Charleston's Haunted Attraction

Introduction of Randall Jackson

T.V. shows about paranormal investigation always seems fake or at least dramatized, but after visiting the Old Charleston Jail, it seems far more real. Individuals in my tour group caught mysterious figures in pictures, left with scratch marks, and jumped at all the random slamming noises. In 1939, the jail closed and is now open for various tours and paranormal investigations. Randall Jackson of Bulldog Tours led my group and spoke with passion about the Jail’s horrific history.

Stairs in the Old Jail

The Jail opened in 1802 and held inmates like Denmark Vesey and Lavinia Fisher. The jail was built to hold around 130 inmates, but many prisoners were overcrowded into small cages. Jackson said that the peak occupancy was during the Civil War while the jail acted as a POW camp. While many inmates received a sentence to hang, or burn if you were a woman, an extra cruel sentence was lashes. The inmates were held up by ropes and the lashes tore away their

back skin, they were given in intervals if inmates could withstand infection and stay alive.

Lash room

Although the jail is closed, many of the unfortunate souls that died there are said to remain. The ghost of Lavinia Fisher is said to roam the halls and scratch the backs of young men. Another resident of the jail that Jackson spoke about was a man who calls himself “Animal”, he often walks on all fours and it was Jackson’s theory that he may have been a psychiatric patient who was kept in a cage so small that he could not move his arms and hurt anyone.

View from the cage room

The jail is an intriguing highlight of Charleston that is full of history and adventure. The various rooms hold artifacts and old graffiti that are a must see before it no longer available to be toured.