Phantom Felines And Other Ghostly Animals - Gerina Dunwich 2006

Ghost Dogs and Tears of Blood
Hounds and Hauntings

by R. Mallard

Being born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, I have always had a great fascination for this area’s local urban legends and ghost stories.

On the east side of the city lies the old Bonaventure Cemetery, which dates back to the eighteenth century when it was a family cemetery on a plantation. Before being purchased by the city of Savannah in the year 1907, it was called the Evergreen Cemetery. Many Civil War soldiers and even some famous people (like Johnny Mercer and Conrad Aiken) are buried there. And in 1994, a murder mystery called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil partly took place at this historic burial ground.

The cemetery is believed to be haunted by a pack of ghost dogs that roam the grounds after the sun goes down. Some of the braver souls who have walked through the cemetery after dark have reported being chased by invisible phantom hounds. The dogs have never been seen by anyone, but they can be heard barking and panting.

Back when I was a youngster in college, I heard another supernatural story about Bonaventure (which, incidentally, means “good fortune” in French). I was told that there’s a statue there that overlooks the grave of a young child and weeps tears of blood. The legend of this statue is so well known that many people come to the cemetery just to place flowers, money, or little trinkets of some kind in the palms of the statue’s hands.