THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The ghost of Dr. Joseph Brown Ladd, a young physician who died after being wounded in an 1786 duel, is said to haunt 59 Church Street and the surrounding Charleston streets. His distinctive whistling has reportedly been heard on the stairs, inside the house and along the street.
Dr. Joseph Brown Ladd arrived in Charleston in 1783 and became a well-known young physician, writer and poet. After a dispute with Ralph Isaacs, the two men met in a duel in 1786. Ladd reportedly fired away rather than deliberately shoot his opponent, while Isaacs wounded Ladd in the knee. Infection followed and Ladd died roughly two weeks later at the age of twenty-two. He had been staying at 59 Church Street and was remembered for regularly whistling as he walked through Charleston. According to one of the city's oldest recurring ghost traditions, Ladd's whistling continued after his death. Residents and visitors have reported hearing an invisible person whistling on the staircase, inside the house and along Church Street. The phenomenon is sometimes said to become more noticeable during storms, arguments or other periods of stress. Ladd became known in Charleston folklore as "The Whistling Doctor."