{"id":2838,"slug":"st-philips-churchyard-charleston-south-carolina","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["St. Philip's is the '1680 — the 'oldest south' that's the Virginia, the 'Westminster' that's the called. The 'Sue Hardy' is the ghost — the '1888' that's the stillborn, the '1987 photo' that's the mourning. The 'Holy Ghost' is the sign — the 'only' that's the proclaimed, the 'churchyard' that's the gate.","The '1835' is the fire — the 'Hyde' that's the rebuilt, the 'steeple' that's the sighted. The 'enslaved' is the saved — the 'freed' that's the extinguished, the 'rum duty' that's the funded. St. Philip's is the patriots — the 'Declaration' that's the signed, the 'Calhoun' that's the buried.","The file keeps St. Philip's: the 1680 oldest, the Sue Hardy photo, the 1835 fire, and the patriots buried.","St. Philip's Churchyard is the archive's Charleston file — the photographed ghost."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["St. Philip's is the archive's Charleston file — the mourning's image.","A churchyard keeps its photo — the file's suggestion being that St. Philip's hold is the captured: the '1987' that's the anniversary, the 'stillborn' that's the grave, and the 'Holy Ghost' that's the only."]}],"name":"St. Philip’s Churchyard","aliases":[],"type":"CEMETERY","type_label":"Cemetery","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","HISTORIC_CEMETERY","COLONIAL"],"groups":["cemeteries","hauntings","legends"],"desc":"The churchyard where the gate is locked against the dead—DuBose Heyward’s ghost.","full_desc":"St. Philip’s Churchyard is a cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina. The churchyard where the gate is locked against the dead—DuBose Heyward’s ghost. Its accounts name only a collective — the st. philip’s dead. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The grounds are open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Charleston","county":null,"state":"South Carolina","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":32.828017,"lon":-79.972896,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"SC batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":2527,"type":"LEGEND","description":"The locked gate against the dead is documented folklore. Witnesses name it The St. Philip’s dead; the name travels further than the proof. Cemeteries keep their stories in the stones; St. Philip’s Churchyard in Charleston, South Carolina has its version filed among them. 'St. Philip’s' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. The legend does what legends do — it explains the place in a way the records can't.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The St. Philip’s dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"St. Philip’s","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philip%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":2528,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures in the churchyard. A cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina accumulating ghost reports is almost tautological — but this is the one the record kept. It's an investigation claim — the kind that convinces the people who were in the room. 'St. Philip’s' carries the account. The figure remains the site's most-repeated sighting.","evidence":"PARANORMAL_INVESTIGATION_CLAIM","evidence_label":"Investigation claim","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"St. Philip’s","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philip%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The churchyard’s 1830s-40s history is documented. The burial ground's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. Sources including 'St. Philip’s' carry the record. It is the kind of fact the rest of the dossier leans on.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"St. Philip’s","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philip%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The locked gate against the dead is documented folklore. St. Philip’s Churchyard's dead are the site's permanent residents; the reports are how the living say they keep noticing. 'St. Philip’s' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"St. Philip’s","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philip%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The St. Philip’s dead","claimed_identity":"The St. Philip’s dead","verified":null,"summary":"The locked gate against the dead is documented folklore. The St. Philip’s dead is what the reports name it. A cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina accumulating ghost reports is almost tautological — but this is the one the record kept. Sources including 'St. Philip’s' keep the claim in circulation. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","behavior":"The locked gate against the dead is documented folklore.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"St. Philip’s","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philip%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Public cemetery; generally open during daylight hours. Be respectful of active burials.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"St. Philip’s","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philip%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}