(Those reflectors under each window are there purposefully and are not up to interpretation. They're reflecting my camera's flash. They were put in to mark the structure of the building at the time when the city was renovating and ensuring the jail was structurally sound.)
My husband took me on a night tour through the Old Charleston Jail a few days after my 21st birthday. Since I love paranormal - and historical - locations, it was a very sweet gift for him to give me.
The Charleston County Jail was opened in 1802. It ran until 1939 as a jail, and remained mainly abandoned until the year 2000. There were efforts throughout the city of Charleston to preserve historical buildings, and this was when the American College of the Building Arts decided to buy the property. We'll talk more about that later though. When the jail was originally built, it had four stories and an eight-sided tower in it.
Five decades (in 1855) after the jail was first opened, Louis J. Barbot and John H. Seyle designed some improvements to it. They expanded the main building and added a new wing in the back of the building. They also decided to add some Romanesque details to the jail to help spruce it up. Unfortunately, in 1866 an earthquake hit the city of Charleston. It undid most of what the designers and architectures had added to the building only a decade earlier, as well as damaged the tower and top floor. Due to this, all of those elements were permanently removed.
Additionally, the entire square this jail was included in had some malevolent uses as well. The square housed this jail, a hospital, a poorhouse, and a workhouse for slaves who had tried to runaway. As you can see, the land surrounding this jail is filled with a lot of pain and suffering.
The jail also housed some infamous inmates who left their mark on the local history of the city. You can come inside the jail with me, and I'll tell you more about them.
Through hallways and rusted doors in this jail, everything felt extremely eerie.
This jail housed a great number of people. It imprisoned many who were waiting to be hanged, like fugitives, pirates, gang members, and even some slaves. In 1822, Denmark Vesey attempted to orchestrate a slave rebellion. The slaves, and anyone who was in on the rebellion plan, were punished. Some of the slaves were held in this jail while they waited to be tried, as well as four white men who had been a part of the plan as well. Even black seamen who were in port in Charleston, who had taken no part in Vesey's plan, were held here, as limitations were put on all blacks in Charleston due to the attempted plot of rebellion. Denmark Vesey himself was said to have lived the last days of his life in the tower of the jail, before he was hung.
During the Civil War, both Confederate and Union soldiers were jailed here too.
I remember going down these halls and being introduced to a mental insane room. I can't remember which of my pictures were of the room, or if I even took any, but I do remember them describing to me that it was a room for a "prisoners own safety." They were isolated and alone in there, but would try to find anything they could to kill themselves, even if that meant just banging their head on the walls until they were dead. Many times they'd be restrained, but sometimes even that couldn't protect them from their temptation of taking their lives.
Now if you're familiar with the history of this jail at all, you'll know I've saved the most known prisoners who were housed in this jail for last. Their names were Lavinia and John Fisher. Lavinia Fisher was the first woman (that we know of) in America's history to be a serial killer.
The Fisher's owned and ran an inn called the Six Mile Wayfarer House in Charleston, SC. This was technically an inn, but the old stories go their inn housed multiple outlaws as well. John and Laviania themselves were in a gang. Innocent travelers who stayed at their inn were given dinner, asked how much money they made, then sent up to their rooms with poisoned tea that caused them to pass out and sleep. After they slept, there are two different versions of what would happen to these people. One is that a lever would be pulled and the bed would fall in, then they'd land in a pit. Some say this pit was filled with spikes, but no one knows for sure about that, or exactly what the Fishers and their gang did to these poor humans besides killing and robbing them. The other version is that John would sneak into the traveler's room and stab them to death, before robbing them and disposing of the body. Either way, many people died in the Fisher's inn.
How'd they get caught then? Well it was two eyewitnesses that happened one after the other that got them caught. The first was David Ross, who was part of a vigilante gang to help combat the crime in the area from local gangs. He was attacked by two men and Lavinia, and she herself choked him and busted his head through a window. Somehow he survived and got away, thus alerting authorities.
The next was a man named John Peeples who was traveling through the area. His setup was the normal routine - he had dinner with the Fishers and was questioned about how much money he had. He was given tea, but due to his distaste for the stuff, he poured it out when Lavinia wasn't looking so he wouldn't be rude. He was sent to bed, but grew suspicious of the essential cross examination he had been given at dinner about his money. He feared he would be robbed, so he decided to stay in the wooden chair instead of the bed. After a few hours, he claimed that the bed fell into the pit, and he realized what was happening. He escaped out of the window and immediately went to law enforcement, who now had enough evidence to charge the Fishers and the others from their gang.
They were housed in the Charleston County Jail in 1819 and 1820. They attempted to escape once with a rope made from the bedding from their shared cell, and John even got out. However, the rope broke and Lavinia couldn't get out, and John refused to go without her. He was found and put back in the cell. Lavinia never thought she would actually be killed for her actions during this. However on February 4th, 1820, both John and Lavinia were sentenced to be hung right outside of the jail.
After this sentencing, John decided to be ministered by Reverend Richard Furman. He supposedly became a Christian in his end days, and tried to plead with the courts that he was innocent and wanted mercy. Before he was hung, he asked the 2,000 persons crowd watching to forgive him.
Lavinia declined any counsel or ministry. Before they pulled the lever to hang her, she screamed out, "if any of you have a message for the devil, tell me now, for I shall be seeing him shortly."
Lavinia is thought to haunt the jail to this day, and her maleficent presence is especially felt on the second floor of the location. This is the floor her and her husband's cell had been at.
There are many stories and sighting that have been seen of her, and the other ghost who haunt this location. A few shows have even done episodes on it, like Ghost Adventures or Ghost Hunters.
My personal experience was that I did find many orbs in my photos, and I also felt a heavy presence in the jail. Some rooms in the jail felt more crushing on me than others. There was even one part that the tour guide told us to get our phones out and start playing a video. When we did, their were dozens and dozens of orbs floating upwards on our screens in whatever direction we pointed them at. I looked at everyone's screens, and they all had this multitude of orbs showing up like a tidal wave. I don't know how you could fake that.
For 61 years after the jail was closed in 1939, it stood empty and abandoned. Then in 2000, the American College of Building Arts bought it to help restore and preserve it. Charleston was trying hard to restore its city after Hurricane Hugo had hurt many its structures in 1989. The college brought the jail back to life with their efforts of restoration, and most of the jail is in it's original state, but now more structural safe. Any new craftsmanship fits the time when it was originally built. The jail is also a part of the project called Save America's Treasures by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Millennium Council. In 2016, the jail was sold to a real estate developer, so the students of the American College of Building Arts are no longer involved with it. However, this college and all involved deserve the credit for this jail being resurrected, revitalized, and given the chance to be safely shown to the public.
They still give tours throughout the jail. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend you go and see this location for yourself, particularity on a night tour. I'd love to hear about any sightings you have there, or anything you may feel just by walking through the dark halls. Be warned though, while you'll be safe from any physical threats when visiting, I can't say the same about spiritual ones. Some spirits enjoy leeching onto those who come and visit them.
