A Haunted City
© Virginia Marin
When twilight turns to evening shadows along the South Carolina Coast, it is time to look for ghosts, especially if you are visiting Charleston. You will not have a long wait, for there is no doubt that this is the most haunted city of the South. Indeed, every nook and cranny has a haunting tale of its own to which visitors will attest.
Of course, there are very special ghosts in Charleston during the Christmas season, and their multiplicity sometimes goes unnoticed. Christmas ghost spirits are thought to be akin to Casper the Friendly Ghost, and spend their time helping busy parents unbeknown to them. These friendly holiday spirits are particularly fond of seamen, and fishing fleets. More than one fisherman has found his boat mysteriously decorated with colorful lights for the holiday. To spend any part of the Christmas season in Charleston is a special treat.
Regardless of your tour route into the city from points North, South, East or West, tourists and residents alike can begin a Ghost Walk each evening starting at the lovely Circular Fountain in Waterfront Park. It is well known by Charlestonians that Water Nymphs favor this lovely fountain, in spite of the occasional olfactory-telling presence of mineral water. Indeed, the Nymphs, and locals seem to enjoy an over abundance of advantageous health which is attributed to the fountain. Some say that the Nymphs, in fact, are ghost cavorting in the cool clear water.
Beginning at the Fountain, various Charleston tours offer exciting Ghost Walks, and ghost stories are told as the tours progress. Some of the Ghost Walks amble past the Old Exchange Building which still has the dungeon that held prisoners during America's Revolutionary War; the Dock Street Theatre which is known to have at least four delightful resident ghosts, that perform Porgy and Bess nightly after midnight; and Mrs. Whaley's Gardens where many of the Whaley ghosts are said to frolic among the trees and shrubbery.
Though several churches are on walking tours, according to long-time Charleston residents, the best stop to see ghosts is outside the churchyard of St. Phillip's where there is always talk about an apparition that is repeatedly photographed beside one of the graves. In 1864, St. Phillip's steeple became the principal target for the Federal bombardment of Charleston, and still retains those marks of war. There is reportedly a tower ghost for each shell which hit.
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