Visit Beaufort’s Haunted Castle this Halloween!

Visit the Haunted Castle in downtown Beaufort, SC this Halloween!

Experience some family-friendly, and very haunted trick or treating at one of Beaufort’s oldest haunted houses this Halloween night!

The owners of The Castle in downtown’s Point neighborhood will be once again inviting Beaufort area children to experience some family-friendly, and very haunted trick or treating. The Castle, located at 411 Craven Street, will be turned into a haunted wonderland with the help of talented volunteer actors from the Beaufort High Drama Club, the creativity of Plum Productions and some very ghostly lighting and sound from the folks at MXM Productions. The Castle has lots of historic value here in Beaufort. Everyone knows its story, and of course, it really is haunted.

On Halloween night from 6 to 8 pm, local children in costume with or without their parents and guardians are welcome to come by and trick or treat, and the event comes complete with stroller parking at the front gate for parents. Kids can enter the yard and enjoy some spookiness with ghostly creatures running the historic grounds; then walk in the home for some treats and more fun before exiting through the rear of the house. It won’t be very scary from 6 to 7 pm for the little ones, but the spooks really come out from 7 to 8 pm. 

Halloween Event Details:

Time: 6-8 PM

Date: Halloween Night! October 31, 2022

Location: The Castle at 411 Craven Street in Historic Downtown Beaufort, South Carolina

Theme:  Davy Jones Locker

Davy Jones’s locker is a metaphor for the oceanic abyss, the final resting place of drowned sailors and travelers. It is a euphemism for drowning or shipwrecks in which the sailors’ and ships’ remains are consigned to the depths of the ocean (to be sent to Davy Jones’ Locker). The origins of the name of Davy Jones, the sailors’ devil, are unclear, with a 19th-century dictionary tracing Davy Jones to a “ghost of Jonah”. Other explanations for this nautical superstition have been put forth, including an incompetent sailor or a pub owner who kidnapped sailors. (Source: Wikipedia)

Presented By: The Russell Family

Produced By: Plum Productions & MXM Productions

 

Check out some of the spooky fun from years past…

 

 

More details on this event coming soon. Stay tuned!

 


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About the Castle…

Built by Dr. Joseph Johnson in the 1850’s with bricks from his own Lady’s Island plantation on Brickyard Point, the home took many years to complete.  When Federal troops occupied Beaufort in 1861, the home remained unfinished and was used as a military hospital. The outbuilding served as a morgue while the grounds surrounding the house very well may have served as a graveyard. Shortly after the home was complete, the gardeners reported many strange happenings.

Dr. Johnson himself was said to have seen a dwarf walking outside the home.

When the French explorer Jean Ribaut and his Huguenots came to the area in 1562, he brought with him a jester; a dwarf named Gauche.  Although there is no evidence that Gauche even sailed with Ribaut, his death remains a mystery to this day, with many speculated accounts of the dwarf’s demise. Some say he may have succumbed to disease, other accounts say he may have been hanged or perhaps killed in a brawl. Whatever the case, his spirit seems to remain and his ghost is said to still inhabit the lot, which is now The Castle.  He’s been sighted walking on the grounds of the home and some even say they’ve seen him inside while touring the historic location.

Mrs. Lily Danner, a descendant of Dr. Johnson, was reported to have said that she had seen the ghost of Gauche many times when she was a child. The wrinkled old elf-of-a-ghost would join Lily at the tea parties that she held for her dolls in the basement, dressed in his colorful jester’s garb, stockings, pointed shoes, and hat with bells.

A creepy story indeed. And one that makes this spot opening for Halloween night even that much spookier, and almost surreal. So don’t expect anyone chasing you around with a chain saw or anything bordering the macabre. Just expect lots of spooky fun, in one of Beaufort’s most haunted spots.

…Happy Halloween Beaufort!!!