for fun, but that kind of blew up.” When Savannah reopened for travel, visitors reached out to see if she offered tours. That’s when she realized this TikTok success could be something more.
With so many history tours available in Savannah, it was important to Edenfield that hers stand out, with a mix of charm and fact-based storytelling. “I’m a history nerd with a paranormal problem,” she says. “Not every ghost tour is dedicated like mine are to historic accuracy and to constantly studying and updating things as we discover new things.”
Fortunately, Edenfield has plenty of resources for researching Savannah history: “I spend a lot of time in the library,” she says. Her research trips often include the Georgia Historical Society and the City of Savannah’s municipal archives, which collects and preserves records.
Even though her tours are focused on the history, every once in a while, a ghost makes itself known—sometimes even converting the nonbelievers. One night on York Street, in front of shops built atop an old cemetery, a pillow on display fell over in slow motion. A skeptic on the tour was shocked.
“He started freaking out. I started freaking out with him, because I wasn’t prepared for that to happen out there,” she says. “Later, he and his wife went back to the store and talked to the owner, who had actually caught it on a security camera.”
Moments like these are thrilling, but Edenfield doesn’t see her job as convincing visitors to believe in ghosts. What matters most is that they leave with a deeper understanding of Savannah’s history.
That said, Edenfield encourages people to assume everything is haunted—just to be on the safe side. “This is a very old area, and people have lived here for thousands of years, even pre-colonization,” says Edenfield. “Stuff has happened everywhere.”
Insider Tips
When to Go
Spring, when the azaleas are all in bloom and the city smells like star jasmine. For the spookiest ghost-tour time, October is the obvious choice, but for many visitors, that same feeling extends into November.
Where to Eat
PJ Thai is around the corner from the start location of one of Edenfield’s tours. The smell of the noodles and spices is a sure bet to make her tour groups hungry.
Pro Tip
For more fascinating local history, visit the Beach Institute, a Black history museum that is located in one of the earliest Black schools in Savannah. It’s a bit off the beaten path but well worth a visit.
EXPLORE NEARBY
Courtesy of the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum
Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum
Savannah
“We are preservationists, so we’ve got the archival papers of our namesake, the Reverend Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert, a pastor at the legendary Second African Baptist Church, who reignited Savannah’s NAACP chapter and served as its director for seven years. Gilbert was fighting for civil rights back in the 1940s: In 1947, he was instrumental to Savannah hiring the ‘Original 9’ police officers, creating the first integrated force in the South. This is a museum about Savannah’s civil rights history, so you’ll find some other unique elements, like a larger-than-life mural depicting the meeting held in 1865 between General Sherman and Black Savannah ministers, which led to Sherman’s Field Order No. 15—better known as ‘40 Acres and a Mule,’ an unfulfilled promise that is key to understanding American history.” – Vaughnette Goode-Walker, Executive Director
This article appears in our March 2026 issue.
