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LOCATION:
32 Legare Street, Charlestown, South
Carolina.
As this mansion is now a private residence, please respect the
owner's privacy. No Tours are given.
HISTORY:
In the early 1800's, before the Civil
War, this grand old mansion was, in this time period, a fashionable boarding
school for teenage daughters of wealthy South Carolina cotton and rice
planters. This acclaimed finishing school was run by a Madame Talvande,
who was a French Haitian emigrant, who took great pride in the fact that
her school was considered one of the finest in the South, which stressed
"firm discipline and a thorough training in the social skills needed
in this Southern society." She earnestly put her heart and soul into
her duties as Head Mistress.
Unfortunately her troubles began when a 15
year old, Marie Whaley, enrolled in Talvande's school. While at first
Marie flourished at the school, she brought shame and wrecked the reputation
of Madame Talvande, as a guardian of young women. During a party, that
was sponsored by the good Madame Talvande, Marie ran off and eloped with
a young man, George Morris, who Marie's father had hated. You can imagine
her utter mortification and embarrassment that one of her dear young women
foolishly eloped, right under her authority.
After this incident, the
mansion was walled in, and broken glass was placed on top of the imposing
brick masonry, giving it the feel of a prison.
MANIFESTATIONS:
A) Owners have reported that an apparition
of Madame Talvande walks the halls of the mansion, carefully checking
the bedrooms, and then vanishes. She's still keeping a watchful eye
on her beloved girls.
B) Owners have heard the front door
swing open and heavy footsteps clump through the entry to the north
hall.
C) The family's cook saw an apparition
of a cavalier walk through the large, old dining room, on the way to
the game room.
(Some think that this gentlemen ghost
is Marie's Beau, George Morris, or Marie's father.)
Still Haunted?
Over a hundred years later, these
occurrences still happen.
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