Beyond the Grave: April 2019

Friday, April 26, 2019

Charleston Old City Jail

Last Monday, my class and I visited one of the most haunted buildings in Charleston. To say it was eery would be an understatement, as soon as you took one step in the building, you could feel the presence of something inhuman.

outside view of the jail

a "haunted" wheelchair

The Charleston Old City Jail opened in 1802 and is still standing to this day. They also still do haunted tours through the building. This jail housed the first woman serial killer in the US, named Lavinia Fisher, and although she never first handedly killed anyone, she was apart of a large gang of highwaymen. She was executed in the jail when she was 26-27.

Another cool story about this jail was the youngest criminal there was a 10 year old little boy who was actually wrongfully committed of murder.

This jail was known for violent punishments that made it almost impossible for the criminals to make it through alive. If you were to survive the inhuman types of punishments, then you were set free, but that was almost impossible.

Cages for the "worst" criminals, also where
Lavinia Fisher was placed

a type of punishment

Monday, April 22, 2019

Epic Epitaphs

Out of all the cemeteries we visited and all the gravestones we saw, here are some of my favorites:

Jewish Cemetery on Coming St:

Die in Socket

Penina Moise

Died Sep, 13th 1880

She was 83 years old

Pedestal tomb-urn

"Falk"

Bethel United Methodist Church:

Ledger

-Seth T. Prior, born January 24, 1813 and died May 24, 1871

-Rebecca Prior, born February 22, 1814 and died April 22, 1889, wife of Seth T. Prior

-"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord"

Magnolia Cemetery:

Cradle

Rosalie Raymond

Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul:

Die, Base and Cap

Georgenna

Consort of Thomas M. Hume

Born Oct 19th, 1819

Died Sep 7th, 1855

Bedstead

Samuel Bonneau Picken
Born on July 13th, 1839
Died on Sept. 17th, 1891

Double Monument

John Coming Ball

Born on April 26th, 1923

Died April 26th, 2018

Helln Jervey Jingle Ball

March 3rd, 1925

March 7th, 2009

Headstone on a Base

Eliza Moore Wigfall

Born in 1786

Died on August 7th, 1864

Monument

Susan Henrietta

Born on June of 1822

Died Dec. 13th, 1891

"My second morn shall dawn brighter than the first"

The Ghost of Theodore Belitzer

During the tour of the Jewish cemetery we visited a few weeks ago, we were told a ghost story about a man who was buried there. His name was Theodore Belitzer served as a private in the German Hussars. He was taken as a prisoner to Wilmington, NC, and died on a steamer carrying prisoners when it caught fire at sea.

He was buried in the Jewish Cemetery on Coming St in Charleston, along beside members who fought the same war with him. Not much was known about him except that one of his parents was from Prussia, and he came to Charleston in 1850.

Not much was recorded about his personal life so it is unknown whether or not he was married but he joined Captain Disher's cavalry company then was transferred to German Hussars. His final service was Absent without leave since 5th November 1864.

Something that is very interesting about Theodore Belitzer is that one day when a man was working on cutting down tree in that cemetery, he took a picture of the cemetery and in the corner, he saw a figure that looked like a man in a uniform. They inferred that it was Theodore Belitzer, because he was buried there but had no headstone, so a family dedicated money for Belitzer to have his own headstone made. It sits in the exact spot where he was seen.

Photo by: Patrick Harwood

Monday, April 15, 2019

Magnificent Magnolia

Last Monday my class and I went on our last field trip to a cemetery, and it was by far my absolute favorite. We visited Magnolia cemetery, and it was nothing like I had seen before.

There was acres and acres of unique headstones, surrounded by flowers and trees with Spanish moss. It also has a lake with a beautiful bridge in the middle that you can cross over to go to another side.

Magnolia cemetery was first opened in 1850 on the land of a former rice plantation, so there is a lot of history on those grounds. It really is the Beyoncé of all cemeteries, the view really is breathtaking and the graves were very creative.

I really enjoyed the layout of the cemetery, although it's very easy to get lost in (I found that out the hard way). There were mini "streets" and dirt roads that you could walk on, and it was very cool how on one side of the lake it was mostly gravestones then on the other side, there was rows of headstones for the confederate soldiers who died in the confederate war. In the middle of the rows there was a large statue of a confederate soldier that looked out over his fellow soldiers.

Cradle

My overall favorite memorial was the cradle for a baby that passed away quickly after birth. There was a lot of detail on it and I loved how in the middle of the cradle there was dirt and a spot for flowers to grow in it. Her name was Rosalie Raymond, the other information wasn't clear on her grave marker.

Cross

The second grave marker that I was fond of was this beautiful cross with designs in it. It belongs to a girl named Emma. There wasn't any additional information except the saying "asleep in Jesus" underneath her
name. It was surrounded by palm trees that made the sight even more beautiful.

Cross

The last grave marker I thought was unique was another cross, but it was designed differently than the other one. It has a smooth outline and what looks like a vine growing in the middle of it. It belongs to someone with the last name Pickney. The names weren't visible in my picture but the design caught my eye.

Overall I was very amazed with how beautiful this cemetery was. Normally when you think about a cemetery you think about death or sadness, but this really changed my perspective on graveyards. The contrast of the bright colors of the flowers and the light shades of the headstones really made it that much more enticing.

The Birthplace of Judaism in Charleston

Growing up, the only religion I really knew about was Christianity, until a few weeks ago when my class members and I took a trip to a Jewish cemetery on Coming St. here in Charleston. I learned all about this religion and how unique it is from the help of our two tour guides, who are loyal members to the Jewish Synagogue a few blocks down. "The cemetery was established in 1764." We were told when how long ago it was built.

One thing that really surprised me is that their cemeteries and Synagogues aren't connected, something very different from what I've grown up knowing. Any time I passed a church, there was a cemetery either behind it or beside it.

In this particular cemetery, there is 800 people buried but there's only 500 headstones. Another thing I learned on this field trip was that "South Carolina is the birthplace for reformed Judaism" we were told from one of our tour guides.

Here are several headstones that I discovered in the cemetery:

Headstone

Theodore Besitzer

Confederate soldier

My tour guide mentioned that one day (in the past few years) when they hired a man to come cut down a large tree in the back of the cemetery, he took a picture while he was raised a few feet above the cemetery and later discovered a shadow of a soldier around this area. They believed it was Theodore, and assumed he was upset over not having a headstone next to his friends so a family donated money for him to be given one right in the very spot he was seen!)