Wampee House

A circa-1822 Lowcountry plantation home in Berkeley County, widely called the most haunted place in the area. It's the third structure built on this site, each one seemingly carrying the weight of what came before.

Wampee Plantation traces its origins to 1696, when John Stuart received a 1,000-acre land grant from Lord Proprietor Sir John Colleton along Biggin Creek in what is now Berkeley County. The name Wampee comes from a Native American word for pickerelwood, a flowering plant that grew thick in the area and attracted the birds hunted by indigenous people who'd long used this land. Indian mounds are still visible on the property today. The current house, built around 1822 by Charles MacBeth for his widowed mother, is the third structure on this site. The MacBeth descendants, the Cain family, held ownership until Santee Cooper acquired the property before Lake Moultrie was created in 1939, flooding much of the surrounding land and shrinking the original thousand acres to just thirty-three.

The haunting at Wampee seems tied to a Native American woman whose remains were found during excavation of one of the property's ancient mounds. The skeleton was in a crouching position, and shortly after the discovery, people started seeing a woman with a porcelain face throughout the house and grounds. A caretaker watched a young Native American woman in buckskin and ribbons staring directly at her through a window -- the figure faded slowly as the sun set. She's also been seen wearing flowing blue silk that looks woven from pickerel weed blossoms, with matching slippers, a detail that ties her to the very landscape that gave the plantation its name.

The activity goes well beyond that one figure. One bedroom has a persistent spot where the temperature drops noticeably, and the caretaker's dog flat-out refuses to enter it. Tiny white lights drift across the porch at night. Doors open and close on their own for hours -- activity that has kept Santee Cooper board members awake all night during stays at the conference center. A visiting New York businessman woke to find a face hovering directly above his bed. False fire alarms go off constantly with no electrical explanation. Guests have heard giggling in the hallways and seen dark shapes moving through rooms. NFL legend Terry Bradshaw reportedly refused to stay in the house alone during a visit.

Sandy Gibson, who served as caretaker for twenty-six years, has said plainly that he has a feeling he shouldn't stay in the house, and he regularly got early morning calls from terrified overnight guests who wanted to leave immediately. In 2010, the Ghost Hunters of Charleston investigated the property with EMF detectors, thermal cameras, and laser grids. Co-founder Gene Newhouse said the electromagnetic spikes they recorded in one room were far more intense than any location they'd ever investigated. When they asked the presence to show itself, the EMF meter spiked dramatically. A laser grid appeared physically bent, and team members felt the temperature plunge around them. Newhouse pointed out that electromagnetic interference from outside sources was virtually impossible given the house's remote spot on the shores of Lake Moultrie.

Today Wampee Plantation can be visited through special events and tours organized by the Upper Dorchester County Historical Society, which restored the house. Fourteen formerly enslaved people were documented as remaining on the property after the Civil War in the 1867 Freedman's Bureau Register of Destitutes, ranging in age from twenty-six to ninety-seven. Their presence, along with the layered history of Native American habitation, colonial settlement, and three successive houses built on the same ground, may help explain why so many believe Wampee is the most haunted place in Berkeley County.