Halloween

There is no spookier or fun way to spend Halloween than in Charleston, SC!! Last year on Halloween night, I scheduled at 9pm Charleston Ghost and Graveyard walking tour. Arriving right on time to where the tour was beginning, I was more excited than ever as I listened to the guide introduce himself and give a brief explanation of where we would be going and what we would be seeing. The tour director explained that with more than 300 years of history, Charleston has a vast collection of true pirate stories, ghost tales based on historic events and fascinating legends of Gullah lore. He further explained that this tour was Charleston’s only on-site tour inside the city’s oldest graveyard and although there wouldn’t be time to share all of the legends, he would tell us his favorites. For the next 90 minutes, our group walked through graveyards and down alleyways of the historic district listening to ghost stories, passing by haunted houses and learning about voodoo and Low Country superstitions. Upon returning back to the graveyard at the end of the tour, I had goose bumps and a serious case of the creeps. As the tour guide pointed to a particular tombstone, he explained, “Many have spotted the ghost of Sue Howard there. That is her dead child’s grave and she has been seen many times kneeling there and praying from the spirit world. As if that wasn’t creepy enough, he finished off the tour by saying “I will leave you all tonight with this gruesome fact. Back in the day, Charleston doctors didn’t take many chances with contagious diseases. Often times, patients who fell unconscious in hospitals sometimes woke up buried alive in a grave!” Everyone gasped in horror and a chill coursed through my body. Needless to say, I had trouble getting to sleep that night! Even if you can’t get to Charleston on Halloween night, a visit to the city and doing the ghost and graveyard tour is something you will never forget!