HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
Please Share Your Experiences
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History
This house was built in 1843 by a wealthy merchant who was exporting cotton through Charleston harbor. At the time this was one of the city’s richest sections and only the truly wealthy could build here.
When the Civil War broke out the location became considerably less desirable; the city’s defenses were just across the street. The mansions were quickly abandoned as the rich fled for their lives.
Charleston had a rather rough time in the war; they endured a 4 year battle with Union forces.
In 1870 Colonel Richard Lathers – a South Carolina millionaire who had fought for the Union – bought the house. He had a $10,000 ($455,000 in 2023 dollars) renovation done on the house to repair the war damage.
Col Lathers used his home as a gathering place to try to repair the rift between the business leaders of the north and the south. He was unsuccessful; probably because it was too soon and there was still much animosity and mistrust.
In 1874 the Colonel sold the mansion to Andrew Simonds; a reconstruction banker. He went about helping the city in a much direct way – cold hard cash.
The Hastie family – of which Simonds was part of – lived in the mansion for many years. Through the 1920’s and 30’s the parties were said to been quite wild and lavish with strippers dancing on the pole and ladies of the night available for discerning gentlemen.
As the 20th century continued the fortunes of the home’s owners began to decline and the mansion quickly followed. In 1989 when Hurricane Huge swept up the east coast it nearly sounded the death knell for the house.
Falling apart it was left abandoned for a number of years.
In 1992 Drayton and Kat Hastie bought the property and began the long and expensive path to it’s total renovation.
Today the mansion is a luxury boutique hotel.
Paranormal Activity
This location is very active with a number of ghosts.
Before describing the reported paranormal activity, here are some of the possible reasons for the haunting.
Long before there were any houses or anything here the British and then American authorities hung pirates in the battery; which is directly across the street from the house.
During the Civil War that same battery was used as a cannon installation that kept the Union from invading. The mansion was abandoned at this time, and it is thought the soldiers used the abandoned mansions to rest and sleep.
Also during the Civil War there was a Yellow Fever epidemic that killed a lot of people any of which could have died in or around the mansion.
In the 20th century the son of one of the families living in the mansion jumped to his death either from the carriage house or the main house.
And the hauntings
A number of entities described as being figures of light of various sizes and shapes frequently gather in the living room as if holding a meeting. This, reportedly, happens quite often.
In Room 8 guests have experienced the feeling of an unseen entity hovering over them while they slept. There are also reports of phantom sounds of furniture smashing into the walls and the toilet seat opening and slamming shut.
In Room 10 – the most active room – there are reports of the apparition of a slim man about 6 feet tall. He is reported as giving off negative energy when Bible passages are read. His shadow is also seen on the wall when he is not visible.
Light anomalies are frequently photographed in Room 10. One video and audio recording picked up the ghost tapping on the microphone and breathing.
A cell phone in the living began turning on and off all on it’s own starting at 3am.
People have heard the sound of the faucet running water into to sink but when they get up to turn it off they find no water dripping and a dry sink.