The Charleston Haunted Jail Tour

the tour guide built the tour up to something that it wasnt

Our guide was great. She was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and dramatic! She really made the tour of the old city jail fun and a little scary and mysterious too!

My husband and I enjoyed the tour with the exception that we were not allowed to go to every area of the Jail. It was advertised as a no bars tour, but the area that was supposed to be the most haunted (opinion based), the basement, was off limits. The basement is said to be the area where the mentally insane were chained to the floor and kept in cement box like containers. It was the most looked forward to area of the Jail we wanted to see, yet we were not allowed in the area. That was a bit of a disappointment. Our tour guide however (I believe her name was Suzanne) was very good. She added great emphasis to the stories she was telling in the right areas to spook us. Not to mention, she closed the gate, locked the outer door, and cut the lights off on us to give us the full feel of being trapped in the jail. That experience gave me chills up and down my spine.

the whole experience was pretty entertaining and my friends that are scaredy cats were pretty freaked out. I would have liked to see more historical information and maybe some exhibits showing the way the jail used to be as opposed to just the lady slinging the flashlight around.

Our tour guide was a great story teller. She did a fabulous job. Very dramatic and entertaining. I liked the way she used a customer to demonstrate some of the punishments given to the prisoners. My favorite part of the tour was when we were outside in the star-lit jail yard looking at the windows and artifacts that are still there. I was a little dissapointed that we couldn't go into all of the rooms and the ones we went into were empty of the cells or bars that must have been there when it was a working jail. It was also too dark to see much of the jail. We went back the next day in the daylight to look around the outside. I would recommend driving the 6 blocks unless you are in a large group. The closer you get to the jail the darker and more deserted the streets are. We got there so early we walked all the way back to get the car just so we didn't have to stand there in the dark for half an hour.

As with any Gohst tour, you would like to experience some supernatural activity. We did not feel any paranormal activity, but that was not entirely unexpected. The tour guide (Susan) was very good in her knowlede of the history of the jail and here story telling did raise the hair on your neck. I would recommend this tour if for nothing else than to get an idea of how insane the treament of prisoners was in that era (1700's - 1800's).

I like the tour guide but I wish that they would have told you to be there a little earlier than what was stated on the website. I was late for my tour because they said be there 15 mins but you need about another 15 mins because you have to walk to the site.

Great tour. I am a local but had never been on the tour of the old jail. This was outstanding both on the spooky side as well as the historical side. Highly recommend this tour...especially around halloween.

This was fun. Good to hear the history behind the city.

This tour was a good one. In addition to relating one of Charleston's many ghost stories our tour guide provided a lot of interesting historical information about the jail. It surprised me to know the gallows used for private hangings was still on the grounds, until Hurricane Hugo dispatched it in September 1989. Apparently the gallows could not be tampered with by people because of its historic nature. The story of the serial killing couple was especially intriguing. Our guide's stories of her personal experiences in the jail were a plus. In addition, the guide told us about the two-story house next door, which she said was probably more haunted than the jail.