Andrew Davis> Ghostly faces in Civil War battle flags... The death mask of a notorious gangster... And an old hand truck possessed by a spirit?

I'm Andrew Davis.

I'm a history enthusiast with passions for exploring and finding cool objects from the past.

But for me?

It's even cooler to find artifacts with remarkable historical ties.

The Palmetto State shares a rich culture and I'm here to tell its stories through the mementos left behind.

Join me on this journey as we uncover some of these historical stories.

This is Curiosity Trek!

Today's first set of artifacts is located in Charleston Harbor at Fort Sumter National Historical Park.

It takes about two hours to get to Charleston from Columbia.

There are many Civil War sites in the United States with ghost stories, local legends, or even paranormal activities tied to them.

In the heart of Charleston Harbor sits a pentagon-shaped brick fortress.

This is Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War took place.

Originally built for the defense of Charleston Harbor, today it is a popular tourist attraction for the National Park Service.

Fort Sumter is no exception when it comes to tales of unexplainable phenomena.

In the years following the Civil War, visitors to Fort Sumter claim that faces can be seen and two of its original battle flags.

The flags we are about to see were used during the American Civil War between April, 1861 and April, 1865.

Once we arrived at Liberty Square, we needed to embark on a ferry ride out to Fort Sumter.

Have two Civil War soldiers immortalized themselves from the beyond in these flags?

Thankfully, we found an expert to help us shed light on this local Charleston legend.

Hey, Shelby, how are you?

Shelby McAllister> My name is Shelby McAllister, and I am a park guide at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park.

Thank you for joining us today, Shelby!

My pleasure.

Would you mind giving our viewers a brief history on Fort Sumter?

I would love to!

So Fort Sumter is in a direct relation to the War of 1812.

During that war, Britain goes up and burns down Washington, D.C.. After that, the President James Madison, is going to order a whole bunch of coastal forts to be built to protect key cities, to ensure something like that hopefully never happens again.

And the system forts is all over, and Fort Sumter is one of those forts.

Fort Sumter is in two major bombardments: The first one is the opening shots of the Civil War starting on April 12, 1861.

There is a 34-hour bombardment of this fort.

That is the first engagement or battle that Fort Sumter is really going to see.

After that bombardment, the Union forces are going to leave, the Confederacy is going to move in here and they are here for four years.

After that, there's a big lull period Until again, the Union forces return in 1863 with that second bombardment of Fort Sumter The second bombardment lasts about a year and a half, over 44,000 rounds being fired into here, and it reduces Fort Sumter to rubble.

Now, what individuals or events are associated with the "Storm Flag" and the Palmetto Guard Flag?

The "Storm Flag" as it is known, the person that is mostly associated with that flag is a gentleman called Major Robert Anderson.

He was the man in charge of the United States forces here in 1860-61.

Now he is associated with that because he is the one that raises the flag over the fort.

However, there is another gentleman who kind of takes the shine away from Robert Anderson, and that is a gentleman called Daniel Hough.

Now, the reason he kind of takes away the shine from Robert Anderson?

after the initial bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861, that first shot of the war, Robert Anderson asked for a 100-gun salute as the American Flag is going to be lowered over the fort, and before they leave and hand the fort over to the Confederacy.

He is granted this 100-gun salute and it's not going to be muskets or small guns it's going to be very large cannons like this one behind us.

However, they never do make it to the full 100 on this cannon salute.

On gun 47 there was an explosion of some kind near the cannon.

We're still not exactly sure what happens, but gunpowder goes off prematurely, and that will instantly kill Union Private Daniel Hough and he becomes more associated with the "Storm Flag" due to his death during that lowering of that flag.

The other flag that is really popular or famous here at Fort Sumter is something they call the Palmetto Guard Flag Now, not many people have actually really heard of this flag, but it is significant to the history of Fort Sumter because once Robert Anderson and his men leave this fort, there is going to be a Confederate Private named John Bird who was going to come in with this flag and he sticks it on the parapet of Fort Sumter facing Charleston and it is the first Confederate flag to fly over Fort Sumter during the Civil War.

Davis> Sometime after the conclusion of the Civil War, some people noticed the appearance of unusual marks on these flags.

It was speculated to be the faces of Privates Daniel Hough and John Bird.

Although it's not known exactly when this local legend first originated.

McAllister> In the "Storm Flag" underneath one of the stars, many, many years ago, someone proclaimed they could see a face and the blue fabric of the flag.

And this old legend or myth got started that the face is Daniel Hough again that Union Private that sadly passed away during the lowering of that flag.

We don't know where it started.

Someone made it and it's been around for many, many years.

For the Palmetto Guard Flag the rumor or the old legend with that flag is the face that you see in it is John Bird.

But that that one seems a little bit more far-fetched as John Bird lives a very long life and passes away many, many years the end of the Civil War.

