Fort Fremont, at Lands End on St. Helena Island in South Carolina, is one of those under-publicized places that is a hidden gem for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost, it's open to the public and access is absolutely free - for now. Secondly, it was never updated so what you see of the remains is what they built, and it's right on the water. And finally, it has a history that is emblazoned with stories, haunts and legends even many of the locals will attest to be pure fact. There's so much to discover at these haunted ruins in South Carolina.

We'll get to the haunted part, but first: the backstory.

Constructed long after the end of the Civil War, Fort Fremont was established as a military installation on St. Helena Island where construction began in 1899. It was one of six military installations in the U.S. constructed as a result of the United States' war with Spain in 1898.

The footprint for the original installation included 170 acres, many of them waterfront, with several buildings like a barracks, stable, mess hall, admin building and even a bakery and commissary and post exchange. The 1989 nomination form for the National Register of Historic places outlined a hospital, storehouse and a coal house as also part of the elaborate outlay for Fort Fremont.

By all accounts it was a huge deal and a major investment of time and money. But it would all be casually swept aside when barely more than 10 years later the government would send the entire garrison and all of Fort Fremont's big guns to Fort Crockett in Galveston, TX, leaving the fort abandoned. According to the website FortFremont.org, the fort was officially deactivated by the government in 1912, and in 1921 it was sold at auction to the highest bidder.

In reality, the fort was only open for about 10 years. So what happened here at Land's End Road and Fort Fremont that makes this place so full of paranormal activity?

Most accounts suggest the really creepy stuff happened long before Fort Fremont was even built. And even though people and paranormal investigators have captured EVPs and other evidence of hauntings here inside the fort's structure, it's very possible some of them are simply trapped souls from events that occurred long before Fort Fremont existed.

One legend recounts a slave who was separated from his wife and sent away. He now walks the grounds and through the hollow remains here in search of her.

Another oft-told story about the paranormal occurrences on the grounds at Fort Fremont involves Confederate soldiers who were on guard on the land here when they got into a fight with local African Americans over the sale of some moonshine.

There were gunfights and fistfights, and an infantryman named Pvt. Quigley was killed. His ghost is said to haunt the grounds, as well as the abandoned fort and even the highway leading to the fort, Lands End Road.

In fact, about 300 feet from the fort, on Lands End Road there's a famous haunting that many have captured with their cameras and video recorders. It's commonly referred to as the "Land's End Light." For those brave enough to turn off their car and wait for it, they see what appears to be a single car light slowing approaching them. And as it passes...there's no car. But people have reported feeling a small electrical current run through them as it goes by.

Everyone believes this is the spirit of a Confederate solder who was decapitated by a Yankee soldier who snuck up behind him and cut off his head. The poor man walks up and down the road each night looking for his head! Creepy!

Whatever is here at Fort Fremont, and whenever it - or they - arrived, there are definitely multiple first-hand accounts of other-worldly occurrences here on these grounds that are steeped in legendary, if not historical, accounts that make the sightings very plausible.

Will you ever be brave enough to go in search of Pvt. Quigley, or the slave ghost or the Confederate soldier who supposedly carries the "Lands End Light" looking for his decapitated head along the road?

And do you even believe in ghosts? These are very relevant questions, don't you think? Visiting haunted places in South Carolina is not for the faint of heart!

The entrance to Fort Fremont is located at 1126 State Road S-7-45 off Lands End Road on Saint Helena Island in Beaufort County, SC. In 2004 Beaufort County, South Carolina paid two private landowners a total of four million dollars for the present day 15-acre site on which Fort Fremont Park sits. It is now protected as a historic site and public park. More information.

What are your favorite historic places in South Carolina? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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