FALL 1996

We were on a class trip to a nearby former plantation that had turned into a museum (with living history elements, such as candlestick making.) The plantation is well-known in the area for having been a gathering place for militia troops during the Revolutionary War prior to the Battle of Cowpens. As we went on a tour of the main house, we were brought through a room with old children’s toys set up in an exhibit of some of the belongings of the children of the Moores (the family who owned the plantation.) I was at the back of the group, and as I passed the exhibit, I noticed a faint movement of the arm of a doll in the exhibit. Assuming it was just my imagination, I followed the group up the stairs while the tour guide pointed out bloodstains on the stair steps (still visible and present at the time of my visit). The Moores had been sheltering an American soldier who was shot when a Loyalist raided the plantation in 1781.

As the tour continued, we were taken up to a large room filled with random beds and other furniture, where we found out the soldier had been carried up the stairs and had later died. As we stood and listened to the tour guide, I felt the distinct feeling of someone standing directly behind me (not physically touching me, but really close.) Looking around me, I suddenly realized everyone else was in front of me or standing near the edges of the room as they listened to the tour guide, and I was standing with my back to a wall, too close for anyone to possibly be behind me (though I instinctively looked anyway.) The presence stayed behind me for some time (even as I moved slightly around the room), remaining unseen, before finally dissipating as I went with the group back down the stairs.

Submitted by Anonymous