The Sorrel-Weed House, Savannah: History, Ghosts and the Truth Behind the Legend

Few houses in Savannah draw ghost hunters like the Sorrel-Weed House at 6 West Harris Street. Ghost tours stop in front of it, television crews have filmed inside it, and its own museum runs history tours by day, ghost tours every evening and paranormal investigations late at night.

The story most visitors come for is the tragedy of Matilda Sorrel and an enslaved woman called Molly. Historians and archaeologists have taken that story apart, and the museum’s own guides now say so. What remains is a remarkable house with a real and difficult history, and a long list of strange experiences reported by people who have been inside it. This guide covers all three: the history, the legend and the reports, plus how to visit.

History of the Sorrel-Weed House

Francis Sorrel was born in Haiti in 1793 and became a wealthy Savannah shipping merchant who, WTOC reports, took part in the local slave trade. He hired Charles B. Cluskey, an architect who had come to Savannah from New York in 1829, to build a house for his family on Madison Square. Work began in 1835 and the house was finished in 1840, in a blend of Greek Revival and Regency styles with the feel of a Mediterranean villa. Sorrel moved in with his second wife, Matilda, that year.

Henry D. Weed agreed to buy the house in 1859 and took possession in 1862, and the Weed family kept it until 1914. In the twentieth century it passed through other owners: A.J. Cohen Sr. bought it in 1941, and in 1954 it became one of the first two homes named Georgia state landmarks. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and is a contributing building in the Savannah Historic District, a National Historic Landmark district.

Stephen Bader bought the house in 1996, and it reopened to the public in 2005 as the Old Sorrel-Weed House Museum. Like most grand Savannah houses of its era, it was run by enslaved people, who lived in the carriage house at the back of the lot. The museum’s guides say the abuses of enslaved labor here are well documented, and that history, rather than any ghost, is the most important thing the house has to tell.

The house also sits on ground that saw fighting during the Siege of Savannah in 1779, when French and American forces attacked the British-held town and were thrown back with heavy losses. Guides point to that battle as another source of the house’s stories.

The legend and the ghosts of the Sorrel-Weed House

The legend of Matilda and Molly

The story told on Savannah ghost tours for years goes like this. Francis Sorrel had an affair with Molly, a young enslaved woman. When Matilda found out, she jumped, or fell, from a balcony to the courtyard below and died. About a week later Molly was found hanged in the carriage house, and no one knew whether she was murdered or took her own life. Visitors who stand in the carriage house say they feel nausea and a tightening of the throat, and a television program once played a recording said to be Molly screaming.

Matilda Sorrel was real, and she did die in 1860 after a fall from a window. Historian Tiya Miles, who studied Savannah’s ghost tours, concluded that the affair and the motives behind the deaths cannot be verified. Wikipedia’s article on the house notes that no historical records associated with the Sorrel family mention an enslaved woman named Molly, and calls the story fictional. The museum’s own guide told WTOC in 2026 that records place Matilda’s death next door, at 12 West Harris Street, and that archival evidence for Molly is largely absent.

What archaeology found in the carriage house

The legend once included a claim that an enslaved person was buried under the carriage house floor. Archaeologists from Armstrong State University dug in the carriage house basement, and the excavations showed the depression in the floor was a trash pit, not a grave. One of the student archaeologists, a former tour guide, wrote that nothing paranormal happened during the dig, and argued that digs like this give a voice to the people whose stories are retold on the tours.

The Shadow Man and the little girl

The stories the museum tells today are less dramatic. Guides describe a figure about seven feet tall walking the basement breezeway, which some link to the enslaved workers and others to the soldiers of 1779. They also tell of a girl of about six, Matilda Ann, described as the first person to die in the house, who is said to appear on the stairs.

What visitors report

Guests on the tours report anxiety, headaches and nausea, shadows moving across walls and knocking, scratching or footsteps in empty rooms. A cabinet on Francis Sorrel’s desk in the study is said to open by itself. Electronic devices failing is a common complaint. None of this has been documented beyond the accounts of visitors and staff, and we report it as they tell it.

Where to look

• The carriage house: Where the enslaved household lived and where the legend placed Molly’s death. Most visitors’ physical reactions are reported here.
• The basement breezeway: Home of the tall Shadow Man, and the space Dr. Frank Sorrel is said to have used for surgery.
• Francis Sorrel's study: The desk cabinet that opens on its own.
• The main staircase: Where the little girl, Matilda Ann, is said to appear.

Visiting the Sorrel-Weed House

The house is open every day, but only on guided tours. Daytime tours cover the architecture and history of the house and its families, including the people enslaved there. Ghost tours run inside the house every evening, and late-night paranormal investigations give small groups time in the carriage house and basement with ghost-hunting equipment.

Tours start from the house on Madison Square, a short walk from Chippewa and Monterey squares. Book ahead in October, when the evening tours sell out. The museum does not list fixed prices for every tour type in its press coverage, so check its booking page for the current options.

• Visiting Open daily on guided tours only
• Tours Daily history tours, nightly ghost tours and late-night paranormal investigations
• Ghost hunting Yes, on the museum’s own late-night investigations

Tips for your visit

• Choose the late-night investigation if you want time in the carriage house and basement rather than a talk in the parlor.
• Ask your guide about the records on Matilda and Molly; the museum’s own staff now tell the evidence honestly.
• Take the daytime history tour too: the house’s architecture and the carriage house quarters are worth seeing in daylight.
• Pair your visit with a walk to Monterey Square for the Mercer Williams House, two blocks south.

More haunted places nearby

• The Marshall House: Savannah’s most haunted hotel, a ten-minute walk north
• The Foley House Inn: a haunted inn on Chippewa Square, one square north
• The Hamilton-Turner Inn: a haunted mansion inn on Lafayette Square
• Haunted places in Georgia
• Haunted places in Savannah

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Wikipedia: Sorrel-Weed House
• WTOC: Halloween Spooktacular, the Sorrel-Weed House (2026)
• WPR: Uncovering the buried history of Savannah's ghost tours
• Georgia Southern University: Hauntings in the Hostess City