Horseshoe hauntings
UofSC’s historic Horseshoe has its share of Halloween ghost stories
Posted on: October 22, 2021; Updated on: October 22, 2021
By Cam Adams, stucomm@mailbox.sc.edu
With more than 220 years of history — and a few buildings nearly that old — the University of South Carolina has its share of ghost stories that folks like to tell especially during Halloween. The epicenter of these stories just so happens to be the epicenter of campus: the Horseshoe.
One of the more famous stories concerns the spectral presence of beloved university president James Rion McKissick, who had been a student at South Carolina when a near-riot following a Carolina-Clemson game led to the first “tiger burn.” McKissick was also the 19th president of the university and was known for riding a bicycle across campus and guiding the university during the World War II years. When he died unexpectedly while still president, the students petitioned to have him buried on campus. He is buried just outside the South Caroliniana Library at the opposite end of the Horseshoe from the museum that bears his name. Popular legend says workers have heard footsteps or seen objects move at night inside the McKissick Museum.
Just down the street from the Horseshoe is another historical landmark: the Longstreet Theatre, which served as a hospital and morgue during the Civil War. Over that building’s 164-year history, visitors have claimed to hear odd noises and doors slamming while also reporting eerie sights.
Folks also like to tell a tale of a “third-eye man” seen on campus. The stories say the creature was seen by students in the 1940s and 1950s and that it lives in secret tunnels under campus. However, university archivist Elizabeth West says that “ghost story” is truly the product of imagination as the “legend” was manufactured by a creative writing class in the 1990s.
If you would like to learn more about these spooky stories and others, register online for University Ambassadors’ 12th annual Ghost Tour 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 26).
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