Haunted Jail at Night: A Spooky Last Class

Walking to the Old Charleston Jail I felt my body tensing up with every step I took. Upon arrival I looked around at the jail, which looked like it could be out of a old fashioned movie, and felt cold sensation overcome me and I knew this place was truly haunted. The jail operated from 1802 until 1939 and held many Charlestonians, as well as war prisoners during the civil war.

Outside of the Jail

We meet our tour guide from Bulldog Tours, Glenn McKenzie and entered. Touching the rusty railings and watching my step on the wet cold steps made on the way in made me feel as if I was right there back in time with the prisoners. In the first room we learned the history of what happened in there and the overwhelming amount of inmates it held, over 30 men, while having no toilet or bucket for the bathroom. We also learned and talked about the process of hanging. It began to stop because men were growing stronger and healthier every generation, Glenn also told us, " It took inmate Daniel Duncan 38 minutes to die".

Replica rope for hanging

In the next room we saw replicas of what the cells would have looked like and learned more stories and facts about the jail, it was hard for me to pay attention in this room because it was so much bigger but felt so much colder. It was a creepy kind of cold.

Glenn began to tell his story of who he thinks is the most haunted inmate in the jail and immediately my ears shot up, he said, "Livinia Fisher is most infamous. What people hear about her isn't true". She was a beautiful women who would act like a damsel in distress on the high way in North Charleston. Men driving caravans of goods would pull over to help her. Then before they knew it her gang would jump out and kill the man and rob them. Eventually after many murderers they got caught, and Livinia had to spend time in prison. Being good looking and the only female around dangerous men, the things that happened to her were not good.

One of the rooms inside. Replica jail cell

The next two rooms continued to get colder but I found them to be less interesting. We saw the place where Glenn McKenzie witnessed a real ghost and saw what used to be the medical room when the jail housed war criminals.

Leaving the jail and prison yard was a huge relief and I was happy to be able to go home. I may think sharing a dorm room is tight space, but it is nothing compared to the prisoners corridors.