Haunted Sites
Summoning the spirits…
Photo: JeffersonLH · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Alligator Soul
A restaurant on Barnard Street that Afterlife Tours says is haunted by its original chef, Hilbo Craig.
- Address
- 114 Barnard St, Savannah, GA 31401
- Cuisine
- Southern fine dining
- Hours
- Mon–Sat5 PM – 10 PM
- SunClosed
Closed Sundays.
Hours may change, check before you go. Source: alligatorsoul.com, checked Oct 2026.
- Access
- restaurant
- Website
- alligatorsoul.com
- Phone
- (912) 232-7899
The real history
About the place
Alligator Soul is a fine-dining restaurant at 114 Barnard Street, just off Telfair Square, in a below-street-level space. South Magazine describes it as an 1885 building that was originally a grain warehouse. Chef Hilary 'Hilbo' Craig and his wife Maureen founded it in 2003. Hilbo Craig died in 2007, and Maureen kept the restaurant going.
Today Alligator Soul serves wild game, seasonal ingredients and Southern-inflected cuisine, with a cocktail and wine program. It is open to the public for dinner, and reservations are recommended.
Local legend
The Ghost Story
Told here as local lore, the way guides, books and visitors tell it. These are legends, not established fact.
Not every Savannah ghost story is centuries old. Afterlife Tours, whose guides present recordings made by their own paranormal investigation team, stops here on its nightly 10 p.m. Restless Souls walk. Their story centers on the restaurant's original chef, Hilbo Craig. According to the tour, the man who created Alligator Soul has never quite left his kitchen and dining room.
The tour's guides tell the restaurant's history and then share evidence they say their investigations captured inside. Believers find it fitting that a chef so devoted to his restaurant might still be keeping an eye on it.
Tips
- Popular restaurants fill up at peak times: reserve where the restaurant takes bookings, or arrive early.
- Featured on 2 ghost tours; see the links below.
