Date : May 20th - 27th, 2006
Location : Georgetown County, SC
I recently took a trip to South Carolina. If you've ever visited
this region of the U.S., you probably already know that the area
is loaded with plantations. Some are still intact, others just a
memory.
The cities there, such as Charleston and Georgetown, played major
roles in the birth of our nation. The roles these cities played
in southern history mirror the roles that Gettysburg, Boston, or
even Philadelphia played in northern history. To this day, some
of the structures that existed during the turbulent period of the
Civil War still stand, as though time left them unscathed.
Just like those northern cities I mentioned, these cities have
their share of ghost stories too. One such story involves the burned
out shell of a church in Georgetown County known as Prince Frederick's
Church or more locally known as The Old Gunn Church.
You can't possibly imagine the tough time I had trying to find
this church. It lies way off the beaten path along a stretch of
long, winding road. It seemed like I drove forever to get there,
but actually finding it made it all worthwhile.
The church's construction began in 1859. During this time period,
several large rice plantations thrived in this area. Around the
middle of 1860, construction came to a screeching halt when the
Union occupied the harbor in Georgetown. It was also in this same
year that the church's architect, Thomas Gunn, lost his footing
and fell to his death while putting the finishing touches on the
bell tower. Eventually, the church was finished and was in operation
for many years.
As the hurricanes destroyed many of the rice fields and forced
most of the plantation owners to move on to "greener pastures",
the church lost most of its members and fell into disrepair. Somewhere
in its troubled history, it caught fire and the majority of it burned
to the ground. The only thing left standing, to this day, are the
bell tower and front portion of the church. The rest was demolished
in 1966.
Many locals say that Gunn still haunts the old church. There is
also a small cemetery behind the remains of the old church. Rumor
has it, that some Civil War dead are buried there. I can't confirm,
nor deny, that because there is a giant barbed wire fence which
surrounds the entire site. It seems this cemetery draws thieves
and vandals, much the same way most cemeteries do.
We did manage to try a short, but sweet, EVP session. It would
have been longer, but this area is very close to the ocean and storms
move in very quickly. I didn't really relish the thought of being
the next ghost story. Our session came up negative, but we did manage
to get a few pictures of the site.
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