Charleston Ghost Tours to See the City’s Haunted Landmarks
In downtown Charleston, just 45 minutes from Kiawah Island, you can stroll through rows of quaint cobblestone streets lined with beautiful colonial architecture and historic landmarks — and a host of ghostly attractions. During these top Charleston ghost tours, you’ll discover what makes Charleston one of the most haunted locations in the United States.
After enjoying the relaxing activities on Kiawah Island, partake in some paranormal ones with these Charleston ghost tours. See the city’s beautiful sites, learn its rich history and have your brush with the supernatural.
THE OLD CITY JAIL
Your Charleston ghost tour isn’t complete without a visit to the city’s most haunting landmark. Infamous enough to make an appearance on the Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures, the Old City Jail once held Charleston’s most notorious criminals. The building has been empty and intact since it closed in 1939.
Bulldog Tours offers you a behind-the-scenes look at the historic building and a chance to meet the ghost of legendary murderer Lavinia Fisher, who locals say haunts the empty cells in her wedding dress. In this consistently rated haunted jail tour, your experienced ghost tour guide will take you through narrow corridors, upstairs and tell you the well-known ghost story of Ms. Fisher!
PLEASING TERRORS GHOST TOUR
Old Charleston Walking Tours offers one of the top-rated ghost tours in the city, thanks to the expert storyteller and Charleston tour guide Mike Brown. Pleasing Terrors takes you on a suspense-filled journey through Charleston’s sprawling and ghastly history and folklore. You’ll visit the sites of some of Charleston’s most unsettling supernatural encounters, including the eerily named “Blood Alley” and Poogan’s Porch, a charming restaurant inside a restored Victorian home that has a troubling past.
GHOSTS OF CHARLESTON TOUR
The Unitarian Church Graveyard has been around since 1772 and is home to one of Charleston’s most famous ghosts. Immortalized in a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, Annabel Lee also passes eternity on these hallowed grounds and occasionally makes contact with visitors on the Ghosts of Charleston walking tour. If you have ever wanted to see the Lady in White, this might just be your chance. Ghosts of Charleston’s ghost and graveyard tour is the only one that gives you night-time access to one of the oldest graveyards in Charleston so you can get the whole haunting experience.
THE OLD EXCHANGE AND PROVOST DUNGEON
This historical building is one of the most well-recognized landmarks in downtown Charleston! Here, at The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, you can observe where the Constitution was signed and discover the history of Charleston firsthand through a guided tour. You will have the opportunity to go on a self-guided journey of the top two floors.
Admission also includes a 25 minute guided tour of the lower floor, known as the Provost Dungeon. Rumors have circulated for years about spirits and a dark entity that calls this old jail home. The question is, will you experience it as others have? Even if you don’t, you’ll learn all about the pirates imprisoned here, along with patriots and presidents from the colonial era to the modern preservation movement.
CHARLESTON’S ADULTS-ONLY GHOST TOUR: DEATH AND DEPRAVITY
Adults night out, and you’re feeling adventurous? This walking tour from Ghost City Tours is rated as one of the best tours in Charleston and will take you to explore Charleston’s seedier history! From the city’s brothels to gritty true crime stories, you’ll get to discover darker side of human nature. Combining aspects of the truly horrific, extremely scandalous, and the just-plan-bizzar, this ghost tour is a unique look at a city that largely ignores its dark past.
Please note that The Death and Depravity Ghost Tour contains mature themes and language — that’s why it’s an adults-only tour. Granted, Ghost City Tours does offer a 90-minute family-friendly tour: The Ghosts of Liberty Tour.
HAUNTED PUB CRAWL CHARLESTON GHOST TOUR
Speaking of a date night while on vacation, there’s no need to confront the world of the unknown without a couple of drinks in your system. Nightly Spirits offers a Haunted Pub Crawl where you can grab a cocktail at Blind Tiger’s haunted speakeasy or toast to the spirits at Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub.
Join the spirits, grab a bite to eat, and explore the beauty of the city at night while your guide teaches you the haunted legacy that lurks around every corner of historic Charleston. Maybe you prefer adventuring during the day, don’t forget you can indulge in the world of Charleston breweries too!
TAKE A WALK ON THE SPOOKY SIDE
Ready to explore the haunted Charleston areas and Kiawah Island? The list of ghostly things to do in one of the most haunted cities in South Carolina doesn’t end here. Plan your trip, and then let the spirits guide you upstream for a frightening, fun, and gorgeous time.
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