To start this story off let me tell you that I've always believed that there are ghosts and or spirits and I respect their existence, I leave them alone, aside from that I've never really had any interest in the paranormal world and I haven't put much thought into it. I've heard of people coming in contact with ghosts but I never thought for one minute that I would someday come in contact; that all changed on Sunday 31 May 2015. Now, before I jump into my story and experience let me describe the setting of this event and some history to add to it, mainly to answer some questions the reader may develop while reading my story and to help the reader understand the setting this took place in. I live out in the country about an hour away from Charleston, South Carolina. South Carolina is rich with history, a lot of it dark history that many wish to forget. For those who are not familiar South Carolina's dark history dates back to the white settlers and Native Americans, Slavery, Revolutionary War, Civil War etc. In the fall of 2014 I discovered online while researching local historical sites that there are old church ruins and graveyard near my home. It's called Biggin Church Ruins Moncks Corner, South Carolina; you can Google it there are a lot of pictures.
The church was built around 1711 and burned down in 1755 due to a forest fire, it was rebuilt soon after and the British burned it down in 1781 and it burnt down again from another forest fire in the 1890s. It was never rebuilt; all that remains are 2 solid brick walls and the old graveyard. The church ruins are quite popular in the local area. It appears people visit the ruins often as there are a plethora of photos of it. In fact, couples have their wedding ceremony and vows right inside the ruins of the old church, families also use the beautiful ruins as a backdrop for graduation photos. The attached graveyard has many graves dating back to the 1700s and 1800s and a few present day or "newer" graves. There are also quite a few confederate soldiers buried in this graveyard. The graveyard and church looks like a classic example of modern day horror movie settings in the fact that this graveyard is small and intimate, old, rusting wrought iron gate surrounding the perimeter, and some tombstones faded so badly you can\'t read them or broken and lying flat on the ground. In the fall the leaves turn to their bright colors and the area is often draped with fog as the graveyard and ruins are near a river.
Thanksgiving day 2014 my wife, two young sons and I visited the church. It was beautiful, historical, it was really peaceful. We wandered the grounds and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, my children ran in and around the ruins chasing and hiding from each other while my wife and I read the short stories left on tombstones. The entire visit was uneventful in a paranormal sense. Fast forward to May 2015 and I have a friend visiting from upstate he is actually a ghost hunter, he owns equipment that detects energy or something along these lines, he was also contracted to led and star in a ghost hunting TV series from a major network but the show was canceled and never aired. I told him about the church ruins and he wanted to see it, he wanted to see it for the historical reasons, not to hunt ghosts.
On Sunday afternoon we drove out to the church ruins. We entered through the small wrought iron gate and parked in a grassy area in the center of this intimate old graveyard. It was about 1pm, it was sunny and warm out and it seemed quiet, no traffic noise from nearby highway 52. We wandered through the ruins and graveyard checking things out, reading tombstones, snapping photos and taking in the scenic view of the church ruins. We all gathered in the shade of an oak tree near some old graves, my young boys were running around, laughing and playing while my wife, friend I and talked about local history. The conversation started to go the topic about ghosts and spirits and how some ghosts may still linger, even after hundreds of years. My wife mentioned that this graveyard and church ruins would be creepy at night. I said that I would not have a problem coming out here and my friend agreed with me, we even joked about pitching a tent in a grassy spot near the ruins. My friend said he believes spirits or ghosts for that matter would be more inclined to make their presence known to nay-Sayers or the skeptical, or to people who deliberately conjure them, he mentioned that it doesn't take an Ouija board to arouse spirits; we are arousing them simply by talking about this subject in a graveyard, he said that animals and children are more receptive to ghosts. I thought to myself that I've always believed, just never experimented and had no interest in messing with a realm I knew nothing about. At that point I noticed a tombstone near me which read "Dr Samuel Cordes who died at his residence on North Santee, May 19th 1858, 68th year of his life, He died as he lived, an honest man" I took a photo of the tombstone and sent it to my Mom and Brother.
At that moment I began to feel dizzy and lightheaded, at first I didn't think much of it, seconds later I became nauseous in conjunction with the light headiness and dizziness. I then felt as if I was going to fall over. I stretched my arms over my head to try and shake off this sensation but the dizziness and everything else amplified, my skin developed goose bumps, my hair was standing and had a sort of tingling feeling to it. At that point my two children lost interest in playing and wanted to return to the car which is rather weird because they love being loose and running about. My wife looked at me and asked if I were OK, she must have seen me struggling. She said that I had lost all the color in my face and that my usually red noise was snow white. Suddenly she began to feel the same way I did but not nearly as amplified. The 5 of us then started to make our way back to the car when my friend suddenly felt dizzy and light headed just steps away from the oak tree, his hair stood on end. We all instantly concluded that a ghost or spirit or some sort of paranormal energy made its presence to us, and I have no idea why? Maybe to hint to us to leave or to make me a more profound believer as I was the one who felt it the most. The feeling was so profound that I am certain it wasn't anything related to anything normal. I did not eat or drink or otherwise consume anything out of the ordinary that morning or the days before. I am not on any medications and I do not use drugs or any other recreational substances. I was sober, so I know the sensation I felt was nothing chemical, this was definitely some sort of spirit, ghost or energy from some sort of paranormal source.
After we left everything turned back to normal, I felt fine. Now later that day while driving back home our radio in our car was tuned to a local FM channel that displays the song title while playing. A song came on titled "The Ghost in You" I don\'t think this is related but I figured I would share. Later that evening I was curious about my experience at Biggin Church Ruins but not curious enough to return to mess with whatever that paranormal realm is. However, I felt that I needed some sort of closure. Now, I want to note that during the entire event never once did I feel fear, I felt confused, and mind blown, and certainly surprised but never fear or despair. The following day while driving to work I decided to visit the Church Ruins and Graveyard again to find closure I suppose; I pulled in alone at around 1:55 PM. The weather was sunny and warm like the day before, I entered the graveyard but not the church ruins, and I called my friend, he advised that I stay out of the ruins, he said the day before he had a strong sense of sorrow while within the confides of the ruins, as if some sort of tragedy had happened there; maybe when the British burned it down the town folk were inside. He referenced the burning church scene from the movie "Patriot" with Mel Gibson. I walked deeper into the graveyard and I felt nothing, it was quiet and peaceful. I thought for a moment that I felt the hairs on my arm tingle, but I believe it was my body acting in anticipation and heighten senses. I even visited Dr Samuel Cordes grave again, nothing happened, everything was fine, I took many pictures, as my friend told me that in the pictures you may capture something abnormal. I left the ruins and graveyard feeling normal. About 25 minutes later while driving a song came on titled "Ghosts That We Knew" a rather odd coincidence as when you think about the song that came on the day of the experience. A few days later my friend emailed, he said he was looking through the pictures he took and found something abnormal. He emailed me the picture and asked that I look to the right above a tree. What I saw blew my mind. I saw a face, a sort of blurry ghoul like face in the trees. It was rather blurry, and see thru, even with the mass of green behind it from the leaves I was still able to make out hollow eyes and a hollow mouth, and what appeared to be a left arm. The face I saw had a sort of ghoul/alien look to it. And down below where you would normally see feet, the photo was a bit blurry with what appeared to be a faint, whitish streak. I'll be glad to share the photo if needed. Thank you for reading my story, if you have any insight or questions please ask away.
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