THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Strawberry Chapel and its old churchyard are associated with the legend of Catherine "Little Mistress" Chicken, who as a child was tied to a tombstone as punishment and accidentally left there after dark. Later ghost lore includes the sound of a sobbing child, children seen among the graves, unexplained voices and a tombstone said to remain strangely warm.
Strawberry Chapel is the last major architectural remnant of Childsbury, an early eighteenth-century settlement on the Cooper River. A famous local story concerns Catherine Chicken, the great-granddaughter of town founder James Child. In the traditional account, Catherine was seven years old when her schoolmaster, Monsieur Dutarque, punished her by tying her to a tombstone in the chapel churchyard. He forgot about her and she remained there into the night. A man carrying a jack-o-lantern-style gourd approached after hearing her cries, frightening Catherine so badly that she lost consciousness. Contrary to later versions of the legend, Catherine did not die from the incident; she survived into adulthood, married and raised a family. Nevertheless, Strawberry Chapel developed extensive ghost lore. Visitors have reported hearing a child sobbing, seeing children playing among the graves, hearing unexplained voices and encountering a tombstone said to feel unusually warm even in cold weather. The crying child is sometimes identified as Catherine despite historical evidence that she survived the childhood ordeal.