Mermaid Dr. Trott's Apothecary Charleston

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Dr. Trott’s Apothecary and The Mermaid Riot

In 1867 in Charleston, South Carolina, the owner of a new apothecary found himself on the wrong end of the Charleston Riots. A rioting group of over 500 people, determined he was the cause of a storm like the city had never seen was flooding their homes and land. The Charleston Mermaid Riot remains a story seeped in sorrow and religious skepticism.

After all, the man had claimed to have a mermaid on display, and mermaids were devious nature spirits regarded in the lowest of light. The outcome was a South Carolina urban legend that sheds light on the state of America in the 1860s.

Walk the streets and see where the infamous Charleston mermaid riot took place on a Charleston ghost tour!

 What Happened During The Charleston Mermaid Riot?

While often called a riot, the mermaid riot of 1867 was in fact more of a spiritual assesertion. The Gullah people of the lowlands in South Carolina held deep beliefs. An alarm was sounded when Dr. William G. Trott, a snake oil of a doctor, claimed to hold a mermaid capture. Hundreds of Gullah gathered around his apothecary on broad street andd demanded its release as a storm pummled the city.

Dr. Trott’s New Apothecary

Spooky Doctor
Copyright US Ghost Adventures

The John Lining House was a historic home built in the late 1700s by a local doctor, John Lining, as a gift to his wife. The house managed to survive Charleston’s bombardment during the Civil Car, with only significant damage to the building were when the doors blew off.

Once repaired, an apothecary was opened inside. The apothecary was the equivalent of a pharmacy for us–you could purchase remedies and tonics and even have services like blood-letting via leeches done! The apothecary had several owners over the years, but the most infamous one was Dr. Trott. 

 Dr. William G. Trott rented the old John Lining house on 106 Broad St in the spring of 1867. He was sure the broad street apothecary would do well. So, he was surprised when he didn’t get a single customer, or even a curious onlooker, for three days! 

Confused why he had no customers, he asked his first customer, a woman, where all the locals went for their medicinal needs. It was explained to him that there was a Gullah root doctor nearby.

 The Gullah Root Doctor

Gullah-Geechee is a distinct culture comprised of the descendents West-African slaves. Brought here via the slave trade, they live on the sea islands in the Lowcountry of South Carolina (Gullah) and Georgia (Geechee). The Gullah have a distinct language and belief system. Hoodoo, ancestor worship, and rootwork are all part of their mysterious beliefs.

As enslaved people, they didn’t get medical treatment. It was ingrained into their culture that they’d have to take their medicine through sacred herbs grown in their gardens or see a root doctor.

The root doctor was a medicine man or woman, and their remedies were much cheaper than Dr.Trott’s luxurious tonics. It was just after the Civil War, and people were struggling with Reconstruction. Many didn’t have enough money. While others struggled with their newfound freedom. 

With this in mind, Trott realized he could not overturn generations of rootwork overnight, but he was going to try. 

 The FeeJee Mermaid of the Broad Street Apothecary

Feejee Mermaid
Copyright US Ghost Adventures

Trott decided that he needed to do something spectacular to get people to come to his shop. Since he had come down from New York, he immediately thought of the infamous P.T. Barnum and his FeeJee Mermaid.

The FeeJee Mermaid was a publicity stunt that P.T. Barnum put on for the New York City press and public. When the public finally got their chance to pay to see to mermaid, it was so ugly there were almost riots at the museum!

It was the shriveled body of a monkey sew onto a fish’s body–not the Arial we know from Disney!

So, Dr. Trott closed down the apothecary to gather the materials needed. He placed a sign on the window proclaiming a “Free Magic Show,” with a countdown of 4 days. 

Curiosity spread throughout the community; when the shop reopened; a line of spectators headed out the door. 

Trott had been collecting glass aquariums. He filled them with sand, seashells, seahorses, plants, and other creatures. Aquariums were uncommon then, so this was undoubtedly a unique experience. 

But Trott saved the best for last as he ushered people to check out a dimly lit tank covered in a black cloth. When he pulled back the cover people would see a tank filled with large fish and murky water.

But, there was a tail hidden amongst the plants, and people scrambled closer for a better look. However, Trott threw the cover back over the tank.

Trott thought it was a harmless little gimmick just to make a little money.

But, the root doctor heard people saying they had seen a mermaid in the tank. She went to Trott to tell him something awful was going to happen if he didn’t return it to the ocean. 

 The Storm That Wouldn’t Stop

Storm South Carolina
Copyright US Ghost Adventures

The root doctor’s words rang true a few days later. In June of 1867, a terrible storm came to Charleston.

It rained for four days and nights, flooding the city with the worst rain in fifty years. A category 1 hurricane sat over the Charleston area for days. The wind and rain destroying everything.

 Mermaids were nature spirits to the Gullah. An angry mermaid could cause shipwrecks, storms, and other watery disasters.

They were afraid an angry. So, they marched onto the broad street apothecary to convince Dr. Trott to let his prized possession go for the sake of public safety. 

Community leaders even spoke to the city council. Trott eventually served with official paperwork stating that if he didn’t release the mermaid, he’d deal with a fine and jail time!

But it was too late. The people’s patience gave out when the floodwater killed a young boy trying to save his little dog.

A crowd of over 500 Gullahs came to protest the shop when the rains refused to stop. They demanded the mermaid be returned to the ocean so her watery wrath would end. The root doctor said the mermaid had left her only child out in the beach’s inlets. Its crying was causing the storm.

The Charleston Mermaid Riot

Fed up, the crowd stormed the apothecary at the same time the storm ramped up. The Charleston mermaid riot had begun. Trott explained the entire show was a hoax. That there was no mermaid to set free because she didn’t exist.

His please only fueled speculation that he was lying about the scam so he could keep her! 

 He invited the people inside to go and see the hoax for themselves. However, once inside, the storm ramped up, and the roof of the apothecary was destroyed.

The debris and rain destroyed the glass tanks and cut the people inside. The animals and plants that had been inside the aquariums floated by as the rain flooded out the shop. 

 A man claimed that he saw the mermaid swimming away from the apothecary and back out to sea. Minutes later, the storm cleared up, and the drenching rainfall finally ended. 

Black Activism and the Spin that Followed

What may be more interesting in this South Carolina urban legend is the political effect that followed.

A group of black Americans went to their local leader with a problem, and they were heard. However, this was just after the Civil War, and the South was still bitter and angry over their loss. Yet, the city was willing to hold Trott accountable for the storm because there were activists about it. 

However, newspapers who ran the story have referred to this incident as the “Mermaid Riots,” even though there was no rioting or property destruction.

Mother Nature cause the destruction, and the entire city had been on the receiving end of her wrath. The people who protested the apothecary were scared but not dangerous. Still, the newspapers were written and read by white readers and it was spun to be a bigger disaster. 

Haunted Charleston

Long after they have come and go, South Carolina’s many urban legends continue to fascinate us. Join Charleston Terrors on a Charleston ghost tour to learn more about the Holy City’s many fables and folklore.

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References:

  • https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/story/two-little-known-charleston-legends-that-time-has-nearly-forgotten?oid=5544643
  • https://chstoday.6amcity.com/mermaid-riot-1867-charleston-sc
  • https://southernmysteries.com/2019/09/30/drtrottsapothecary/
  • https://chstoday.6amcity.com/mermaid-riot-1867-charleston-sc

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