It’s been a long time since we featured a good haunted history tour, so we’re coming back strong with a personal favorite, the Charleston Ghost & Dungeon Walking Tour by Bulldog Tours.
I’ve ruminated on the pleasures of Charleston, South Carolina before – the originality, the authenticity, the variety, the hospitality – and this is another fine selection for your to-do list. The Ghost & Dungeon Tour, one of several offered by the company, explores the haunting streets and alleys of Charleston’s infamous Historic District well as any, but is my choice for one reason alone: the dungeon.
The pre-revolutionary Provost Dungeon of Charleston is the dark, heady, menacing sort of place that thrill buffs like myself crave and city ghost tours so rarely offer. Several city tour companies mention the dungeon, quite literally in passing, but only the Ghost & Dungeon Tour by Bulldog goes inside.
For ghost tour buffs of any age, this is the one. In fact, if you are traveling with little ones, the dungeon tour comes more highly recommended as one of Bulldog’s three family tours. If it’s adults only, they have gamier options.
The Dark Side of Charleston Walking Tour is an R-rated (so they say) stroll through Charleston’s seediest history. Animated, knowledgeable tour guides will immerse you in a sordid world of brothels, prostitution, corruption and crime, a striking departure from the cozy, cosmopolitan sensibilities of the Charleston you think you know and love.
If it’s all about the scares for you, then consider the Haunted Jail Tour. Claimed to be the company’s most frightening experience, to the point that it’s unsuitable for children, this tour takes you inside the Old City Jail where many pirates, war prisoners and the Lowcountry’s most notorious criminals spent their final days. Tip: Set the right scene with a late tour, 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. If the sun is still up, wait for the next one.
Tour space is limited and tends to fill up so advanced reservations are recommended. For more information on all of Bulldog’s Charleston Ghost Tours, visit their Web site. (Love the site, actually. It’s so packed with silliness I’m a little surprised that I didn’t write it. Check the FAQ and Tour Guide pages).
Our go-to choice for Charleston hotel lodging is the famous and historic Mills House Hotel. An attraction in its own right, the Mills House is actually a stop along Charleston’s Museum Mile.
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6 Comments
I visited Scotlands – Stirling Old Town Jail at Halloween and it was brilliantly scary
http://www.oldtownjail.com
Thanks for writing in Marianne.
The Stirling Old Town Jail looks like it’s right up my alley. We have our share of old buildings over here in the States, but we really can’t compete with the Old Country. How amazing all these destinations must be, especially from the standpoint of a supernatural investigation.
I should try to talk the bosses into expanding our reach internationally, leaving all the hands-on research to myself, of course
Hi Steven,
Glad to see you’re posting about Charleston ghost tours! We know how valuable the USA Travel Guide is to our tourism here in the Holy City.
My only “devil’s advocate” comments would be that I wish there would be more than just a plug for Bulldog tours…I worked for them at one point, when the company was building and it was indeed a good time. However, they have expanded so greatly and double up on their tour times now that most all ambiance their sites had has been completely blown. As for going in the Dungeon, I’m not kidding, as a guide more than once I was given a seven-minute window to get in and out ’cause the next group is due. Now you can only tour 2-3 rooms at the jail, where it used to be the whole building. Their Dark Side tour, though they deny it, is now based on the books written by Mark R. Jones (who I will admit is my husband/business partner) and Mark does a much more thorough tour on seedy subjects than any guide at Bulldog (and I know this, as he has spent seven years in continual research, and most Bulldog guides start annually).
And lastly, I’m not certain why the Mills House is on the Museum Mile, as the only thing not 1960s reproduction on the building is the iron balcony above Meeting Street. The actual historic building was demolished to build the reproduction, due to structural integrity.
But I love your site overall and will continue to look through USA Travel Guide for my own travel research!
Many thanks,
Rebel Sinclair, Black Cat Tours LLC
I dont belive all those things, there is no ghost at all.
u should eat at poogan’s porch it really is haunted by zoe and poogan (a very cute and fluffy dog) they say if u eat at poogan’s porch u can feel poogan rub up against your leg its true cause we were listening to the ghost tour lady and these people came out of poogan’s porch and i asked them if hey felt something rub up against their leg and they said yes and we also stayed at the mills house hotel (its very nice) my friends mom put our bathing suits on the balcony to dry while were watching the stanley cup finals (hawks won) and when we woke up the next morning our bathing suits were on the desk i’m not really scared og ghosts anymore because when i went to the market they had an oogle its a little statue and it keeps ghosts away and i thought that it was a cute little critter so i bought it and next time i go to charleston im going to go on a ghost tour
Hi emma, thanks for writing in with the great tip. Our team out east has actually been to Poogan’s Porch and couldn’t agree more!