The Pink House
In beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, the Pink House is one of the oldest buildings that still remain. Built somewhere between the 1600s and 1712, no one is too sure about this, 17 Chalmers Street is home to the legendary Pink House. It is located in the French Quarter an it is a very small, one-bedroom home. It has been used for many reasons including a tavern and brothel, law office, art gallery, and a private residence. It has become very popular among social media fans as a great place to capture the best Instagram pictures.
The house is located in an area called Rainbow Row and as it sounds, the houses in this area are quite colorful. The bricks that it was built out of are coral and give it that very natural pink color. The house was renovated recently, but the tiles were painted pick to keep the namesake with the building. The Pink House was a special place when it was used by pirates, sailors, and sex workers as a tavern and brothel. This was the place that was right off the port where sailors could find pretty much anything that they needed when they were docked in Charleston.
A little whiskey is not all that these sailors found here and even the visitors today have said that there is some other kind of energy present in the Pink House. We have heard some scary stories that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
The Hauntings Of The Pink House
It may seem like a quiet and pristine home, but there are some hauntings that have happened here at the Pink House. Tales of ghosts and other spirits are told all over Charleston and if you dare step inside of the Pink House, you may also have some terrifying tales to tell. Piracy ran rampant in this part of Charleston, South Carolina and the pirates made quite the mark in this area. The Pink House was a popular place for boozing and hustling for these pirates, and also a handful of sailors who had come to the city to find rest and riches. Greed poured over ice just as whiskey did and the stories of the Pink House are incredibly eerie.
The French Quarter in Charleston was a place for pirates and sailors alike. There were brothels, bars, and clubs where the darkest of the dark would come and have drinks and their way with the woman of their picking. This wasn’t a rough area of town, it was just the place where people went to have a good time. The Pink House was a coffee house for quite some time in the 18th century. Along the same alley of the Pink House were many other buildings that were being used as bordellos and taverns. There was a saying back then that the sailors came for the “Three W’s: whiskey, wenches, and wittles (food).” They got it here, at the Pink House!
The Pink House clearly had a lot of people going in and out of it and there is speculation that many people died in it as well. It could have been overdosing or even murders, we are unclear, but death was there. That is why there are many spirits that still haunt the house today. There have been pictures that show different apparitions in them and even floating orbs have been photographed. One of the most common sitings is of our favorite lady pirate, Anne Bonny. We are not too sure if it is her since her spirit apparently haunts many places in Charleston. There aren’t that many public records that even say she came to the Pink House that often. People simply associated her with the building because of the haunting of the woman there.
Many visitors have said they have seen Bonny walking up and down the stairs and the halls. We are not quite sure if this is her, but we do know there are many stories of other hauntings. If you remember correctly, Anne Bonny is a famous pirate who made her living in Charleston, South Carolina. She was crooked, manipulative, and she hung out in the streets and taverns of Charleston quite frequently. Although, we are not sure that this is her ghost since she has been seen all over the city haunting the places that she used to frequent.
Other Ghosts at the Pink House
The stories of the hauntings here don’t stop with a ghostly woman walking up and down the stairs. Visitors have seen handprints on the windows and the windows have opened and closed violently, on their own, when no one was around! People have heard the sounds of footsteps going up and down the stairs all night long! When the staff members have been working during the day, they have even heard these footsteps going up and down the steps.
Visitors that have come to the Pink House have stories to tell too. Many of them have felt incredibly uncomfortable when they are in the house. They have said that they can feel someone watching them, breathing on them, and sometimes, touching them! This gave them a chill down their spines, for sure! They always say that the person that is watching them generally is in the area of the stairwell or on the stairs! Of course, when they look at the stairwell, no one is there, but they do have an eerie feeling that just won’t go away!
The female spirit that haunts the Pink House is said to either be a pirate or a woman who worked there when it was a brothel. Many visitors have said that they see her walking around and some even say it looks like she is serving drinks to guests. This would make sense to see a spirit like this because of all of the people that were in and out of the Pink House when it was a brothel.
Haunted Tours and More
Like many of the haunted buildings of Charleston, South Carolina, many tour companies have started to give tours of the Pink Building. There have been many ghost sitings on these tours and some of them have even been in broad daylight! What can be said for ghosts that show up even in the day time? Maybe they like the idea of being social? There are many online sites that have posted pictures of the tours and some of these pictures show orbs, ghostly figures, and even the faces of men and women who are said to inhabit the Pink House.
There a many ghostly sitings in this vintage building and every new visitor has a new story. The stories get even creepier as time goes on and we are not convinced that there are some spirits that haunt the building and could be angry that people are still using it, especially as a place for tours. Some of the larger tour groups have said that they felt someone looking at them in a way that may them immediately want to leave the building! Others say that they thought they heard someone calling their name and when they turned around, there was no one there!
Things like this happen all the time in historic buildings and cities like Charleston. The history in this city is rich and the tales of ghosts and ghouls get even crazier as we get closer and closer to Halloween! The Pink House is a building like no other in Charleston. It has been standing for hundreds of years and the history of it just keeps growing richer.
At the time of this article, the Pink House is no longer a place where visitors can tour, but it is now a private residence. There is an alley that runs along the back of the home and from the street, visitors can see a lot of the Pink House. This alley that runs along the Pink House has also been known as a hotbed of paranormal activity. The mystery of what has happened along this alley are still to be determined, but you may run into a pirate or two on your way around Key West. The Pink House is definitely one of the most haunted places in Charleston, South Carolina and if you ever walk by it, you may end up feeling someone breathing down your neck, in the dark, dark alley!
Sources:https://chstoday.6amcity.com/history-of-the-pink-house-17-chalmers-st-in-charleston-sc/
https://www.southernliving.com/home/17-chalmers-street-charleston-pink-house
