The Legend of the Charleston Lady in White
Unitarian Church Cemetery's Haunted Mystery
Location: Unitarian Church Cemetery, Charleston, SC 29401
Poetic inspiration, serial killer, or unknown simultaneous death. Three ladies, one ghost. Who really haunts Charleston, all in white?
Charleston, South Carolina, is a city steeped in a history richer than sun-tea left out too long, so it is no wonder that the list of haunted locations calling it home includes a woman in white. This location first came across my desk in the form of a book, The Ghost Bridge and Other Creepy Tales of the Haunted South, and the story of the real Annabel Lee, yes, that Annabel Lee. Being a Poe lover myself, I knew I had to research this story and see what was real and what was faux Poe. (As always, I will try to rein in the jokes, puns, and general Lily-thoughts until the end, but only by so much. I do love to laugh, even when writing about ghosts.)
Watch The Legend of the Charleston Lady in White on YouTube
The Lore
The Unitarian Church Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the country, so it's not surprising that it is said to be home to the ghost of a woman in a white dress who wanders the cemetery at night. While her exact identity has never been known, three ladies are often linked to the ghost.
Anna Ravenel
As the legend goes, Anna Ravenel was the 14-year-old daughter of Edmund Ravenel, a prominent man in Charleston, and part of the still well-known local family. She was in love with a soldier despite being betrothed to an aristocratic young man. She would secretly meet her love in the middle of the night in the cemetery. When her father found out, he did what all fathers did back then and locked her in her room, and Anna eventually caught and passed away from yellow fever (or similar) without ever seeing her love again. After she died, her father had her buried next to 3-foot deep empty plots (some sources say there were 5 plots total, others that there were 5 empty plots), so when her love visited her grave, he would not know which grave was hers. The man she was in love with was 18-year-old Edgar Allan Poe, who was stationed at Fort Moultrie. Anna is said to haunt her grave and the empty plots, waiting for Edgar.
Lavinia Fisher
Lavinia Fisher and her husband, John Fisher, were criminals put to death for the capital offense of highway robbery, but their lore goes deeper than that. They ran a hotel together, and it is believed they were serial killers, which would make Lavinia one of America's first women serial killers. It is said that after their deaths, several bodies were found buried on the hotel grounds. But it was never proven that the couple were killers. Anyways, after a botched escape plan where John was able to escape but not Lavinia, he came back to be sentenced with her (swoon in creepy). John was hanged before Lavinia, who wore her white wedding dress to her hanging. John reportedly found God before dying, maintained his innocence, and begged the crowd to forgive him. On the other hand, Lavinia's last words reportedly were “Save your words for others that want them. But if you have a message you want to send to Hell, give it to me; I’ll carry it.” It is rumoured that they are both buried in unmarked graves at the Unitarian Church Cemetery, and Lavinia haunts anyone who disturbs her grave.
Mary Whitridge
Mary Whitridge's story is one of heartbreak after death. She was married and lived a happy life with her husband, who had poor health his whole life. After he fell ill, most likely with tuberculosis, AKA "consumption," he was sent to Baltimore, Maryland, for treatment. Sadly, he never made it to his destination, passing away during the trip. They sent word to Mary about claiming his body, but never got a response, and were forced to bury him in a city cemetery in Baltimore. Mary never responded because on the day her husband died, she died as well. Mary is buried in the Unitarian Church Cemetery next to an empty plot, where her love should be. She haunts her grave waiting for him.
Ghostly Videos
While EVPs, videos, and photos of the Lady in White are hard to locate online, I did come across these two shorts on YouTube featuring EVPs caught at the Unitarian Church Cemetery. Both shorts are by the same channel, just as an FYI. I didn't see a full video on the channel, though I might have missed it.
Short 1 - "CLASS A EVP AT UNITARIAN CHURCH IN CHARLESTON SC!!! P-SB7 SPIRIT BOX!!"
Short 2 - "LAVINIA FISHER SPIRIT BOX SESSION!! RESPONDS TO MY SENTENCE!!"
Additionally, I found this lovely walk-through of the cemetery that is very peaceful and only about 10 minutes, so I hope you take a coffee break and enjoy touring the cemetery.
The Facts
Now, before anyone gets mad about me discussing the facts, nothing I am about to say is new knowledge—if you are willing to search Google a bit. (And sign up for a church site to look at death records for free...😂) FYI, no one should ever look at my search history. I look like a deranged writer, which, to be fair, I am, but still.
Onward with the facts!
Anna Ravenel
Now, I love Poe as much as the next goth girl in her 40s, but did he really come to Charleston as a military man and meet the Ravenel family? He actually did! Poe enlisted under the name Edgar A. Perry and was stationed at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, between 1827 and 1828. "Gold Bug" was inspired by his time at Sullivan’s Island, and the narrator is said to be based on Poe's friend, Edmund Ravenel.
There was also a real-life Anna Ravenel who died in Charleston in 1829! But she is no Annabel Lee. This Anna was a wife and mother of 1-3 children (depending on the site you're on), and being born in 1791, was much older than 14 at the time of her death. She also is not a "real" Ravenel, as she married in and was from the Ford family. Oh, and she's buried in a marked grave at Saint Peter's Episcopal Churchyard.
Edmund Ravenel was born in 1797 and had no children by the name of Anna, and certainly no children that early in his own life. Even his older siblings did not have children until closer to the year Anna would have died.
There is an additional piece to this puzzle, though. Poe may have heard a local legend about a woman and a sailor falling in love and her father locking her away when he discovered their romance. The woman died, and her father buried her along with empty plots to prevent the sailor from grieving properly. It's not far-fetched to think of this local story getting mixed with famous people in the area to become a haunting tale linked to real life. It's also not unlikely that Poe used this legend to write his final poem, drawing inspiration from it as well as his own wife and life. As I said during my research stream, writers draw inspiration from everything and everyone, it doesn't matter if it is real or fiction.
