Author
Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist who has worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and now lends his expertise to the South Carolina betting market.
South Carolina’s 10 Most Haunted Cities
Halloween is almost upon us and that’s good news for South Carolina, where the holiday is both popular and marketable. Haunted houses abound – both legitimate and made for tourists.
At BetSouthCarolina.com, we’re only concerned with the real thing, so we took a break from monitoring any progress in South Carolina sports betting and researched the cities in the state where you’re most likely to see a ghost. Utilizing GhostsofAmerica.com, we compiled the amount of ghost sightings. After determining the number of sightings per city, we developed the Top 10 cities. Here are the results:
S.C. Cities That You Would Most Likely See a Ghost
Hot Springs a Hot Spot for Ghost Sightings
In first place is Rock Hill, and the hot spot for spectral sightings is Winthrop University. If you want to narrow it down, check out the fourth floor of Tillman Hall. Tillman, originally named Main Building, was built in 1894, eight years after Winthrop opened, and was supposedly constructed by prisoners. Many say their spirits have remained there. The haunting could also be due to the building being renamed in 1962 for former governor Benjamin Tillman, an avowed and proud white supremacist. For three years Winthrop has been trying unsuccessfully to get the South Carolina state legislature to allow the university to change the name back to Main Building.
Other Winthrop buildings believed to be haunted are Margaret Nance Hall and The Little Chapel. Nance Hall is the oldest dormitory on campus, and residents over the years have convinced themselves that Mrs. Nance is still around. She might be staying to keep a ghoulish eye on her son, David Bancroft Johnson, Winthrop’s first president. He and his wife, Mai, are buried at the chapel and still wish students well. All Winthrop ghosts are said to be Casper-like – very friendly.
Tiny Jacksonboro is second on our list primarily due to the number of sightings at Jacksonboro Light. The story is that a preacher went out searching for his daughter one night and got hit by a car. He died, but supposedly he still walks the streets continuing his search. If you see a swinging light on Parkers Ferry Road, that’s the preacher’s light.
Not to be out-spirited, No. 3 Conway has the story of the Lucas Bay Lights, where a lantern lights the way for a Civil War era mother in search of her baby. Ghost stories are so popular in Conway that last year’s Ghost Walk events completely sold out.
Columbia, in fourth place, also markets its spooky apparitions. The popular Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina is supposedly a hangout for ghosts, and former university president James Rion McKissick has been known to roam the library at night. He moves slowly as he died almost 90 years ago. The ghost at the South Carolina State Museum walks among the fourth-floor artifacts. He’s a former textile worker who died in a factory accident and is still wearing his overalls. He’s named Bubba, of course, and many have said they’ve seen him walk the halls.
And at No. 5 is Greenville, where the Poinsett Bridge is closed to traffic but open to ghosts and the classy Westin Poinsett Hotel has unpaid guest phantoms inhabiting the rooms.
Stay close to SouthCarolina.com for news on possible sports wagering legislation as well as for South Carolina sports betting promo codes.