Stephen Bader Responds (TAPS at Sorrel-Weed)

You know, sometimes I get carried away. I was so eager to trounce that awful 'Ghost Hunters' show that I trashed everything about it, including Stephen Bader. Bader responded, and was pretty fair in his response to my musings and skepticism.

I reprinted his reply here (in part, for space considerations), but you can click the 'comments' section in the post below if you wish to read his whole letter. Stephen's comments are in blue. At the end of the piece, in red, are the comments of his tenant Chris, who also appeared on the program.

I was upset that the Taps crew did not mention my house by the proper name, the Sorrel Weed House. Why they called it the Bader House, I do not know. Charles Green wrote a letter that is published in a book.....If I recall correctly it is "Children of Pride". His letter discusses Mrs. Sorrel jumping from the porch to her death. He implies that she was mentally unstable in the letter.

The letter you're referring to must be in Children of Pride, a collection of letters written by and to the Jones family in Savannah. It is collected into one volume by Charles Coldcock Jones, a Confederate officer and mayor of Savannah. I've never read the letter in question, but it is on my list of things to read.

I have met many descendants of the Sorrel family, and have copies of letters they have given me. They have also all relayed this to me, giving me copies of personal letters between James Longstreet and Moxley Sorrel, Charles Green and various members of the Sorrel
family and others. I showed these letters to the TAPS team, but I had no control as to what they edited out of the show.

This is unfortunate. The TAPS team dropped the ball on this one... wouldn't one think that a document supporting a witnesses assertations would be a key part of the show?

I was also upset about the implication that Francis Sorrel "raped" a slave. There is absolutely no merit to that. My comment that I strongly suspected that he had an affair with the slave(which I believe is true), combined with Chris stating "it sounds like the slave that was raped", created that impression. I did not know Chris had said that until I viewed the show on Halloween. The EVP he heard flipped him out, and that is what he concluded by listening to it, not by what I had told him.

Why do you believe that Francis Sorrel had an affair with a slave? You again quote strong suspicions without stating why. I'd love to see some documentation on this, speaking strictly as a researcher of haunted sites, as well as an author of a book about Savannah's ghosts. Perhaps there's even a chapter in a future volume in there.

I understand why Chris said what he did, but if you listen to the audio, it does sound like dialogue from a horror movie. I stand by my assertion that that is what the TAPS team captured on their EVP.

Thank you, BTW, for the interesting history of the house (which follows):

Francis Sorrel if I recall correctly, had the home next door built in 1856, and sold it in 1859 to the Weed family.

There were two stipulations for the sale. The first was that Francis Sorrel had to close several windows, so the Weed girls could dress without being seen from the windows of another house. The second stipulation was that Francis could maintain the Sorrel Weed House as his residence for 3 years, which means that Mrs Sorrel jumped from my porch, when she died in early 1861. It is an absolute historic fact that she jumped to her death from the porch.
The previous owners, the Cohen's will tell you the same thing.

Again, I lay this at the feet of the TAPS crew. They are idiots, not to put too fine a point on it. Any sort of investigation, ghost or not, needs to present evidence to support an assertation. I realize it is a 30 minute program, and some things will wind up on the cutting room floor, but all they needed to do was just show Stephen holding a letter. That would lend credence to their investigation much better than running around the cemetery.

I'll do some research (I'm a member of the GHS) to verify what you've stated, but it sounds reasonable.

One last bit about Bader:
In my last post, I brought up a Savannah Morning News article regarding Bader's finances. I shouldn't have done it. In my zeal to slam the TAPS team I colored everything with the same brush. The last little bit of Stephen's response deals with that, but to fair, I did a Google search of his name and that was one of the first things to pop up.

Perhaps you would prefer that I rebuild the Lady Jane shop around the house again, and open a ladies clothing shop.

No, that's not what I want. But the article makes the renovations sound substandard. If it wasn't true, then you could have sued them for libel, or asked for a retraction. I had to, once, over an article in which they mentioned me. Actually they were pretty nice about it.

And now a word from Chris, the tenant:

Here are some before and after pics of the Sorrel Weed House, before and after the shop was demolished. There are also some artifacts on the sight. I have been researching the house for some time, and apparantly you do not have an understanding of Steve's interest in History and the length to which he has gone to to restore the home to it's original 1840 appearance. Apparently you need to do more research before you post erroneous, slandering comments about others.

www.sorrelweedhouse.blogspot.com

Yes, Stephen has done a much better job than the previous owner. But to criticize me for not researching is laughable, given that you imply strongly that a slave was raped in the carriage house by Francis Sorrel. I do have a strong interest in history, but apparently our definition of what constitutes history differs.

However, the pictures are very pretty.