Murrells Inlet

Murrells Inlet is haunted by Alice Flagg, a 16-year-old who died of malaria in 1849 while clutching a hidden engagement ring her brother tried to destroy, and by ghost ships that drift silently through the marsh channels at night. The area's pirate past, including Blackbeard's use of the coves and the legend of Drunken Jack marooned with stolen rum, feeds the Lowcountry's richest concentration of ghost stories.

In 1849, Dr. Allard Flagg brought his widowed mother and his 16-year-old sister Alice to The Hermitage in Murrells Inlet. Alice had long auburn hair, bright brown eyes, and terrible taste in men, at least by her brother's standards. She fell in love with a young lumberman in town. Dr. Flagg discovered the relationship, declared the man's "low station and qualities" unacceptable, and sent him away. Alice kept the engagement ring hidden on a ribbon beneath her dress.

Dr. Flagg shipped Alice off to boarding school in Charleston. She contracted malaria. On the feverish journey home, she died clutching at her chest where the ring hung. Her ghost has been seen at The Hermitage ever since, drifting in and out of the front door in a white dress, and walking All Saints Cemetery, still reaching for the ring her brother tried to erase.

Alice is the most famous ghost in Murrells Inlet, but she's not the only one. The waterway that gives the town its name was a pirate highway in the 17th and 18th centuries. Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, used the inlet's coves to stash stolen cargo. The marshes and barrier islands made perfect hiding spots for ships that needed to disappear for a while.

Drunken Jack was one of Blackbeard's less fortunate associates. Marooned on a small island with nothing but a massive cache of stolen rum, he was left behind by his crew and, according to the story everyone in town tells, died with a smile on his face. The island still bears his name. Drunken Jack Island sits just off the coast, and locals enjoy pointing it out to visitors like they're introducing a friend.

At night, the water tells different stories. Fishermen and residents have seen dark silhouettes moving near the shore where no boats should be. The ghost ships of Murrells Inlet are a piece of local folklore that predates the tourist era: vessels that drift through the marsh channels at night, silent, with no running lights, and gone by the time anyone gets close enough to see details. Voices carry across the water. Footsteps echo from the docks when no one is walking.

Murrells Inlet also sits within range of one of South Carolina's most respected ghosts. The Gray Man appears on the beaches near Pawleys Island before major hurricanes. The legend dates to 1822, when a young man riding from Georgetown to reach his fiancee on Pawleys Island took a shortcut through the marsh. His horse stepped into quicksand. Both drowned. The Gray Man appeared to the grieving woman on the beach and told her to "get off the island immediately because there was a danger." She fled. That night, a hurricane destroyed the island. Her house was untouched.

The Gray Man has been spotted before multiple storms since then, always with the same warning. Residents who see him and evacuate tend to find their homes intact when they return. Call it supernatural protection or the luck of listening to good advice. Murrells Inlet has been debating that for 200 years.