Jailhouse Rock
Photo credit: Joan Perry @ charlestondailyphoto.blogspot.com
One of my favorite Charleston buildings is the crumbling old jail. It occupies a block in the center of the peninsula, like a hidden fortress buffering the surrounding neighborhood. In spite of the haunted jail tour, visitors often miss the building. Its snaggle-toothed towers lord over blocks of low income housing, one or two blocks too far from the heartbeat of the tourist core.
On and off for a decade, I’ve had a relationship of sorts with the Old Jail. Its rusting paddy wagon. Its caverns of vaulted brick. Its heavy iron bars, spooky corridors and iffy lighting. I love the damaged patina of the stucco that flecks off like peeling skin and the way the early morning light bends reality just enough to see the courtyard crawling with imprisoned activity.
The current building was constructed in 1802 and was modified several times over the centuries. In 1886, an earthquake caused significant damage to the masonry structure, resulting in the removal of the entire top floor. Walking along Magazine Street, I am always taken with the long hairline crack in the front facade, running from roof to street level. Like a calving glacier, I fear the day when the front of the building will shave itself free and thunder to solid ground.
While sipping my coffee yesterday, I was stranded in a downpour, staring at the furious sky framing the Old Jail. Tell a story about me it whispered through the plurk of raindrops staining its flesh and pockmarking the ground.
So, this week, I shall. A ghost story, if the characters cooperate.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Chain Gang « The Accidental Cootchie Mama
- I Fought the Law « The Accidental Cootchie Mama
- If I Were a Carpenter « The Accidental Cootchie Mama
- It Knows What Scares You « The Accidental Cootchie Mama
- I Ain’t ‘Fraid of No Ghost « The Accidental Cootchie Mama
- Believe It or Not « The Accidental Cootchie Mama
- Ghost Tale From The Charleston Jail « Spirit Lights The Way
- Exploring the Universe! | Me! Me! Me me me!
Oh I can’t wait for this story!
The Old Jail is okay, Andra… just don’t have a relationship with the New Jail.
p.s… I know those were your bare footprints found in the dust…
Actually, the picture of me on my FB author page was taken at the Old Jail.
Point taken, Ted. No new jails………
Oh yes, Ghosties among the Coasties.
Have you taken the tour, Lou?
No, we haven’t done that yet. We are very sllllooooowwww.
Well, maybe this week will convince you. Or not.
I can sense those characters converging, Andra, like delegates at a convention. I think I see some in that rusty paddy wagon. I look forward to your ghostly series.
The idiots in charge of the building gave the rusty paddy wagon to a scrap yard, Penny. It was one of my favorite features of the place. I’m sure the ghosts that haunted it are on the loose and very put out.
Say “it ain’t so”, Andra. I can only imagine the stories, the cries, the despair, the justices and the injustices, the evil, and on and on that this wagon held, only to end up, a century, no two, later, in a scrap heap.
If someone was smart, they rescued it from the scrap heap and took it for themselves.
What a gorgeous building, Andra. I love the strength of its character and can certainly see why it captures your attention. Now I’ll look forward to how it plays in your imagination. I must comment on the Charleston earthquake. It must have been a considerable shaker for the amount of damage you describe. Being a California girl…I do know my earthquakes! I forget sometimes that the east coast knows them, too. Good story material all-round in the hands of such an effective story-teller. Here’s to a creative week, my friend! Debra
Debra, the 1886 earthquake was estimated to be between 6.6 and 7.3 on the Richter scale. It was an interplate quake, meaning everything shakes sideways instead of up and down. Over 300 aftershocks and $141 million of damage in today’s dollars.
Earthquakes are MTM’s biggest fear for Charleston. If we have another one like it, the whole of the old city will be flattened, including the building in this post. The old bricks and sandy mortar will not stand up to the shaking. Currently, there is no real plan for how to prepare for the next one.
The 1886 was really something. (No! I wasn’t there!) It caved in much of Charleston and there are some amazing pictures. Did severe damage to the trolley and train tracks too. Our church, which is just two blocks from the jail, had the steeple crash in and destroy the roof.
Also, less than a year later, Charleston was struck by a major hurricane – just to add insult to injury. Many of those scars still exist in the city.
My favorite “character” of the jail is Lavinia Fisher, first female mass murderer in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavinia_Fisher Many say her ghost is one of the main occupants of the jail.
Well, not to be all maudlin, but if we have another quake of that magnitude, this place will cease to exist. We can rebuild it as a Disneyland of history, but nothing old will be standing.
I knew about Lavinia. I decided to focus on a more obscure tale.
Can’t wait to read more, Andra. Looks like a building with a good story to tell.
Hugs,
Kathy
Or several. It’s quite haunted, Kathy.
Neat building — there’s something inherently satisfying about crenellation. Looking forward to hearing the story!
I know. I love that feature, too.
This is going to make me homesick. I love that building.
It is one of the best. I’m sorry if it makes you homesick. Home misses you, too.
Looking forward to followng this!
I hope you are enjoying the start of your vacation, Debbie.
What an AWESOME building. I can’t WAIT to see what it spawns.
I hope I am up to the challenge.
Fabulous old building, I feel a series of dire characters & intricate crimes just waiting to come barelling out
We’ll see what they do, Linda. These are never up to me.
What a stunning building and yes you need to write a story about it! We are all waiting!
It’s good that you’d think it stunning, Susan, after your glorious castle post today.
Thanks Andra, I so was frothing at the mouth wanting to shoot the interior, but no luck! Now when do we read your story?
I found a similar rusty old jail this Summer … at a Zoo, which I didn’t expect.
It was creepy. It was so small … like a kennel for humans. Yuck.
The older ones truly were designed to be awful, weren’t they?
Love the building, Andra, and I can not wait for the story!
I hope it doesn’t disappoint, Tom.
I love these old buildings, and love to look at them and soak in their stories. Someday I hope for an invention called “talking walls.”
Such an invention exists. It’s called “imagination.” Or “the crazies.”
Spooky!
Can’t wait for the story.
We’ll see how the characters let it turn out.
Here’s hoping some noodle doesn’t make a hotel out of it. That’s what happened to the marvelous old jail in Boston.
Of course, it’s a fantastic hotel, but I imagine its ghosts decamped to a creepier venue.
Also? Fiction! yay!
I want to stay at that place in Boston, but it is always above my price point. I’ve read about the adaptive reuse process (MTM, duh), but it made me sad to see it turned into something like that, too.
I’ve never stayed, but that’s where my Jack’s bar Mitzvah reception was held, so we got to party there!
Also, I hope MTM will forgive me referring to the practitioners of adaptive reuse as “noodles.”
Whywhywhy am I still finding some, only some, of your comments in my spam folder. I just found this one, so please pardon the tardy reply.
MTM doesn’t get bent out of whack about criticism of adaptive reuse. There are some great examples of it around the world, and there are some duds.
reading through your blog backward until I caught up….very much dig how you are letting the stories come to you!
That’s the only way my fiction works, Angela. I feel so schizo with it, though. All these people battling in my head for real estate on the page.
now thats a spooky halloween entry