Lavinia Fisher
This is another case of truth mixed with fiction to create a story full of intrigue. Lavinia and her husband were real. They really ran a hotel. They were arrested and sentenced to death for highway robbery. They even tried escaping together. But whether or not they were actual killers is not known for certain. A lot of facts and happenstance have blended over time, making the truth harder to find. Like the fact that they are not buried at the Unitarian Church Cemetery or the Circular Congregational Church Cemetery, as reports claim, but are buried in a potter's field near the Old City Jail, like the criminals they were said to be.
Mary Whitridge
Mary is a real person. She really was married, really did die, and really is buried at the Unitarian Church Cemetery...right next to Mr. Whitridge, who died ten years later. Oops. Mary Bloomfield Whitridge, born around 1847 (she was 60 or 61 at the time of her passing), died January 23, 1907, married to Gustavos R. Whitridge, who died February 8, 1917, in Hendersonville, North Carolina, but was buried by Mary in Charleston.
The Lily Thoughts
I wish I could say I had a lot of big thoughts on this one, but honestly, I am just a bit disappointed that every possible ghost candidate was easily debunked. Now that is not to say that the cemetery isn't haunted, it's just not haunted by those we think it is.
Do I trust spirit boxes like the one used in the shorts I linked? Nope. But I'm not going to say it was faked, just that using those devices can throw out sounds and words that sound like responses. "Hi" and "devil" (that didn't really sound like "devil" to me, but not the point) are easy sounds to make and to link with literally any spirit.
I do think this is a beautiful location. Charleston reminds me a lot of my own city, and it's a place I have visited before and loved being at. If ghosts are walking around the United States, Charleston is just as likely to be haunted as the next city. Is the Unitarian Church Cemetery haunted? That I do not know. But if it is, it's not haunted by Anna, Lavinia, or Mary.
Until next time, Lore Lovers, stay spooky💖
Sources
Anna Elizabeth Ford Ravenel (1790-1831) - Find A Grave. 21 July 1790, www.findagrave.com/memorial/72785408/anna-elizabeth-ravenel.
“Anna (Ford) Ravenel.” American Aristocracy, americanaristocracy.com/people/anna-ford-ravenel.
“Anna Ravenel and the Unitarian Church Graveyard.” Scares and Haunts of Charleston, 10 Mar. 2013, scaresandhauntsofcharleston.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/anna-ravenel-and-the-unitarian-church-graveyard.
“Anna Ravenel, Edgar Allan Poe and the Unitarian Church Graveyard.” RANDOM Times •, 7 Mar. 2022, random-times.com/2022/03/07/anna-ravenel-edgar-allan-poe-and-the-unitarian-church-graveyard.
Brown, Alan. The Female Revenants of the Unitarian Church Cemetery | the Ghost Doctor. theghostdoctor.com/the-female-revenants-of-the-unitarian-church-cemetery.
D’Agnese, Joseph. Annabel Lee Buried Here, and Other Boneyard Myths. 8 Oct. 2021, www.sleuthsayers.org/2021/10/annabel-lee-buried-here-and-other.html.
Dr Edmund Ravenel (1797-1871) - Find A Grave. 8 Dec. 1797, www.findagrave.com/memorial/41758045/edmund-ravenel.
“Edgar Allan Poe and the Legend of Annabel Lee.” US Ghost Adventures, 14 Feb. 2025, usghostadventures.com/uncategorized/edgar-allan-poe-and-the-legend-of-annabel-lee.
“Gustavus R Whitridge.” FamilySearch.org, www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q5S7-WYQK?lang=en.
"Gustavus R Whitridge.” FamilySearch.org, www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4R3K-7MT2?lang=en.
“Gustavus Rodolphus Whitridge.” FamilySearch.org, www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/sources/L263-TVM.
“The Haunted Unitarian Church Cemetery.” Charleston Terrors, 26 Mar. 2025, charlestonterrors.com/the-haunted-unitarian-church-cemetery.
Johnson, Bret. “LAVINIA FISHER SPIRIT BOX SESSION!! RESPONDS TO MY SENTENCE!!” YouTube, 1 Mar. 2019, www.youtube.com/shorts/kcDMVyBpbLI.
Johnson, Brett. “CLASS A EVP AT UNITARIAN CHURCH IN CHARLESTON SC!!! P-SB7 SPIRIT BOX!!” YouTube, 1 Mar. 2019, www.youtube.com/shorts/MAfSvwN9prs.
Mary Bloomfield Whitridge (Unknown-1907) - Find A Grave. www.findagrave.com/memorial/26033626/mary-bloomfield-whitridge.
“Mary Whitridge.” FamilySearch.org, www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4G9Y-D1MM?lang=en.
My Cemetery Gates. “Unitarian Church Cemetery, Charleston SC.” YouTube, 23 Oct. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rhVe740iR0.
Practicingbio. “The Legend of Anna Ravenel and Edgar Allan Poe.” Life in Bio, 17 July 2020, lifeinbio.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/the-legend-of-anna-ravenel-and-edgar-allan-poe.
Turner, Katie. “Haunted History: Edgar Allan Poe & the Lowcountry.” WCBD News 2, 16 Oct. 2020, www.counton2.com/haunted-history/haunted-history-edgar-allan-poe-the-lowcountry/amp.
Walker, Kelley, and Amy Gary. “My Annabelle Lee.” The Ghost Bridge and Other Creepy Tales of the Haunted South, Birmingham, AL, United States of America, Sweet Water Press, 2019, pp. 121–23.
Wikipedia contributors. “Lavinia Fisher.” Wikipedia, 16 Apr. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavinia_Fisher.
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