Ghosts of Berkeley County, South Carolina

by Bruce Orr

  It was the decomposing body of a woman in the tattered dress his lovely Edith had been wearing. In an instant, the realization of what he was seeing hit him. He released an ungodly moan and collapsed beside the corpse.

  When people arrived for services the next morning, they found the unconscious Carrington beside the body of Edith Coleman. Edith had been the eldest daughter of James Coleman, had died many months before and had been placed in the vault. Further investigation revealed that the lid to Edith’s casket had been removed and that the lining had been shredded by fingernails…from the inside. Obviously, Edith had not been dead. She apparently had been in a deathlike coma and had come out of it only to find herself trapped at the door of the crypt. Unable to escape, she died on her knees clawing at the door.

  The crest that disturbed Charles Carrington. Courtesy of Library of Congress Archives.

  Charles Carrington physically recovered from his ordeal but was said to have gone insane from the ordeal. His mind was never able to reconcile his experience.

  Another tale associated with the old church involves the burial of another young woman in the vault near the front door of the church. A young slave boy was tasked with bringing water to the church daily. He heard screams and cries from the vault but was so frightened that he was afraid to tell anyone of his experiences. When he finally refused to return to the church, he told his master of the “ghost.” The master examined the vault and discovered that the young woman had also been entombed alive and had been unable to escape the vault. By the time the young slave had informed his master, it was too late.

  The vault across from the front door is marked with a marble slab that reads:

  Here lies the Body of

  Elizabeth Ann Smith

  The Amiable and Deservedly Beloved Wife of

  Captain Benjamin Smith

  Who died the 26 March 1769

  Aged 27 years

  Also Their Daughter

  Mary Smith

  Who Died September 9th 1768 Aged 3 Years 5ms. and 8 Days

  During those times, epidemics spread rapidly, and their causes were not understood. When a person died of a disease, there was a rush to bury them for fear that the disease would leave the deceased body and look for a new living host. People were often rushed to burial and oftentimes were not dead. They would be in a comatose state that would be mistaken for death by an attending physician in his haste to prevent further infection of a community.

  CAPTAIN “MAD ARCHIE” CAMPBELL’S WAGER

  Captain Archie Campbell was quite an arrogant and prideful man. As a member of the king’s army, he was entitled to wear the white breeches and gold braided red coat that signified him as a British soldier. The problem with Archie was that he prided himself too well. He was rude, arrogant and boastful. In fact, he was described as a “wee bit of a smug bastard” by his closest friends.

  Captain Campbell was quite smitten with the beautiful young Paulina Phelps. He liked the sweet and innocent Paulina. She was not demanding like other women he had known. He liked the fact that she was quiet and timid. He wanted a wife to look up to him and admire and adore him as much as he adored himself. He wanted a wife who worshiped him, a wife he could control. Paulina was just such a woman, he thought. He just did not understand why she pretended to have no interest in him. Yes indeed, he absolutely was a smug bastard.

  The bells of St. Michael’s church rang as he hurried along Meeting Street to his destination. The windows were filled with lights just as the air was filled with the sounds of music, laughter and merriment. Captain Campbell had arrived. Now the party could begin. He strode up the steps and handed his cockaded tricorn hat to the butler. He then went into the drawing room to bow low over the hand of Mrs. Tidyman, the hostess.

  The year was 1780, and Captain Campbell found many friends there at the social gathering. Charles Towne was occupied by Royalists and Loyalists alike. Those in attendance who were not British were surely Tory allies. One person who was not in attendance downstairs was the lovely Pauline. Captain Campbell continued through the building, through the hall and up the stairs to the ballroom above. He stopped momentarily as his eye caught the one thing that could slow his search for Pauline: a mirror.

  After pausing to admire his reflection, he continued into the ballroom. Immediately he found her, her white gown billowing about as she danced. She tossed her hair back and laughed. She was quite a beautiful sight in her expensive gown and her dazzling jewels. Wealth had a tendency to make women even more attractive to Captain Campbell.

