Is this SC museum haunted? Ghost hunters will try to find out during worldwide event
The legend goes that the ghost of a man falsely accused of killing a cab driver in the 1940s and lynched still haunts the Pickens County Museum.
The museum was once the county jail. Willie Earle, a 24-year-old Black man, was held there for a few hours until dozens of White taxi drivers dragged him out, drove to a remote location and beat, stabbed and shot him.
His murder is believed to be the last of 160 racially motivated lynchings in South Carolina. In the end, 31 white men were acquitted in this death.
The story goes that Earle’s cries of innocence resound even now.
A team of paranormal investigators will attempt to find out on Sept. 24 as part of National Ghost Hunting Day and the corresponding World’s Largest Ghost Hunt.
Raven Investigations of the Paranormal, based in Myrtle Beach and focused on all things paranormal in North and South Carolina, will live stream what they find on their YouTube channel.
Other investigators from around the world will simultaneously live stream their investigations.
National Ghost Hunting Day was started in July 2016 and is held on the last Saturday in September, chosen to reflect what they call the start of the Halloween season.
“Its noble intention is to globally promote the most haunted properties in the world while recognizing the work of paranormal investigators dedicated to these iconic locations,” the organization says on its website.
Pickens County Museum Curator Daniel James said the Willie Earle story is one of the less frequent stories people tell about the haunted former jail, but he has shared the story with Raven.
The most often-told ghost story is that of Sarah McDaniel, whose husband James was sheriff when the jail opened in 1903. The family lived in part of the building. She, a daughter and daughter-in-law died of typhoid fever the next year.
Many people report seeing a silhouette in an upstairs window. They believe it is Sarah.
James also told Raven investigators about artifacts the museum houses, such as a sword disguised as a cane owned by Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens and a piano owned by John C. Calhoun’s wife.
He said sometimes spirits attach themselves to items they once owned.