Haunted Hotels in Charleston SC: 5 Places to Stay With Ghosts

The most haunted hotels in Charleston, SC are the ones where history never really checked out: 20 South Battery (the former Battery Carriage House Inn), the Mills House, the Francis Marion Hotel, and the Embassy Suites in the Old Citadel top almost every list. Each one is a real, bookable hotel with a documented past, and each comes with a ghost story that guests keep passing along.

Charleston has had more than three centuries to collect its dead. Fires, wars, epidemics and an earthquake all left marks on the peninsula, and some visitors swear a few of the old residents never left. If you'd rather sleep with the lights on, read on anyway. These are the haunted places to stay in Charleston SC that people ask about most.

1. 20 South Battery (formerly the Battery Carriage House Inn)

If you search for the most haunted hotel in Charleston SC, this is the name that comes up first. The main house on South Battery, overlooking White Point Garden, was built in 1843 as a private residence. In 1950 the property became the Pringle Court, with its outbuildings run as the Pringle Inn, and in the 1970s it became the Battery Carriage House Inn. Its current owner renamed the whole property 20 South Battery after buying it in 2018 and spending several years restoring it.

The ghost stories here have been told for decades, and they center on two rooms in the carriage house:

• Room 8 is linked to a figure often described as a Confederate soldier, a torso in a gray jacket with no head. Some believe the carriage house served as a makeshift hospital during the Civil War, though that part of the tale is lore rather than record.
• Room 10 belongs to the so-called gentleman ghost, a well-dressed man who reportedly appears mostly to women. He is said to be gentle and to leave if a guest is frightened. Some guests connect him to Richard Lathers, who bought the property in 1870.

Guests still book those rooms on purpose. Whether anything visits them is between them and the house.

2. The Mills House: A Civil War Survivor on Meeting Street

The original Mills House opened on Meeting Street in 1853, built by grain merchant Otis Mills. During the Great Fire of December 1861, General Robert E. Lee was staying at the hotel, and he was moved to safety as the flames spread. Guests and staff are credited with fighting the fire from the hotel's windows, and the building survived while much of the city burned.

That original hotel was demolished in 1968, and the current building, designed to echo it, opened in 1970. Today it operates as Mills House Charleston, part of Hilton's Curio Collection.

The haunting stories tied to the Mills House usually involve figures in Civil War-era uniform in the hallways, as if the night of the fire is still playing out. It's also close to Poogan's Porch, and guests have reported glimpsing an older woman in black in a second-floor window of the restaurant across the way, which local lore attributes to that building's famous resident ghost.

3. The Francis Marion Hotel: Charleston's Haunted High-Rise

When the Francis Marion opened on King Street across from Marion Square in 1924, it was the largest and most luxurious hotel in the Carolinas. Named for Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," the 12-story hotel was restored in 1996 in a project recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Its ghost story is a sad one. Local lore holds that a guest, usually called Ned, fell to his death from an upper floor in the late 1920s. Guests on the upper floors have since reported a man in old-fashioned evening clothes walking the halls, windows that seem to open by themselves, and sudden cold air in otherwise warm rooms. The hotel itself doesn't promote the story, so treat it as the kind of tale Charleston tells after dark.

4. Embassy Suites in the Old Citadel

Few chain hotels can claim a backstory like this one. The fortress-like building on Marion Square was built in 1829 as a state arsenal, later became the home of the Citadel military college, and was converted into a hotel in 1996.

The ghost reported most often is a cadet. Guests and housekeepers have described a young man in uniform drifting through the building, sometimes with the top of his head missing. Some storytellers guess at hazing or a training accident, but no one has tied the figure to a specific death, so it remains one of Charleston's unsolved apparitions.

5. Honorable Mention: The Dock Street Theatre

You can't book a room here, but the building on Church Street was once the Planters Hotel, and it carries some of the city's best-known theater ghosts. Stories describe the actor Junius Brutus Booth in a balcony box and a woman known as Nettie pacing the balcony. If you're staying anywhere in the French Quarter, it's worth walking past at night.

Tips for Booking a Haunted Hotel in Charleston

• Ask, but be polite. Some staff love sharing stories. Others would rather talk about breakfast. Both are fair.
• Book early around October. Historic inns with small room counts fill up fast in fall.
• Stay central. All of these hotels are on the peninsula, so you can walk to the old jail, the churchyards and the Battery after dinner.

Visiting Today

Every hotel on this list is open to the public as a working hotel or inn: 20 South Battery overlooks White Point Garden at the tip of the peninsula, the Mills House is on Meeting Street at Queen Street, and the Francis Marion and the Embassy Suites both face Marion Square. You don't need to be a guest to admire them from the sidewalk, but please respect guests' privacy and don't wander the halls looking for ghosts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most haunted hotel in Charleston SC?

20 South Battery, the former Battery Carriage House Inn, is the hotel most often named as Charleston's most haunted, thanks to the long-told stories about rooms 8 and 10.

Can you request a haunted room?

Many guests do. Availability is up to each hotel, so call ahead and ask. Some properties are happy to share their stories, while others keep them low key.

Are Charleston's haunted hotels scary to stay in?

For most people, no. These are comfortable, well-run historic hotels. The ghost stories are part of the charm, and most guests sleep just fine.

Where else can I experience haunted Charleston?

The Old City Jail, the city's historic churchyards and the French Quarter all have stories of their own. A guided ghost tour is the easiest way to hear them in one night.

Booked your haunted room and still want more? Spend an evening hearing Charleston's darker history with a drink in hand on a Nightly Spirits ghost tour in Charleston.