The Old City Jail held Civil War prisoners and serial killers. Walk Charleston's 13 most haunted stops. 3 free, self-guided.
Lavinia Fisher was hanged on February 18, 1820, after drugging and robbing travelers at her Six Mile Wayfarer House — and the Old Charleston Jail where she spent her final days still radiates cold from her cell block. Charleston does not dabble in the paranormal; it marinates in it. The city's 13-stop self-guided ghost tour hits locations soaked in documented violence: Poogan's Porch, where the spirit of Zoe St. Amand has been photographed in second-story windows since the 1970s; the Dock Street Theatre, America's first playhouse (opened 1736), where a burned woman in a red dress walks floors that no longer exist; and White Point Garden, where pirate Stede Bonnet and 29 crewmen were executed in December 1718 and left to rot as warnings. Every stop is free. Every haunting is real.
The Old City Jail at 21 Magazine Street operated from 1802 to 1939, processing an estimated 10,000 prisoners across nearly 140 years. The building hel...
The house at 72 Queen Street was built in 1888 and served as the private residence of sisters Zoe and Elizabeth St. Amand for over sixty years. Elizab...
On February 12, 1736, the first building on this site opened as America's first purpose-built theater, staging Farquhar's "The Recruiting Officer." Th...
The Powder Magazine at 79 Cumberland Street was built in 1713, making it the oldest public building in the Carolinas. Its original purpose was straigh...
The Unitarian Church at 4 Archdale Street was built in 1787, making it the second-oldest Unitarian church in America. Its graveyard, overgrown with wi...
The Exchange Building was constructed between 1767 and 1771 at the foot of Broad Street, designed as Charleston's customs house and mercantile exchang...
The Battery Carriage House Inn at 20 South Battery Street was built in 1843 as the carriage house for the Stevens-Lathers mansion. During the Civil Wa...
White Point Garden sits at the tip of the Charleston peninsula, where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers meet the harbor. In 1718, this ground served as a p...
The building at 6 Chalmers Street served one of the cruelest purposes in American history. In 1856, after Charleston banned public slave auctions on t...
Magnolia Cemetery opened in 1850 as Charleston's answer to the rural cemetery movement, 92 acres of live oaks, lagoons, and ornate monuments designed ...
Joseph Manigault built this elegant Neoclassical residence in 1803, designed by his brother Gabriel, one of America's first gentleman architects. The ...
The Charleston ghost tour includes 13 documented haunted locations covering 152 years of documented history.
The first 3 stops are completely free — no account required. To unlock all 13 stops, a History Nearby premium subscription is $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
No. This is a self-guided walking tour. Each stop includes the address, a map pin, and the full haunting story. Walk at your own pace, start anytime, and take any route you like.
Plan for approximately 2.5 hours. This accounts for walking between stops and reading each haunting story. You can also split it across multiple evenings.
The most visited stop on our Charleston tour is The Old Charleston Jail at 21 Magazine Street, dating back to 1802.
3 stops free in Charleston. No guide, no schedule — walk at your own pace after dark.
Last updated February 22, 2026. Researched by the History Nearby editorial team.