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Creaking and groaning: USC's haunted side is told on University Ambassadors' ghost tour

Moaning and wailing, creaking and tapping: the University of South Carolina's campus is host to many sounds, people and potentially the supernatural.

Spooky season is approaching, but the spookier aspects of USC can be found year-round if you know where to look. On Oct. 30, scarers, guides and greeters await at McKissick Museum, where the University Ambassadors have organized a walking haunted tour that tells the darker story of USC.

Creaking, suspicious tapping and moving coffee cups are normal experiences in the McKissick Museum, said Collections Manager and Facilities Manager Mark Smith.

Smith, a long-time employee of McKissick Museum, helps the University Ambassador Ghost Tour. He is the first greeter of the tour, dressed up as a funeral home director. Smith said he started working on the ghost tours to clear up some confusion surrounding one of the legends.

“I got involved with it five or six years ago, because (University Ambassadors) were calling our spirit here in the building the janitor, which he's not, he's the colonel," Smith said. "He's J. Rion McKissick, who the building's named after. So I started to sort of get that corrected. I started becoming one of the hosts, and I do it every year.”

Smith said he has had several encounters with one of the ghosts mentioned on the tour and has survived to tell the tale. The most well-accepted legend, Smith said, is that the spirit of former University president, J.R. McKissick, resides in the McKissick Museum and keeps watch over its inhabitants.

“When I first heard footsteps ... in the 80s, I was studying here on my masters. And I heard somebody walking in our stack area," Smith said. "This is at night. Just like a cheap horror movie, I go, 'Oh, let's see who it is.' I walk down the steps, and there's nobody there. I go upstairs. Then I started thinking about it. I said, ‘I'm leaving.’”

There are many legends and sightings surrounding McKissick Museum, Smith said. He said many people have had similar encounters that they’ve shared over the years. The ghost tour shares many of these stories and the different locations where they have sprouted from.

While McKissick Museum is the starting point of the tour, spooky legends have also originated from Longstreet Theatre, the previous location of a Civil War hospital. Legends say part of the theatre was used as a morgue and that it became the resting place for soldiers, and the final resting place for their spirits, Smith said.

Evan Faulkenbury, the university historian, said he thinks the many legends shared over the years help to remind the students about the former university president.

“It's a big building, and I think there's lots of parts of it that are inaccessible to the public," Faulkenbury said. "Who knows what lurks in those hallways, right? All that old stuff...McKissick, he's the only person who's buried on the campus as well, over there in front of the South Caroliniana (Library). I think whether his ghost is real or not, he's just important to talk about because he was just such an influential and important person in university history here.”

Brianna Hughey, a student University Ambassador, has worked the ghost tour for the past three years. While the ghost tour is not a large or multi-night function, it is still a fully staffed operation, she said. The tour stops along the Horseshoe, describing the spooky stories of the buildings and the legends of the people who may have lived there, Hughey said.

“You can either be a scarer. So, we'll come down here and do some makeup. You'll hide in the bushes to scare people as they're walking by," Hughey said. "You can be a reader. Those characters are also dressed up at their stop, and they are reading the ghost story to you, or you can be a guide, so you're not really that scary. You're just there to guide the group around."

For those who are more wary of the supernatural, or are feeling less inclined to pay for a haunted house, the university ghost tour is a great alternative. It is also a unique way to learn more about the university's campus and the people who came before, said Hughey.

“It's a great alternative for a haunted house or a haunted trail," Hughey said. "You could still feel a lot safer, but you could still get that little fright or thrill that you're looking for ... I would encourage you to come with your friends. It's a very great opportunity for that beyond-the-classroom bonding ... It would be a cool experience for literally anybody, families, friends, couples.”
The ghost tour is open to the public, and registration for the tour on Oct. 30 opens on Oct. 1.