The Castle in downtown Beaufort’s point neighborhood will again be welcoming trick or treaters this Halloween night.
The famous home at 411 Craven Street in downtown is also home to plenty of ghost stories and tales of things going bump in the night. This Halloween, the historic home will again transform itself into a haunted house.
The owners of The Castle, Dave & Nancy Russell, are enlisting the help of volunteers from the local Beaufort community to create yet another haunted extravaganza on October 31st. It will be open from 630 to 830pm on Halloween night.
“The Beaufort High Drama Club will be involved as the actors and MXM Productions will be providing the lighting and sound,” the Russells said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The goal, according to Dave Russell, is to provide a special Halloween experience for kids that they won’t forget.
“It was all started by the previous owners around 2017, and when we were buying the house in 2021, we were told that we should carry on the tradition,” he said.
According to Dave, they want to change the theme each year. In 2021, it was the Bubonic Plague. Last year, the spooky theme at The Castle was Davey Jones Locker.
The theme for 2023 will be a Haunted Civil War Hospital, under enemy fire.
“Since it was Hospital Number 6 during the Civil War, it just makes sense,” Dave, who loves the house’s history, said.
Traditionally, the festivities will begin a little less spooky, for the younger kids during the first hour or so, then will increase to a more frightening atmosphere as the night goes on.
In addition to trick or treating inside the home, kids can experience lots of spooky moments wandering the grounds outside of 170+ year old home.
“We had some 2,200 visitors in the few hours last year,” he said. “So we’ll have 4 local Marines from MCAS Beaufort that will be here to help make sure things move along smoothly.”
With his knowledge of the legendary status of the home, we received one simple answer from Dave when we asked, “why do you do this?”
“Because it’s a great way to be able to give back to the community, and some people would not have had the opportunity to visit The Castle.”
Here’s what it looked like last year, along with this year’s announcement. (video in post)
The Castle’s History, and Its Ghostly Inhabitant
Also known as the Joseph Johnson house, The Castle is said to be super haunted, too.
In 1562, Jean Ribaut and his Huguenots came from France, founding the colony of Charlesfort on what is now Parris Island. It’s said that Ribaut brought a dwarf along with him, named Gauche; a jester by trade. It’s said that Gauche made up for his lack of height by being a rough customer. He reputedly died in a battle away from Charlesfort, impaled on a pike on the land that would be the site of the home of Dr. Joseph Johnson some 300 years later.
Gauche’s apparition has been seen by folks as far back as Dr. Johnson himself, both inside and outside of the home.
Dr. Johnson’s daughter Lily played tea party with the ghost many times as a child, and visitors to The Castle have seen him while on tours.
The ghost has been known to tap out messages in 16th-century French, move furniture, open and close doors and leave his red handprints on windows.
It’s said that the messages he tapped out were archaic 16th Century French. Once such translation was published in Tales of Beaufort by Nell S. Graydon, in which a house guest held a strange interview with the restless spirit and learned his identity. It claimed its name was Gauche and that it lived in the cellar because it reminded him of his home that he would never see again. When the guest asked if he could see Gauche, the jester replied, “No, I do not show myself to fools.”
When he’s around, some say, you can hear the ringing of the bells on his costume. House guests have reported seeing a wisp of fog rise out of the tidal creek by the house, take the form of a small man, and disappear into the night.
Other than being haunted by a 500 year old French dwarf, the Castle had a storied history during the Civil War as well, and that just adds to the aura around the legend. You can read about the rest of it here.