  The captain frowned when he saw the flirtatious glances that Pauline was giving the young soldier who was her dance partner. When the dance was over, he strode over and bowed to claim the pleasure of the next dance. She informed him that it was already taken. The gentleman smiled with a smug satisfaction that rivaled even that of Captain Campbell himself.

  Campbell watched as his rage mounted. “Who is this young puppy?” he asked of his friends.

  “He is the new lieutenant from Philadelphia,” was the response. “Challenge him for his arrogance.”

  “Never mind,” said the captain. “I intend to marry the lady.”

  A burst of laughter from his companions caused him to raise his voice. “I will indeed challenge him, but first I shall be married.”

  “Married?” their eyes turned to the beautiful Pauline, who was gazing at the young lieutenant. “It looks as if the wedding will not be yours!” they teased.

  “Gentlemen, do you honestly believe that this young popinjay could win her from me?” responded the captain.

  “I’ll wager,” began one of his friends, but the captain cut him off in mid-sentence.

  “Nay gentlemen, it is I who will wager. I will wager my Arab filly to fifty pound of yours. I wager that in three days I will be married to that lady.”

  The others scoffed at the idea, to which the captain added, “with her consent.”

  “Taken, taken,” laughed the men as all shook hands. They thought it was a shame that he should lose the lady and even worse that he should lose a fine horse.

  The next day, Captain Campbell drove up to the door of 43 East Battery. He had come to take Pauline, “Miss Polly” as she liked to be called, for a ride in his carriage behind a very spirited steed. Miss Phelps had sent back a response to his request that she would be pleased to go. She could not resist a ride through town in such a wonderful carriage. She would be noticed and envied by all of the ladies since she had not one but two British suitors. She donned her blue cloak and her prettiest bonnet with the brightest plumes. She allowed the captain to assist her into the high seat.

  Mad Archie Campbell recited his vows with a pistol pointed at the preacher and another at the bride. Courtesy of Library of Congress Archives.

  He drove the horse quickly. Soon they had left Charles Towne behind in a cloud of dust and were in the country. He struck the horse with the carriage whip, and the horse responded by rearing and then bolting wildly. Again and again he struck the horse, encouraging it to go faster and faster. The horse raced madly over the rough road, slinging mud. Faster and faster he drove the horse as he ignored Pauline’s pleas to slow down.

  “Ah, Miss Polly. It is so lovely to see your eyes so large and your lips are so red, and my steed does love to run. He will not listen to reason. Reason, Miss Polly? Who cares for reason? It is glorious to ride with you, like flying, Miss Polly, my sweet. Let us fly together to the skies!”

  “But Captain Campbell, I…”

  “No ‘buts’ my lovely. On and on we go to the road that has no turning,” the captain responded.

  On and on they went until they had reached the Goose Creek Church. Captain Campbell pulled up to the door of the rectory, and Mr. Ellington came out. Paulina, half fainting, was helped from the carriage. When she recovered, the captain insisted that they had come to be married.

  “Not without the consent of the lady,” responded the parson.

  The captain then drew his p
istol and pointed it at the man. “Unless you comply, you shall be instantly shot, and the lady’s virtue could only suffer in consequence. I say, Sir, make haste!” He then produced a second pistol, which he placed against Pauline’s head. He smiled a smile of sheer madness. “The lady does consent. Do you not, my dear?”

  “Yes, oh yes!” she responded wisely. They were then married there at the church, just the couple, the preacher and two matching pistols. Afterward, they returned to Charles Towne.

  Pauline told her family of the tale and the marriage. She said that it was not until they arrived at the church and the captain had explained his intentions that she ever thought of seriously marrying him. She would later say that even had he not had a pistol to her head she would have married him anyway after that exhilarating ride to the church.

