The Haunted Battery Carriage House Inn: Ghosts of 20 South Battery
Few places in Charleston have a haunted reputation quite like the Battery Carriage House Inn.
Located at 20 South Battery, directly across from White Point Garden, the historic property is now known simply as 20 South Battery. The 1843 mansion, attached carriage house and gardens remain one of the most remarkable historic estates on the Charleston peninsula.
But for generations of guests, the address has been known for something else.
Ghosts.
The Battery Carriage House Inn became famous for several distinct hauntings, particularly the terrifying headless torso of Room 8 and the much friendlier Gentleman Ghost of Room 10.
Guests have awakened to apparitions beside their beds.
People have heard unexplained footsteps and pounding.
Others have described the unmistakable feeling that someone else was in the room.
And some of the stories have been repeated so consistently that individual spirits have become permanently associated with individual rooms.
Welcome to one of the most haunted places in Charleston.
Where Is the Battery Carriage House Inn?
Address: 20 South Battery, Charleston, SC
The former Battery Carriage House Inn sits across from White Point Garden at the southern end of the Charleston peninsula.
Today, the entire restored estate operates as 20 South Battery, incorporating the historic mansion, carriage house, gardens and guest accommodations. The current property dates its main residence to 1843.
The location could hardly be more Charleston.
Historic mansions line the street.
Charleston Harbor is nearby.
White Point Garden stretches across the road.
And beneath all that beauty is a landscape deeply connected with Charleston's wars, deaths and supernatural history.
The History of 20 South Battery
The mansion at 20 South Battery was built in 1843 as a private residence. After the Civil War, Colonel Richard Lathers acquired the property and commissioned architect John Henry Devereux to transform it in the elaborate Second Empire style associated with the building today.
The house later became important to Charleston's preservation movement.
In 1920, the organization that became the Preservation Society of Charleston was founded in its ballroom.
During later decades, portions of the property were used as accommodations, and by the 1970s the carriage-house portion became known as the Battery Carriage House Inn.
Dr. Jack Schaeffer purchased the property in 2018 and undertook an extensive restoration before reopening the entire estate under the name 20 South Battery.
The name changed.
The ghosts did not.
Want to Experience Haunted Charleston After Dark?
The Battery is only one small part of Charleston's supernatural history.
Join Ghost Tour Charleston for an evening walking tour through haunted streets, old churches, mysterious deaths and the ghost stories that have survived for generations.
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Room 8: The Headless Torso
Of all the ghosts associated with the Battery Carriage House Inn, Room 8 has the most terrifying reputation.
This is not a translucent woman drifting quietly down a hallway.
The ghost in Room 8 is described as a headless human torso.
Guests have reported waking during the night and discovering the apparition near their beds.
Descriptions consistently portray a male torso with no visible head or arms, dressed in what appears to be a coarse gray military-style jacket.
The apparition is commonly believed to be a Confederate soldier.
That interpretation fits the property's location.
During the Civil War, Confederate defenses occupied the Battery directly across from the house. South Carolina educational material recounting the haunting notes that Confederate soldiers operated cannons around what is now White Point Garden and that soldiers were killed and wounded when military equipment and munitions exploded near the end of the war.
The ghost appears to have retained the injuries of his death.
No head.
No arms.
Just the torso.
The Skeptic Who Stayed in Room 8
One of the most famous Room 8 encounters occurred in 1993.
According to the story preserved in Charleston's paranormal tradition, a skeptical guest deliberately stayed in the room despite warnings about its ghost.
During the night, he awakened and saw the headless torso beside him.
Instead of immediately running, he reached toward it.
The apparition responded with what he described as an animalistic growl.
That ended the experiment.
The man's description of the apparition's coarse clothing helped strengthen the belief that the spirit belonged to a Confederate soldier.
Other people have described the same basic figure over the years.
The current owner of 20 South Battery has even spoken publicly about the Room 8 spirit and the distinctive gray, coarse material witnesses associate with its clothing.
Why Is Room 8 Haunted?
The most widely accepted Charleston explanation is that the spirit was a wounded Confederate soldier connected with the Civil War defenses along the Battery.
White Point Garden was used for military fortifications during the war, and the carriage house may have been used in connection with wounded soldiers.
Whatever his exact identity, the apparition seen in Room 8 is remarkably consistent.
A male figure.
Gray, rough clothing.
No head.
No arms.
And enough presence to wake people from sleep.
Among Charleston ghost stories, it is hard to beat that.
Room 10: The Gentleman Ghost
Room 8 has the frightening ghost.
Room 10 has the charming one.
The spirit inhabiting Room 10 became known as the Gentleman Ghost because of his appearance and unusually polite behavior.
Witnesses describe a wispy gray apparition of a handsome young man dressed in clothing associated with Charleston's late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century elite.
Unlike the violent-looking apparition in Room 8, the Gentleman Ghost does not appear interested in frightening anyone.
He seems particularly interested in women.
And beds.
The Ghost Who Gets Into Bed
Several Room 10 stories follow a remarkably similar pattern.
A woman wakes during the night.
Someone is lying beside her.
She realizes the man isn't her companion.
Then she realizes he isn't alive.
The woman screams.
And the Gentleman Ghost leaves—sometimes reportedly through the wall.
It is arguably one of Charleston's strangest hauntings.
