The Old Burying Ground

Colonial Park Cemetery on Oglethorpe Avenue has long haunted passers by. Now a popular stop on any reputable “Ghost Tour”, this cemetery of scattered brick tombs and disheveled grave markers, was the main burial ground in Savannah from 1750 until 1853 when it was closed to interments. In 1896 the cemetery was turned into a park with benches and tabby paths, making it a popular “strolling” ground for locals.

At first glance it would appear that there are no more than about 600 bodies buried in Colonial Park, but don’t let the scarcity of tombstones fool you. Beneath the gnarled branches of moss-draped oaks lie nearly 10,000 of Savannah’s dead. For the dead of Colonial Park are different than the dead of other cemeteries. Nearly 700 souls are buried together in a mass grave near the south side of the cemetery. These deceased are the victims of the great Yellow Fever epidemic of 1820; a plague which claimed the lives of thousands that year. Perhaps it is for this reason that visitors to Colonial Cemetery experience strange sensations and areas of disturbing “coolness”.

Colonial Park Cemetery was closed to burials before the Civil War, and so it is no surprise that there are no Confederate soldiers interred there. The Civil War, however, did play a role in the cemetery’s history, as it was largely desecrated by Union soldiers who encamped in it during the winter of 1864. During this time several gravestones were vandalized and tombs were raided. Bodies were actually cast out of the brink tombs which were in turn made into bunkers for the soldiers.

Over the years there have been several ghostly tales involving the old brick cemetery. One such tale involves a maid who worked at the old City Hotel on Bay Street. One evening she became intrigued by a man whom she had met at the hotel. She decided to follow him home only to witness him disappear into the gates of Colonial Park.

Perhaps the most famous of Colonial Park specters is Rene Rondolia Asch, a disfigured and disproportionately large orphan who was said to have called Colonial Park his home in the early 1800s. Rene had the gruesome habit of killing and mutilating young animals for fun. Rene was accused of murder after the bodies of two young girls were discovered mangled in the cemetery. Dragged to the nearby swamps, Rene was lynched, his body left hanging in a tree. But the murders did not cease with Rene’s death. Several more bodies began to turn up in the cemetery immediately following the Rene’s lynching. The townspeople of Savannah soon became convinced that it was Rene's ghost seeking vengeance. A large, mongoloid figure has been witnessed over the years in the cemetery, which is still known as “Rene’s playground”.