  Captain Campbell won his lady, fifty pounds and the nickname “Mad Archie.” His happiness was short-lived, for he was captured at the Battle of Videau’s Bridge in 1782 as the British made a raid to capture slaves and steal them and supplies from the colonists. He attempted to escape and was shot dead by Nicholas Venning. Pauline died a few months later while giving birth to their only child.

  The couple had spent their short time together at Exeter Plantation in Moncks Corner. The plantation was destroyed by fire in 1967, and Berkeley Country Club now occupies the ground were it once stood. They say that you can often hear Pauline crying for the child she left behind as she walks along the large oak trees at the entrance to the country club. It is also said that you can also hear the laughter of Mad Archie Campbell in the old St. James Church in Goose Creek and see him standing in the doorway in his bright red coat with a pistol in each hand.

  HANGMAN’S TREE

  About ten and a half miles from the Berkeley County line, crossing into Georgetown County, there stands a cypress tree along St. Delight’s Road. It is an odd-looking tree with a nasty scar on the side facing the highway. This side, at one time, had a very large branch that stretched over the highway until a tractor trailer rig with an exceptionally tall load struck it several years ago and it had to be removed. This old tree is easily identifiable since it is the only tree along the roadway that has been barricaded by the highway department with protective steel railing barricades. Perhaps this was done in order to protect it from damage should some weary driver fall asleep and travel over in its direction. Then again, perhaps the two counties decided that enough people had already lost their lives on this tree over the past few centuries. This tree is known as Hangman’s Tree.

  Although it is located in what is now Georgetown County, it was once part of Berkeley County and was used as a place for execution for criminals, unruly slaves, nonpatriots and anyone else who was “deserving” to be made a public example. The corpse would be left hanging in the tree dangling over the highway as a deterrent to anyone who may have a notion to violate the laws of the land as they were passing through. There was nothing more rehabilitating to a would-be criminal than traveling under that massive limb and watching the crows and buzzards feasting on former ne’er-do-wells. Even after the electric chair took over as South Carolina’s favorite form of capital punishment and hangings were stopped, the tree still stood tall as a reminder to those entering or leaving Berkeley County that nonsense was dealt with swiftly. Even as a small child, I recall traveling under that massive limb as we traveled to my grandmother’s home in Myrtle Beach. I also remember my mother often accelerating just a little as we passed it. Maybe it was a child’s imagination or maybe it was real, but that tree always seemed to bother us just a little.

  Hangman’s Tree once served both Berkeley and Georgetown Counties. Its usage dates back to the Revolutionary War. Courtesy of KOP Shots.

  Once, as we passed under the tree, I saw a man sitting on the limb. He waved as we passed by. No one seemed to notice the man but me. Even when I said something, my siblings never saw him, and my mom shushed me about it. Again maybe it was an overactive imagination, perhaps someone was hiding in the tree or perhaps there was something paranormal at play. I don’t really know which, but one thing is for certain: I have never liked that damn tree.

  Hangman’s Tree got its start in the days of colonial South Carolina. During the American Revolution, there were those who opposed British rule and those who were still loyal to the king (Loyalists or Tories).

  After the fall of Charleston to the British, colonial forces near Moncks Corner learned that a group of Tories along with a few British forces were headed for the town of Pineville. The colonial forces sent out a scout named Joe Edie to warn Francis Marion, who was resting in the area. Marion was an elusive leader of the colonial forces known as the “Swamp Fox” because of his ability to fight and then completely disappear into the swamps and forests of Berkeley County. In fact, one British officer, Lord Charles Cornwallis, referred to the swamp in which he was chasing Marion as “one hell of a hole.” This area of the swamp is now known as Hell Hole Swamp.

  Edie warned Francis Marion and then warned all the people in the area to bury their valuables and hide their supplies. They were also told to hide their livestock deep in the swamps. He also carried a message to the men to meet Marion the next morning in a specially designated spot deep in the Santee Swamp.

