Chapter 6
When the plane touched down in Savannah, the Harts gathered their belongings and headed for the car rental counter. Ryleigh bounced down the stairs and turned to face her parents when her feet hit the tarmac, "What's first?"
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Jennifer looked at her husband and grinned at him as they followed their daughter. "Well, Claire said the first thing we need to do is eat at Elizabeth's on 37th."
A young man carrying their luggage to a cart overheard them and stopped, "Y'all going to Elizabeth's?"
"We sure are," Jonathan answered him.
"Then you need to make sure to try the local oysters. They are some of the best you'll ever eat."
Jonathan turned to Jennifer, eyebrows raised. "Oysters, huh? I might just have to try a dozen or so tonight, Darling."
"Go easy, Big Fella," she laughed, looking towards Ryleigh. "I don't need another pearl necklace."
Jonathan slid an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "Just a little necking?"
"Ohhh…"
"Come on, you two," Ryleigh groaned. "Can we please keep moving?"
Jennifer reached up and kissed Jonathan's cheek, "Come on, we need to keep moving, Darling. Dinner and ghost stories await us."
Ryleigh perked up and asked, "Ghost stories?"
"Uh-huh," Jennifer answered. "Savannah is known as America's most haunted city."
"Oh. I was hoping that meant time under the sheets," Jonathan smirked.
Jennifer shook her head, "Tsk. That comes later, Darling." She reached out for Ryleigh's hand. "Come on, ma chérie. We must lead your Daddy to food before his empty stomach leads to bad Dad jokes."
"Yes, Momma," Ryleigh giggled as she took her mother's hand. "Come on, Daddy!"
"Right behind you, ladies," Jonathan offered as he followed them to the rental car.
After dinner, the Harts made their way to the center of Chippewa Square, where they met with several other people and a guide named Joan.
Ryleigh leaned toward her dad and asked, "How old do you think she is?"
"Um… I bet she's every bit of 80."
"Shhh," Jennifer shot them both a warning look.
"Come on, everyone. We're gonna walk down Bull Street to Wright Square," Joan enthusiastically invited the group to begin the tour. As they started their walk, she began to weave a tale for them. "Did y'all know Wright Square was once known as Percival Square? It was named after a man called John Percival, who played a substantial part in the foundin' of the Georgia colony. Also, once recognized as The Hanging Square, Wright Square was one of Savannah's four original squares and served as the judicial square," she told the group. "A person could be indicted, held, tried, and have their sentence carried out right here. A young orphan girl from Ireland named Alice Riley was one of the first women ever hung here."
"I hope it wasn't because her name was Riley," Ryleigh quipped.
"Ryleigh, shhh," Jennifer corrected.
"Your name's Ryleigh? That's fantastic. And no, it was not for her name. Actually, it was murder."
"There's a fun hobby for you," Jonathan whispered in Jennifer's ear. Ryleigh overheard him and snorted, trying not to laugh out loud.
"Shhhh," Jennifer hushed him, though she couldn't hide her smile.
Joan continued, "She was an indentured servant placed in the bond of a particularly crass and perverse man, one William Wise. Don't let his name fool ya; he was as dumb as dirt. Alice was to assist with the livestock and in the even more loathsome task of bathin' her Master. Wise would lay back and let his long stringy hair fall into a bucket of water. Alice, a teenager, was forced to pick the knots out of his hair, wash it, bathe him, and attend to his every whim."
"That's gross," Ryleigh lamented her disapproval.
"Shhhh," Jennifer tried to muffle the girl's vocals.
Deep in legend, Joan wove the comments in, "That's right, honey! And I'm sure that's how Alice felt. What isn't known is if the murder was her idea, or the idea of a man named Richard White, who was widely considered the common-law husband of Alice, and the father of her unborn child. Their plan was simple. They waited until Wise called Alice in for his regular bath and grooming session. Once his head was leaned back into the bucket of water, Alice and Richard allegedly held him under until he drowned. Alice was imprisoned until she gave birth to the baby, who was immediately taken from her. She would never cuddle her child, and now, the gallows awaited her arrival. She was led into Percival Square, and on January 19, 1735, was hanged by the neck until dead for the crime of murder. She had become the first woman in Georgia to be executed. Her baby would die less than two months later."
