Charleston's Preeminent Luxury Boutique Hotel--Ghostbusters Welcomed

Battery Carriage House Inn 2018

The house sits in one of the most visited areas of Charleston. Hundreds of picture-taking tourists stroll past its black wrought iron fences and broad porches on a daily basis. Caravans of horse-drawn carriages filled with visitors pause in front of it everyday while animated guides mesmerize them with stories explaining the mystique and grandeur that oozes from its windows and doors. Cataclysms of the destructive kind have befallen it. Owners have showered it with renovations. Its place of abidance is its name, 20 South Battery.

As you view the house today, while standing on the fringes of White Point Gardens, it would be difficult to imagine when first built, it had a front-row view of the Charleston Harbor. The year was 1843, the builder was broker Samuel N. Stevens. The main home and carriage house reflected the prosperity that was prevalent in South Carolina during this era.

In the Civil War beginning 1863, the house survived the longest bombardment of a civilian population in the history of warfare. Though severely battered, the structure remained intact. Colonel Lathers of the Union Army purchased the property in 1870. He hired John Henry Devereaux, a well-known Charleston architect, to renovate the house in the New York fashion of the time. A mansard roof was added, which housed a library. A new ballroom was also constructed.

The Simonds family purchased and lived in the house until 1912. In the 1920's, the rear outbuilding was converted into a "motor court" by the Pringle Family and the once-private residence became a more recognizable place of hospitality. Its newly rentable rooms for the most part catered to a patronage of rowdy and carousing sailors of the United States Navy and during the 1960's college students.

Famous Charlestonian Drayton Hastie and his wife purchased 20 South Battery in the 1980's and restored it to a Charleston Historic District hotel. The main house was the Hastie's private residence and they opened the rooms in the carriage house to guests. The well known Battery Carriage House Inn came to host a clientele of more than just paying guests. During the ensuing years, the inn would become known as the most haunted hotel in downtown Charleston.

Reportedly, it's home to several ghosts. While the owners have never seen the otherworldly inhabitants themselves, guests and employees have had some odd encounters. Curiosity seekers would bring all kinds of equipment and light meters and heat meters and set up cameras in the rooms hoping to catch a glimpse of anything out of the ordinary. Room 3 is known for a couple's cellphone waking them up making a loud and odd noise even though it was shut off. They witnessed glowing shapes floating about the room the nights they stayed at the inn. Room 8 is the most ominous of the rooms. One visitor was waken by a disturbance and confronted by a headless torso. He decided to reach out to touch the lumbering spirit, only to retract his hand upon hearing it let out an animalistic growl, which is odd in itself, seeing it had no head, thus no mouth. Room 10 is occupied by The Gentleman Ghost, known for graciously sharing his room with any and all comers. It is described as a grayish shadow, average height and build, and tends to glide about the room rather stylishly. It likes to recline in the bed with the patrons, minus any hanky-panky.

Hurricane Hugo struck on September 21, 1989 producing the highest storm tides ever recorded on the East Coast, causing catastrophic damage to homes along the water, 20 South Battery included. It continued to be a favorite haunting stop for walking tours and horse-drawn carriages. The stories persisted and its haunting fame continued to grow.

Dr. Jack Schaeffer purchased the inn in 2018 with passion and an intent for restoring and maintaining historical integrity. The property has undergone extensive preservation efforts in a labor of love revitalizing it to its former grandeur. On September 10th, 2020, Dr. Schaeffer and the staff unveiled 20 South Battery hotel to their first guests.

20 South Battery today with haint blue porch ceilings

The luxury boutique hotel is the home of unique and rare antiques from all over the world and various different time periods, some dating back to the 1500's. The Grand Ballroom has gold leaf trim surrounding a metal tile ceiling with a skylight and crystal chandeliers. The Grand Parlor showcases bright red antique furniture contrasting the white walls. A spiral staircase runs up all four stories of the home. One of the oldest pieces in the house is the decorative handrail. The original Italian Mosaic tile flooring was restored piece by piece. Crown molding and marble fireplaces are unique to each space. Metal tile ceilings, ornate chandeliers, and antique sconces are also a common element throughout the home.

The Concierge Level in the mansion features the Lathers, Pringles and Simonds Suites. The Stevens Suite is located on the ground floor and faces White Point Gardens. The Devereux Suite is the former cistern and wine cellar. Blacklock-Ravenel King Room is located on the first floor. The Battery Carriage House has suites on the first floor and rooms on the second floor. Originally built as a private residence for $4,500, Handsome Properties listed it on the market in 2017 for $4,250,000. It is worth far more than that now.

Dr. Jack Schaeffer apparently has embraced the stories that have become a part of his beautiful hotel. He seems to know them well as seen in the following video by CountOn2.

Just how the apparitions feel about their upgraded surroundings, you will have to reserve one of the rooms and ask them. The headless torso may be speechless for obvious reasons.

Battery Carriage House Room

Enjoy the Ghostbuster Package-Prepare for a Ghostly Adventure at 20 South Battery and Charleston! Built in 1843, 20 South Battery has seen its share of reported friendly ghost encounters. This experience is for you if "You ain't afraid of no ghost!"

