Friday, July 24, 2009

The Moon River Brewery


The Moon River Brewery is located in beautiful..... Savannah, Georgia. Built in 1821, by Elazer Early, it became Savannah's first hotel and opened in 1826 for business. Though very impressive and upscale, the hotel beheld it's share of extreme violence and murders.
The building was renovated in 1851 by Peter Wiltberger and closed in 1864, during the Civil War. The hotel was briefly converted to a hospital, when Yellow Fever hit the region and many people including children died inside of it's walls. Tunnels were dug all over Savannah, during the Yellow Fever outbreak, so that people could travel under ground, as they believed at that time ,that the disease was transferred through the outside air. One of these famous tunnels is in the basement of Moon River Brewery, and has since been sealed off. During the turn of the century, the building was used as a warehouse for wood and coal. ( Imagine such a beautiful structure being used in such a manner. ) In the 1960's , it became a store for office supplies and housed a large printing press. In 1979, it closed once again, due to hurricane damage and the building sat vacant for 16 years, until the Moon River Brewery opened in 1999.


Savannah attributes it's status as the Most Haunted City in the United States, to several factors. First on the list, are the four GREAT FIRES that burned much of the city..........next is the fact that Savannah was an actual battlefield in EVERY war fought on US soil. The soldiers were buried where they fell......which is ALL OVER the city! A huge cemetery is located in the center of town and 80 more cemeteries lay scattered about. Many of these cemeteries have been paved over and used to build upon................ on top of the dead! This means that this is a city, that is actually built ....on the dead.

With illness, war, and murders taking place, is it any wonder that this historical building is haunted? In 1832 a gruesome, coldblooded murder took place at the bar, of the City Hotel. James Stark was shot to death, while enjoying his drink by the town physician, with whom he had numerous verbal exchanges with, in the past. The Doctor walked in and shot James on site and was later acquitted by the town.

Another very well noted , time capsule of violence took place in 1860. All Southern hospitality, was completely lost when an angry mob of town folks, nearly murdered James Sinclair, a hotel patron, simply for being from the state of New York. Sinclair was viciously stripped of his clothing, dragged outside and brutally beaten to near death.

The ghosts of Moon River Brewery are very active indeed. In 1990's when they tried to renovate the second floor, the foreman's wife was thrown down the staircase, while trying to deliver lunch to her husband. Horrified, the foreman quit on the spot and the upper floors remain in a state of decay and ruins. The ghosts of children are commonly seen throughout the building and much of this is attributed to the history of the structure, being used for a brief time, as a hospital.
People have been pushed by phantoms, slapped, whispered to, screamed at, pulled upon and even partly possessed! Bottles have gone sailing across the room, thrown by unseen hands. A lady in white is seen floating on the 3rd floor, while the torso of a Union Soldier has been seen by the phone booth, inside the restaurant. The basement has a ghost that is seen and felt so much that he has been named, Tobby. This basement ghost is known to do quite alot of pushing around of patrons and staff alike. Tobby is blamed for the billiard balls being moved on the pool tables and in some instances even taken!

The Ghost Adventures crew, from Travel Channel, shot a lock down episode at the Moon River Brewery and got the following results.........................................................................................................

*Cold spots measured throughout the building.
*Many voices captured while using a black box, containing a sensory word data base. The box operates by using different energies for different individual words. The following words were captured........"Gender"......."Sister"............"water" ,(this is when the crew was standing near a water bottle on the floor.)
When a member of the crew put a ladder up against the rafters and said, " I'm gonna renovate this place." The response from the black box was............"remove..........step!"
The Ghost Adventures crew responded with,"What if I don't remove the steps.....what are you gonna do?" The response from the black box was.........."YELL!"
*EVPs included a loud yell, that happened just after the ladder incident... a laugh......a woman talking..... When the crew stood at the top of the stair case where the foreman's wife had been pushed, and made the following taunt, "Go ahead and push me!" The EVP response was, " I don't wanna." Another response was, "Don't do that."
In the basement the crew heard a noise and Zach said, " They are right behind you." The EVP response was, "I know."
*In the basement a dark shadow darts from behind Nick. A light is also seen flying into Nick's head. It is then obvious that Nick becomes quietly upset.
*In the basement, a light is seen going into Zach's head, where Zach becomes visibly distressed, and states that his head is starting to hurt.
*Nick claims that for a period of time, he blacks out and doesn't remember a particularly horrifying event where he appears to be possessed and does not respond to repeated attempts to engage in conversation. Nick later reports that a voice kept saying, " Kill him, kill him, kill him!"

If you would like to see a clip from the Ghost Adventures show, here is the link.................

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT7K3k28LPs







The Moon River Brewery is now a fantastic restaurant, with a full mouthwatering menu in a cheerful setting. They have a unique variety of beers that are freshly brewed and are award winning. If you would like more information on dinning, tours, ect. here is the link...............

www.moonriverbrewing.com/




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