"Oh, how awful," Jennifer sympathized. As the crowd walked into the square, Ryleigh pulled her phone from her pocket and began taking photos around the area with it.
"Today the story is remembered, not just in historical and legal records, but also by those who say they have encountered the ghost of Alice," Joan continued. "It's a common occurrence for people visiting Wright Square to tell stories of a frantic woman lookin' for her child. The woman, in period dress, has been mistaken for an actor by some who say the apparition approached them in broad daylight and was as solid as a livin' person. It's when she disappears into nothingness while continuin' her desperate search around the square that witnesses realize they've seen her ghost."
"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only help," Jonathan smirked, his voice low enough only Jennifer and Ryleigh heard him.
"Shhhh," Jennifer again corrected, Ryleigh struggled to control her laughter.
"Y'all aren't from around here, are ya," Joan's question to the Harts was more of a statement.
"Nope," Jonathan's smirk never left his lips.
"I can tell, bless your heart." She turned to the rest of the group, "All y'all from outsida Georgia, too?" Most of the group indicated they were. "Let me tell you somethin', the credibility of these claims I've heard's in the fact many who have contact with the ghost of Alice are not from Savannah. Most are visitors, like all y'all, and none I've spoken with heard her story beforehand. However, a number of witnesses did have one commonality; they were women with children in a stroller."
"Ohhh, I'm glad Ryleigh can walk on her own," Jonathan smirked again.
"You won't be if you keep that up," Jennifer huffed, making Ryleigh giggle harder.
Joan smirked with him, but paid him no regard, "Further evidence of an unjust hangin', people say, is that Spanish moss won't grow on the north side of the square. That's where the gallows were. Conditions for Spanish moss are ideal here in Wright Square. Notice it thrives over there on the south end," she pointed a bony finger toward the opposite end of the park. "There doesn't appear to be a botanical reason for the limitation. Is there a spiritual boundary line in the square; the north end cut off from ordinary acts of nature by the ethereal residue of zealous lynch mobs?"
"Hey, Momma," Ryleigh drew Jennifer's attention from Joan. "Look at that tree." She used her phone to snap a couple of photos. "Those branches? They form a heart."
"Ha. So they do. Good eye, Ry," Jennifer smiled.
"Spanish moss is neither Spanish nor moss," Joan continued. "It is a member of the same family as the pineapple and draws its nutrients from the air and moisture around it. It is prevalent throughout Savannah and used for a variety of other things. It is considered a sacred staple item in potions, magic oils, and as a traditional stuffin' in Voodoo dolls. Could this sacred plant, which takes nothing from the tree on which it abides, be unwillin' to grace those unjust voids where innocent blood was shed? Its absence in the gallows section of Wright Square seems to say it will not. Well, I guess Alice is not coming to see us tonight. This way, y'all. We're fixin' to head to the Marshall House. Built in 1851, this house was taken over by Union General William T. Sherman's men in the winter of 1864..."
Heading the car up Highway 17, Jonathan watched the lights of cars coming towards him and disappear behind him. He reached over and gently took hold of his wife's hand, "Tired, Darling?"
"A little. I think jet lag is catching up with me."
"It has been a long day."
"Long, but a good day," she grinned. He smiled back at her.
Sitting in the back seat of the rental, Ryleigh pulled out her phone. She passed the drive by flipping through some of the photos from the evening. "What is that?"
"What, Ry?"
"There's something odd about this photo. Look," Ryleigh handed the phone to her mom. "In front of the first tree. Remember the one with the heart? There, towards the left, you can see a sort of blurred figure in a pink dress almost as if she is running. The next picture I took didn't have the same woman."
"Huh. That is odd." She turned to face Jonathan, "I don't remember anyone standing there. For sure, no one was running."