PACKAGE INCLUDES: "Ghostbusters of Charleston" souvenir book. Stay in the reported haunted room 8 or 10 (based on availability)2 tickets to a walking ghost tour with our friends at Bulldog Tours

The Spellbinding Story of Charleston's Famous Unknown Resident

Some late December evening, you are walking on the Battery's waterfront after enjoying a dinner at one of the downtown's fine restaurants. At some point, you stop to look out over the darkened harbor waters. Suddenly, you feel a chill in the already cool air. Then, you realize you are not alone. In the corner of your eye, appears a figure. You turn, it is a petite young woman dressed in a full length white dress wrapped in a soft haze. You try to convince yourself the strange aura could be the result of the moonlight. You sense she is distressed. Out of concern you inquire, but she offers no response. You perceive she wants to be left alone and you move on. It was an unusual encounter to be sure.

Did this rendering give you a chill? The following true account is so chilling that after reading it you will exclaim, "Burrrrrrr." It is a story that has no resolution and to this day, remains a famous unsolved mystery. The characters are well-known historical figures with a Charleston connection. It involves the tragic disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston.

Theodosia was born June 21, 1783. Her father was the third U.S. Vice President, Aaron Burr and her mother was Theodosia Bartow Burr. She was schooled on a curriculum meant for a future scholar, fluent in several languages, and equipped to handle herself in just about every subject, from math to music. Unfortunately, she struggled with intense bouts of grief after her mother died when she was eleven years old. In 1801, she married Joseph Alston, a wealthy landowner from South Carolina and a person known for a having a kind and caring demeanor. They lived at 94 Church Street, a fine house built by Thomas Bee in 1730.

94 Church Street

Theodosia was very devoted to her father and corresponded often, their letters numbered in the thousands. Her life grew more difficult in 1804 when her father fatally shot former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, NJ on July 11. Aaron Burr went on trial for murder with her full support and was acquitted. In 1807, he defended himself against a conspiracy charge and again she fully supported him. During this time, she traveled back and forth between Charleston and New York. After a year long, difficult trial, her father once again won acquittal, but due to opposition, left the United States for exile in Europe.

Theodosia returned to South Carolina. She remained a strong advocate for her father, writing letters to Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin and to Dolley Madison in an effort to secure a smooth return for her father to the United States. The date for his return was set.

Theodosia's health had become more fragile, and when her son died of malaria in June 1812, she collapsed. She wrote her father, "Less than a fortnight ago your letter would have gladdened my soul. Now there is no joy, and life is a blank. My boy is gone-forever dead and gone!"

Aaron Burr returned to New York after four years of exile. He looked forward to seeing his pride and joy. Deeply concerned about his daughter's health, he convinced her to come to New York for the holidays. The United States and Great Britain were now at war. Her husband was sworn in as governor of South Carolina on December 10 and couldn't leave. Her health continued to deteriorate.

Alston was uneasy about sending her on what would be a five to six day voyage by ship. Adding to his concern were rumors circulating around the Carolinas about pirates operating along the North Carolina Outer Banks. Theodosia begged her husband to allow her to reunite with her father and after certain conditions were met, he consented. Alston wrote a letter to the British Navy blockading the coast, asking for safe passage for his wife and a doctor and close friend of Burr named Timothy Green was assigned to accompany her.

Theodosia, carrying a recent portrait of herself that she intended to give her father as a Christmas gift, Dr. Green, and a maid climbed aboard the schooner Patriot moored in Georgetown and set sail on December 31, 1812 into the dimension of both shadow and substance and crossed over into the Twilight Zone. The Patriot, crew, and passengers disappeared without a trace into oblivion. Thus, the chilling tale of Theodosia Burr Alston was born.

Joseph Alston wrote letters seeking information on whether his wife had safely arrived, only to receive the devastating news. Her father, Aaron Burr, accepted the theory the ship sank to the bottom of the Atlantic in a raging storm that battered the coastline on January 2 and 3 near Cape Hatteras, but rejected the astounding rumors of the legendary kind that circulated and morphed with the passage of time into today's legend.

Wild stories were theorized. Some claiming pirates, such as Dominique You aka "The Bloody Babe," took over the ship and made every passenger walk to plank. Others say Theodosia was captured, taken prisoner and transported everywhere from the Caribbean to Texas.

Then, there is the tale of the portrait, discovered in Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the 1860s, that many believe to have been the very one Theodosia took with her to be a Christmas gift for her father. While never verified, it's owner claims it was salvaged from a shipwreck that washed ashore on the barrier islands.

Yet, another story claims a Karankawa warrior came upon the wreckage of the Patriot and a dying white woman, who gave him a gold locket bearing the inscription "Theodosia" and told him that if he ever met white men, he was to show them the locket and tell them the story.

Legend has it her ghost is eternally chased by three pirates on the shores of Bald Head Island as she still frantically searches for a way to escape. Some versions even say those pirates are headless, beheaded for their incompetence in guarding her. In recent times, she is seen dressed in a flowing emerald-green gown, but most of the time she's dressed in all white, the outfit she is said to have slipped into before pirates made her walk the plank.

In Charleston, as reported by those walking the waterfront near the Battery and the Edmonston-Alston House in the evening during the winter month around Christmas, they claim to have seen a woman dressed in period attire, specifically a hoop skirt. Those who tried to approach the woman said she had a cold look and would continue staring out into the harbor. When shown a photo of the Nag's Head portrait, witnesses say they believe Theodosia is the woman they saw staring into the harbor.

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