Haunted Places in Columbia, SC

With all of the history in the state that started the bloodiest war in American history, there’s bound to be a few ghost hanging around, right? Well if you’re up for the trip there’s quite a list of spooky hot spots here in the capital city. Just take your pick from the following hot spots.

One haunted spot is actually a bridge, the Congaree River Bridge to be exact. Its said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl. She’s hitchhiking (which if any of you have ever seen “There’s Something about Mary”, you’ll know that’s illegal here in SC, but I digress) and when you pick her up she ask you to take her home. On the way there, she simply disappears.

For all of our soldiers here at Fort Jackson, you have a few ghosts to consider. The first I’ll mention is that of a young girl that tragically killed herself. She’s seen on the artillery range with a hole in her helmet. Another ghost is seen in the B company 369^th AG barracks. He makes sure his soldiers are in bed, goes to the bathroom, closes the door and never returns.

Did you go to the University of South Carolina? Even so, you probably didn’t see this highly unusual supernatural figure. In the now sealed off catacombs, a very tall, disfigured man with a third eye looms. It was even said to have accosted a student in the 40’s.

The old Olympia Mill, which was just converted into apartments, has a sad history that led to the strange noises and occurrences that happened in the mill. The story goes that in the days of child labor, a man would overwork the children and when the children died because of exhaustion, he would burn them in the furnace. It has been said that you can hear children crying at times and the furnace left in the mill would come on by itself.

Old Bluff road here in Columbia is attached to a few legends. One legend is that on a certain bridge your car will stall out. Another is that there is a carriage on the road that will try to race your car.

The final story that I will mention in this article is the Longstreet Theater. The theater was used during the civil war as a hospital. The “green room” of the theater, is rumored to have been a morgue during the war. Many students refuse to be alone in the building late at night. People have described the feelings of fear, being watched and cold drafts near the windowless and door less “green room”.

Well, good luck on your ghost hunting, and don’t forget to check out all the other great historical sights while here in Columbia. Don’t be too afraid though, most local hotspots are only haunted by college students.