  Tories were plentiful in the area, so Francis Marion wrote a letter to a friend and Patriot stating that he and his men were in Jamestown resting. He sent forth the letter knowing that it would be captured by Tories and that the information would be used by opposing forces to capture or kill him and his men. It also would divert the opposing forces from Pineville.

  Joe Edie alerted Captain Bonneau, who got his things in order, buried his valuables and went to meet Marion. The group of colonists then intercepted the opposing force, killing several and taking numerous prisoners. The rest of the Tories fled back toward Moncks Corner.

  Among the prisoners was a man who identified himself as “Jack Sprat.” This was more than likely a name he gave his captors during interrogation in order to prevent them from identifying his family and other Loyalists. He obviously took the name from the nursery rhyme that became popular after its publication in 1765 in Mother Goose’s Melody. Regardless, it did not help the Loyalist. In fact, he had been captured riding one of Captain Bonneau’s horses and had in his saddlebags some of the possessions Bonneau had buried on his property.

  Since Jack Sprat insisted on protecting his companions, he was seen as having a code of honor and his loyalty was rewarded by Captain Bonneau. Bonneau’s men prepared a rope and gave it to the prisoner, with the orders for “Jack Sprat” to hang himself from a large cypress tree. Much to the colonists’ surprise, the man did just that. He climbed up in the tree, secured the rope to the limb, placed the noose around his neck, smiled and waved to his captors; then he leapt to his death. As a deterrent, his body was left hanging from the tree, and in fact it is said that his bones hung there for many years after his death.

  It is said that Jack Sprat haunted the tree for many years and could be seen sitting on the branch up until it was removed. Perhaps this is who I saw in the tree as a young boy. We will never know because Jack Sprat disappeared when the hanging branch was removed.

  Another story associated with the tree concerns another Tory, by the name of Dave Peigler. He and his brother, Dan, were notorious Loyalists. Dave was a tavern keeper and was suspected of being involved in the murders of several colonists, although there was no proof other than he would end up being in possession of the horses they were last seen riding. He often threatened to capture one of the leaders, Captain Theus, and have him hanged. There was no love lost between Theus and the Peigler brothers.

  Sometime in 1779, information was received by Francis Marion that a group of British forces was moving into the area. Captain Theus was a member of Marion’s forces, and he and a scouting party were sent out for reconnaissance. The captain’s plantation was located along the path the party took, so they stopped there to replenish supplies. They quickly learned that th
e Peigler brothers had raided it just a few hours before their arrival. They had driven off the horses and cattle and had boasted that they had ran the rebel forces out of the area. They then told the frightened slaves that they would return and burn the house to the ground.

  Of course, this did not make Captain Theus very happy. He had all but one of his men leave and retreat to a previously designated rendezvous location. As was customary in those days, rebel colonists would have their most trusted slaves hide in the woods near their plantations and keep watch to alert them of danger. Captain Theus did this, and then he and his companion tied their horses in a secluded garden and went inside to have dinner. As they sat down, one of the slaves burst into the home and advised them that one of the Peigler brothers was galloping up the road alone.

  Dave Peigler reached the house and was swearing and cursing. He said that he had left one of his pistols in the dining room and that he would cut the throat of every negro in the place, take what he wanted as payment for having to return and then burn the entire place to the ground. It would have been very easy to shoot him as he stood in the yard cursing and securing his horse. In fact, the one colonist raised his weapon to do so but was stopped by Captain Theus. Theus drew his sword and stepped behind the half-opened front door. The other colonist caught the idea, stepped behind a hall door and removed a buckskin cord. Dave Peigler walked through the door with pistol in hand. In the next instant, Captain Theus struck him with the butt of the sword with such force that the blade broke at the hilt. As Peigler hit the floor, both men pounced on him and quickly secured his hands with the cord. Even then, Peigler continued to resist until he felt the cold muzzle of a pistol in his ear.