Forsyth Park Inn

A Victorian mansion overlooking Forsyth Park with a genuinely dark past — there's a poisoning, a descent into madness, and a secret between a mother and daughter that stayed hidden far too long.

The Forsyth Park Inn, a Queen Anne Victorian built around 1896, harbors one of Savannah's most tragic ghost stories. The legend centers on Lottie, a young girl adopted by Aaron and Lois Churchill. When Lois's sister Anna moved in to recover from illness, young Lottie witnessed her uncle embracing Anna instead of his wife.

Enraged and fearful of losing her place in the family, Lottie made a fateful decision: she poisoned Anna's tea with oleander from the garden. Only after Anna's death did the devastating truth emerge—Anna was actually Lottie's biological mother. The revelation drove Lottie to madness, and she was committed to an asylum, where the guilt haunted her until death.

Today, visitors claim to see a girl in a white dress in the halls and on the stairwell—some say it's Lottie, others believe it's Anna. Rooms 10 and 11 in the basement are considered the most haunted, while Room 8 on the second floor also reports frequent activity. Guests have witnessed televisions turning on by themselves and changing to programs about murder trials. One visitor in Room Five watched as the 12-foot-tall, heavy wooden door opened two feet on its own.

Other reported phenomena include having feet tickled in bed, bathroom doors closing independently, lights and stereos switching on and off, and capturing strange yellow light anomalies on the stairway. As one account notes, the ghosts of Forsyth Park Inn are notably "not mentioned in the brochure."