THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Residents and visitors have described unexplained activity and an unusually eerie atmosphere inside The Lofts at USC, a historic former cotton mill in Columbia. One former resident reported that a dryer in the building's semi-basement laundry room suddenly went berserk around midnight while they were alone folding clothes. Other residents and visitors have independently described the old mill as feeling haunted, although no particular ghost or apparition has been consistently identified.
The Lofts at USC occupies the historic Richland Mill, an imposing former cotton mill on Main Street in Columbia. Constructed in the 1890s and later converted for residential use, the surviving industrial building retains much of the atmosphere of its earlier life. Modern residents have occasionally attached paranormal stories to the property. In a South Carolina discussion about lesser-known haunted locations, one former resident who said they lived at The Lofts for three years described the building as extremely creepy and recounted an incident in the semi-basement laundry room. According to the witness, while folding clothes around midnight, the dryer directly behind them suddenly began behaving violently or going "berserk," frightening them enough that the experience remained memorable years later. Other participants in the same discussion independently described The Lofts as haunted or said that the building immediately gave them a strongly haunted feeling when visiting. At present, these reports are anecdotal and there is no well-established historical ghost, death, or specific apparition known to account for the alleged activity. The location is therefore best regarded as a modern resident-based haunting tradition associated with a historic nineteenth-century industrial building. The Lofts is an occupied residential property, and its inclusion as a reportedly haunted location should not be interpreted as permission to enter the building or residential areas without authorization.