Meet Bubba, the SC State Museum ghost

Like most ghost stories, the tale of the spirit that roams the S.C. State Museum begins with a tragic death that occurred inside the building’s historic brick walls.

“Many people don’t realize that the State Museum’s largest artifact is the Columbia Mills building that houses the museum itself,” said spokesman Jared Glover.

Built in the late 1800s, the textile business was the first totally electric powered mill in the world. The mill closed in 1981 and the building was donated to the state.

During the days of Columbia Mills, the large freight elevator – still in operation today – was used to haul cotton up to certain floors.

An employee of the mill was looking down the shaft of the elevator thinking the elevator itself was below him. But it wasn’t. It was above him. And before he realized it, the elevator came down on his head, decapitating him.

RELATED VIDEO: Bubba the ghost is real!

“After the mill’s conversion to a museum, a ghost, nicknamed ‘Bubba’ was reported on the third floor,” said Glover, adding he has never seen the ghost.

Still, other witnesses have seen a man in overalls and boots wandering about the exhibits.

“We’ve had some former employees that have had encounters with Bubba, near the schoolhouse on the fourth floor,” Glover saids. “There are reports of the bell ringing while nobody is around. Others have said they spotted a dark shadowy figure near the hearse.”

Here are some other stories of encounters with Bubba:

▪ Tonia Alston, chief of security at the museum, once encountered Bubba while making her morning rounds.

“I was walking up the stairs near the Best Friend train located on the third floor,” Alston said. “I noticed a strange figure on top of the train. At first I wasn’t sure what I was looking at until I got a little closer and noticed it had on overalls. That’s when I knew it was Bubba. I was pretty startled at first. I kept doing my rounds and came back to where the train was and he was gone.”

That wasn’t the only time Alston encountered the overall-wearing ghost.

“I was on the fourth floor and I heard a bell ringing. I knew I was the only person in the museum, so I figured it had to be him.”

▪ Two visitors walking toward an elevator saw a man climb on just ahead of them. When they ran to get on the elevator before the doors closed, it was empty.

▪ Pam Borawski, a volunteer at the museum, was alone in her office one evening preparing the schedule for the upcoming ghost tour. “I had not yet put Bubba’s story into the tour,” she said. “There was a rapid knocking on my desk, very loud and so hard that it made my desk shake. There was no one around, no one in the office or even in the hallway. I know it was Bubba, telling me that he did not want to be forgotten. I included him immediately!”

▪  In an S.C. ETV video, former employee Bemo Prince told the story of a security guard who saw a man walking in the museum while it was closed. He followed him and saw him disappear into a wall.

Prince also saw a man walking on the fourth floor while preparing the museum for opening one morning. He too followed the man only to have him disappear.

“I stopped in my tracks and I decided maybe I’ve seen Bubba this time.”

Prince’s mother-in-law complained to him about seeing a mannequin dressed in a dusty costume – only there were no mannequins where she saw it.

This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Meet Bubba, the SC State Museum ghost."