In Charleston, pirates and patriots are believed to still haunt the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Located where Broad and East Bay streets meet in downtown Charleston sits the Old Exchange Building, a place that once housed prisoners during the Revolutionary War.

It was inside the Provost Dungeon where occupants were jailed for either treason or sedition, and some are still believed to be haunting part of Charleston’s Historic District.

“It’s definitely, definitely haunted,” said Jack Kelly, a tour guide for Bulldog Tours, who shared the stories of the restless spirits rumored to be haunting the Provost Dungeon. “After you give enough tours, you start seeing things and feeling things. There’s definitely something kind of off about it.”

“Well, even as a guide it definitely, like your blood gets a little cold- like the hair in the back of your neck stands up and you’re like, wait a minute, wait a minute that shouldn’t be, wait a minute, I thought I was in here, you know that shouldn’t, nobody should be over there, right?” shared Kelly.

Some guests have claimed to see glimpses of ghosts and heard the startling screams of the spirits.

“I’ve walked over for example, that far room where they talk about the pirates, kind of walking, walking over and looking and nothing’s there and you’re like wait a minute I thought I heard someone. I’ve heard mumbling and kind of muttering to some, someone’s muttering to themselves. Again, you go there to investigate down here; you don’t see anything,” explained Kelly.

Pirates and Revolutionary Traitors who threatened the safety of the Colonists in the 1700’s were held captive in chains, awaiting trial, and execution.

Born in 1745, Issac Hayne was a wealthy landowner, businessman, and Captain in the Militia in 1776 in the midst of the American Revolution.

“He’d actually been paroled by the British when Charleston fell in May of 1780, but he broke his parole and he joined up with Francis Marion, the swamp Fox and he was instrumental in orchestrating these kind of guerilla attacks against the British, but he got caught the second time and England wasn’t real happy to see him, so he’s held in this building and condemned to die,” said Kelly.

His spirit is one of many believed to be roaming through this building today.

“You know I’ve been in here when it’s quiet and hearing boot steps and footsteps upstairs, seeing shadows on the wall kind of moving around. I’ve had guests get really strange pictures downtown or downstairs as far as shadowy figures that kind of look like colonial men in their uniforms,” shared Kelly.

Visitors also share their close encounters of what they believe to be the spirits of the prisoners of the Provost Dungeon.

“Girl told me that she was in here with her family years ago, now she’s taking my tour, but it happened years earlier when she was a kid, seven, eight years old. She’s sitting on the bench behind you, and she starts leaning out into the void because she’s getting sleepy and realized that her father was on the other side of her, so she turned to kind of lean against her Dad and that’s when something grabbed her by the ponytail and pulled her back,” explained Kelly.

Lingering long after their death, some are believed to be interacting with the living.

“There was a 12-year-old kid standing next to his mother in the back and he was kind of standing next to a barrel and suddenly this kid just screams bloody murder. He falls face forward here on the brick. Now, it was weird, he gets up and he kind of dusted himself off. He’s out of breath, he’s sheet white, and he says something pushed me down,” said Kelly.

Pirates and patriots are thought to be still haunting the Old Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon.

“I believe it’s kind of left this pretty big scar on this property, if you will, like a paranormal scar here and sometimes those scars open up and come out and interact with us,” said Kelly.