The Chapel of Ease was built around 1740 on Saint Helena Island, South Carolina, in Beaufort County, to serve the island’s plantation community, but on November 4th, 1861, a messenger arrived with urgent news for Captain William Oliver Perry Fripp about the Union army approaching, during the Civil War, prompting locals to flee and abandon the building.
Within the chapel’s graveyard stands a mausoleum designed by Charleston stone cutter WT White, where Edgar Fripp and his wife Eliza were laid to rest in 1852. The ornate vault’s beauty became its curse when Union soldiers ransacked it in search of treasure and destroyed the door, leading workers to seal the entrance with bricks. But something strange happened—when workers returned the next morning, they discovered the bricks had been carefully removed and stacked beside the mausoleum. They sealed it again, only to witness the identical phenomenon the following day. Terrified by what they believed were supernatural forces, the workers abandoned their task, leaving the vault empty with its entrance only partially sealed to this day.
The chapel’s paranormal reputation draws curious visitors who report a range of eerie experiences on the grounds. Many describe strange sensations while wandering through the graveyard, while others claim to have encountered apparitions of 18th-century figures. Among the most frequent sightings is a woman dressed in white, cradling a child in her arms as she moves through the cemetery. Perhaps most haunting of all, when conditions are just right, the faint sounds of whispered prayers and hymns drift from within the ruined chapel walls.
Written By John G. Clark Jr
