THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Old House Plantation on Edisto Island is associated with an apparition reportedly witnessed by Charleston ghost-story author Margaret Rhett Martin herself. Martin later included the encounter as "The Ghost at Old House" in her 1963 collection Charleston Ghosts.
Old House Plantation, also known as Four Chimneys, is one of the historic plantation sites of Edisto Island. The surviving house is generally dated to between 1735 and 1760 and acquired the name "Old House" after the nearby Brick House burned and it became one of the island's oldest surviving residences. The property also has a notable place in South Carolina ghost literature. Margaret Rhett Martin, author of the 1963 book Charleston Ghosts, reportedly experienced an apparition at Old House Plantation and used the encounter as the basis for her story "The Ghost at Old House." Her granddaughter later confirmed that Martin claimed to have personally encountered the ghost. Details of the apparition vary in later retellings, so the haunting is best regarded as a documented piece of Lowcountry ghost folklore rather than a verified supernatural event.