He doesn't attack.
He doesn't growl.
He doesn't chase anyone.
He simply appears beside sleeping women and, when his presence becomes unwelcome, politely disappears.
Hence the name:
The Gentleman Ghost.
Who Is the Gentleman Ghost?
The property's own published account connects Room 10 with the tragedy of a young man who returned from Yale University in 1904 to his family's Charleston home.
The story says he later went to an upper floor and fell from a window to the lawn below.
His spirit subsequently became associated with Room 10 and the Gentleman Ghost encounters reported there.
More than a century later, guests are still telling stories about a young male presence at 20 South Battery.
Room 3: The Other Haunted Room
Rooms 8 and 10 get most of the attention.
But they aren't alone.
Room 3 has also produced paranormal activity.
One well-known account describes a married couple awakening after midnight to unusual activity involving a cellphone that had reportedly been switched off before bed.
The couple also reported seeing glowing orb-like forms moving through the room on multiple nights.
Another guest who identified herself as a psychic was eventually brought into the room and described the presence of multiple spirits. According to the account, after she asked the spirits to leave, the couple finally slept through the night undisturbed.
Room 3 lacks the celebrity ghost of Room 10 or the nightmare-inducing apparition of Room 8.
But it helps establish something important about the Battery Carriage House:
The haunting is bigger than one room.
Charleston's Ghosts Aren't Confined to One Hotel
20 South Battery has its Gentleman Ghost and its headless soldier.
Elsewhere in Charleston you'll find haunted churches, graveyards, alleys, warehouses and centuries-old buildings with their own spirits.
Ghost Tour Charleston brings those stories together during an evening walk through the historic city.
Has the Owner Experienced the Ghosts?
Yes.
Current owner Dr. Jack Schaeffer has publicly described an unexplained experience that occurred while 20 South Battery was being restored.
Schaeffer said he was alone at the property around 6:30 p.m. when he heard a distinctive booming sound.
Someone familiar with the property immediately recognized his description and told him that was characteristic activity associated with the ghost in Room 8.
That is one reason the haunting at the Battery Carriage House has endured.
These aren't simply stories from anonymous Victorian legends.
Guests have reported encounters.
Employees have reported encounters.
Owners have reported unexplained activity.
The stories continue.
Can You Still Stay at the Battery Carriage House Inn?
Yes—but today you should search for 20 South Battery.
The Battery Carriage House still exists as part of the larger estate and currently contains both rooms and suites for guests.
So if you search online for the Battery Carriage House Inn and think it disappeared, it didn't.
The historic property is now operating as 20 South Battery.
And its website still openly embraces the ghost stories associated with the estate.
What Is the Scariest Ghost at the Battery Carriage House?
No contest.
Room 8's headless torso.
The Gentleman Ghost may surprise you.
The spirits of Room 3 may keep you awake.
But waking in a dark Charleston bedroom and discovering a headless military torso standing beside the bed belongs in an entirely different category.
It is one of the most disturbing recurring apparitions in Charleston.
What Is the Gentleman Ghost of Charleston?
The Gentleman Ghost is the famous male apparition associated with Room 10 of the former Battery Carriage House Inn at 20 South Battery.
He appears as a young, grayish male figure and is particularly known for appearing beside women in bed before disappearing when they react to his presence.
Is 20 South Battery Haunted?
Yes.
20 South Battery—the historic property formerly known as the Battery Carriage House Inn—is one of Charleston's best-known haunted accommodations.
Its most famous spirits include:
The headless Confederate soldier of Room 8
The Gentleman Ghost of Room 10
Multiple spirits associated with Room 3
Guests, staff members and property owners have all contributed stories to the inn's paranormal history.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Battery Carriage House Inn
What happened to the Battery Carriage House Inn?
The property was purchased by Dr. Jack Schaeffer in 2018 and underwent a major restoration. The larger historic estate now operates under the name 20 South Battery, while the Battery Carriage House remains part of the property.
What is the most haunted room at the Battery Carriage House Inn?
Room 8 is generally considered the most frightening haunted room because of repeated encounters with a headless male torso dressed in coarse gray clothing.
What ghost haunts Room 8?
Room 8 is haunted by a headless torso commonly identified as a wounded Confederate soldier. Witnesses have described the apparition wearing a coarse gray jacket.
What ghost haunts Room 10?
Room 10 is haunted by the Gentleman Ghost, a young male apparition known for appearing around the bed and particularly around female guests.
Where is the Battery Carriage House Inn?
The historic property is located at 20 South Battery in Charleston, South Carolina, directly across from White Point Garden. Today it operates as 20 South Battery.
How old is 20 South Battery?
The main historic mansion dates to 1843, making it more than 180 years old.
Experience Haunted Charleston
The Battery Carriage House is one reason Charleston has earned its haunted reputation.
But it is far from the only one.
Walk a few blocks through the historic district and you'll encounter churches where ghostly brides are still seen, graveyards where apparitions move between centuries-old stones, alleys where dead men still whistle and buildings where shadows appear long after the people who created them are gone.
Charleston's ghosts are woven into the city.
Come hear their stories where they happened.
Join Ghost Tour Charleston for an evening walking tour through the haunted streets of the Holy City.
Explore Charleston by day. Meet its ghosts by night.
Book at GhostTourCharleston.com.
