Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THEY SAID IT ^ Page 5 "I ain't afraid of no ghosts.” JZ Fndav Ortohpr 29 2004 ray Parker jr. -*, V7tlUULl ^UVT BIG BUDGET’80S MOVIE THEME SONG SINGER | or a good ghost story ■ this Halloween, the historic Horseshoe offers more than a few t paranormal tales. Passed down through the years by students and retold on the Ghosts of Carolina walking tours, the stories have made their mark on Columbia. - :Jgr\ HSfPv'4 4P* W P 1V;. i . % 4MM By MARIA CHARLES/STAFF Look no further than USC's own Horseshoe for your annual creep factor this Halloween Many tales stem from the Civil War period. The 10 buildings on the Horseshoe and Longstreet Theater comprised the campus of the then South Carolina College. These structures provided the all - male student body with living quarters and classrooms and faculty offices. The buildings found a new purpose with the war that would divide a nation. When most of the students enlisted in the Confederate Army, classes were suspended and the college buildings became a hospital. The buildings held prisoners and refugees, and housed many federal and state officers. The tragic circumstances surrounding hospital deaths are the main source for _i__ • “There are lots of spooky places on campus,” USC archivist Elizabeth West said. L o n g s t r e e t Theater, whose basement was used as a morgue, _HI rumored to be haunted. Gibbes Green behind the McKissick Museum served as a makeshift cemetery during the war. Although the bodies have now been exhumed, students walk over this area of campus everyday. Students even reside in allegedly haunted spaces on campus. DeSaussure College served as part of the hospital that existed on campus from 1862 to 1865. Legend has it that a Dr. Black worked there and helped wounded soldiers. The story goes that the doctor’s daughter was raped by a group of Union soldiers and that the woman poisoned the soldiers’ food as revenge. Her plot was uncovered and she was executed for murder. In a slightly different version of the story, some say the girl poisoned the soldiers’ wine and then drank the poisoned wine herself, committing suicide. Some say the spirit of the doctor’s daughter still haunts the halls of DeSaussure and can be seen at the foot of residents’ beds holding a tray of wine glasses. West said the DeSaussure stories are short on proof. A historian recently tried to track down the Black family and never found any evidence that the rape or murder occurred. “There was no tragic event for a ghost to be based on,” West said. But while West believes “the best ghost stories are ones where there really is a person that events happened to as opposed to fabricated stories, others take a different view. Jonna Briggs has been leading Ghosts of Carolina walking tours since 2002 and ghost stories pertaining to the Horseshoe are her specialty. For Briggs, a good ghost story is one “that has been handed down and as it is handed down it is embroidered and that makes it better,” she said. While the stories might not be entirely ^ factual, there is element of truth involved. Tours meet nightly throughout the year at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. at the North Steps of the State Capitol Building on Gervais and Main streets. People can reserve tickets online at www.theghostsofcarolina.com and are $15 for adults and $8 for children. Briggs starts her tours by telling groups the history of the State House, particularly about the* grave of Swanson Lunsford, a revolutionary soldier buried on j the grounds. But, Briggs loves to take her groups j through the Horseshoe. The hour and a half tours include stories from different areas of the Palmetto State’s folklore, many , of which occurred at USC. “I could stay on the Horseshoe, for an hour and a half and still not tell you all the stories,” Briggs said. Briggs said her stories have made “grown men jump” and “girl scouts run screaming to their counselors.” Disputes arise over the validity of ghost stories, but some occurrences are hard to explain. Employees at the South Caroliniana Library have claimed to have seen the ghost of former USC president J. Rion McKissick, who is buried in front of the library, walking across the balcony. Fact or fabricated fiction, the Horseshoe’s history has created some creepy and often inexplicable events. „<jil Briggs said her stories have made grown men jump” and girl scouts run screaming to their counselors.” . » KYLE MCANDREW/THE GAMECOCK .Columbia is full of ghost stories — you just have to know where to find them. You could take a ghost tour of the city, or just venture out to Sumter and Gervais streets to find your own spooks. __