An Amazing First Visit To This Unusual Haunted Place…
Deemed one of the most haunted places in South Carolina
“It’s easier to dismiss ghosts in the daylight.” ~~ Patricia Briggs
Today was such a beautiful day here in South Carolina...72 degrees and sunny. It was the perfect day to take a ride on the motorcycle. Can you believe we can actually take rides in the middle of December? After living your whole life up in the North in Massachusetts and being used to snow and cold, this is a pretty amazing thing for us!
So off we went to enjoy the day but also to find what is known as one of the most haunted places in South Carolina...Old Gunn Church, also known as Prince Frederick’s Chapel. It was supposed to be one of the grandest churches of its time. The chapel was named for Prince Frederick of Wales, son of King George II.
Prince Frederick Parish, as the township was known, was created in 1734 and included the land from the north end of Santee River all the way down to what is now Georgetown County. The parish was divided from Prince George Winyah Parish, established in 1721 and included the Prince Frederick land, extending down to the Sampeet River.
The wooden parish church built on the Black River for the residents of Prince George Parish was within the new Prince Frederick Parish boundaries after the original parish was divided in two. It was called the Black River Church and now belonged to the people of Prince Frederick Parish.
At this time, indigo was a very lucrative crop for the planters of Prince Frederick Parish for many years until overseas competition and the end of British bounties brought the export of indigo to a halt following the Revolutionary War. In the early 1800s, those who called Prince Frederick Parish home were in a very prosperous time. Rice, tobacco, cotton, and indigo were all in high demand, and all the people who lived here grew and flourished. Rice soon replaced indigo, and the planters moved to the lower banks of the Great Pee Dee River where conditions were perfect for cultivating flourishing rice crops. Because of that, the Black River Church was abandoned after 1810.
A new church was built along the Pee Dee on land donated by the Reverend Hugh Fraser, the former rector of the Black River Church in 1837. But the new chapel was deemed inadequate after 20 years. So the construction of a brick church to replace the wooden chapel was approved in 1857, and construction began in 1859 of a Gothic-style chapel when the cornerstone was laid. It was supposed to be decorated and furnished with luxurious and expensive artifacts from Europe. But just as the church was about to be completed, it was halted for a short time during the Civil War.
While financially devastated by the war, members of the church were unable to complete the new church until gifts arrived from some local donors, including stalls from Hagley Plantation, pews contributed by All Saints Episcopal Church, and a monetary gift of $1,700 from John Earle Allston. The new church was called the “Gunn Church” named for the 2 contractors, brothers Philip and Edward Gunn.
This is where tragedy struck during the early stages of construction. Legend says that sometime in the early 1860s, one of the brother contractors fell from the roof of the church and tragically died. They say his spirit haunts the grounds and that he can be seen in the bell tower. Some visitors have claimed to hear his scream or have seen unexplained lights in the bell tower.
Even though the church was finally completed in 1877, the rice industry collapsed after the war. The absence of slave labor made the crop unprofitable and few families were left to support the new church. Former planters moved away from this agricultural area and relocated in cities to restart their lives, leaving the planting communities deserted.
The new Prince Frederick Church was then left unattended with no regular maintenance and then declared unsafe. Most of the building was dismantled in 1966. The facade, steeple tower, and cornerstone is all that’s left and can be found in Plantersville, South Carolina. Adjacent to the church grounds is a graveyard that includes a number of beautiful examples of 19th century grave markers.
While we did not experience any paranormal or ghostly activity during this visit, others have definitely reported some very scary, strange incidences. But we were also here during the day. Most of these incidents seem to have occurred during the evening and nighttime hours. However, I do have to add that my husband did feel some heaviness and pressure in his chest once we passed through the fence and headed over to the gravestones. The feeling left him after we left that area.
This visit was brief for us this time, but we are planning to go back during dusk and stay until dark and see what we might encounter. I will be sure to let you know what happens though, so stay tuned!
“I like to say I believe in ghosts so I don’t get haunted by one.” ~~ Ella Henderson