Now what do you think caused the faces to appear on the flags?

It's just the deterioration of the fabrics of the flags.

After the Civil War, the "Storm Flag" for example, stays in Robert Anderson's family in a trunk for many years.

And of course, over time it gets eaten by moths and other things and just slowly starts to deteriorate.

And the way it deteriorated, ironically, just kind of happened to put a humanoid face in the fabric of the flag.

And same thing with the Palmetto Guard Flag as well.

Davis> Here is the "face" of Private Daniel Hough, just to the right of the center-most star on the "Storm Flag".

The marking appears to resemble a bearded face wearing a kepi.

The "face" of Private John Bird on the Palmetto Guard Flag is a little more difficult to see with the naked eye.

As we will demonstrate by turning down the contrast on this image, the outline of a head with facial features can be seen more clearly.

Have any scientific studies been done on these flags, and if not, are there plans to do any studies on them?

McAllister> No, and not really.

The only thing that we have really done with these flags has been preservation for them.

The last major preservation was in 1980, trying to make sure that the fabric of these flags do not deteriorate anymore, because being here in the lovely tropical land of Charleston, South Carolina, humidity is our worst friend.

And that has really been the only thing is trying to keep all that humidity out of there.

There have never been really any gadgets or gizmos looking at these flags.

Just our lovely curatorial staff helping to try to keep them around for many more years.

Davis> About when did the faces appear on those flags?

McAllister> We actually have no idea.

It is still a mystery even to this day when they really appeared.

We didn't have these really in our collection until the mid 1900s.

Because of that, they could have been there before.

They could have been after, but no one's really sure exactly when they appeared or when the story of them being there got started.

From our guess, it's been over 20 years since we've ever really heard about this, but it's actually still a mystery waiting to be discovered to this day!

Well, Shelby, it's been a real pleasure, and I appreciate you taking the time to meet with us today.

My pleasure, and hopefully you all learned something about this place and get to come back soon!

Oh I did, thank you!

It's your turn now, fellow viewers.

What do you think?

Did Privates Daniel Hough and John Bird imprint their faces on the flags to keep watch over the fort from the beyond?

Or are they nothing more than blemishes from storage and old age?

Davis> Speaking of faces, the Florence County Museum has a rather unusual face in its collection on display but this artifact happens to be tied to one of America's most famous FBI agents!

This "death mask" of John Dillinger was molded shortly after his death on July 22, 1934 during the height of the Great Depression.

Davis> The Great Depression was a time of immeasurable frustration and uncertainty for Americans.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, many Americans felt disillusioned with the U.S.

government and the bank system, which lost people's hard earned money.

The desperation and destitution led to a rise in crime.

Many criminals and gangsters gained notoriety during this era, but only a small number earned the title: "Public Enemy #1".

The death mask of one of these criminals, John Dillinger, can be viewed at the Florence County Museum.

But why?

What's Dillinger's connection with the Palmetto State?

Cherish Thomas and Stephen Motte of the Florence County Museum join us to unmask the story of this odd artifact.

Good to see you.

My name is Cherish Thomas, and I am the Registrar and Collections Manager of the Florence County Museum.

My name is Stephen Motte.

I'm the curator of the Florence County Museum.

Davis> What was life typically like for folks living during the Great Depression?

Cherish Thomas> Well, compared to the 1920s, which was a time of economic prosperity and relative stability, in the lives of Americans, the 1930s were a period of uncertainty.

After the stock market crash in 1929, banks failed.

Businesses failed.

People lost their jobs, their homes, their livelihoods, farms.

And it was chaos.

lot of people are just living day to day and trying to survive, you know, not really knowing what the next day was going to bring or even how to plan for the future.

Davis> Why did organized crime ramp up so high during the Depression and what factors led to that?

Thomas> Part of it was likely due to just frustration with the conditions of everyday life at the time.

And also, just opportunity.

Outlaws, as they're commonly called were taking advantage of the new advancements in technology and infrastructure at the time.

But also just the ill-equipped local police forces, you know, they aren't like the ones we have today.

They didn't have the means to tackle crime of this caliber.

Didn't have technology or the means of communicating with each other like we do today.

So it was just it was a lot easier for them get away with crime.

Davis> With local law enforcement being so ill equipped to deal with a rise in crime.

Some individuals exploited these disadvantages.

One of these notorious figures was John Dillinger.

Thomas> He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to a middle class family.

Began dabbling in crime as a teenager.

Spent about eight and a half, nine years or so in jail for theft and assault.

And then as soon as he was released, he set his sights on robbing banks.

Stephen Motte> Dillinger had begun his most notorious crime spree in mid 1933, and he was killed in mid 1934.

John Dillinger was America's most prominent criminal at the time.

After he escaped prison, he ended up on the FBI's Most Wanted list and became known as Public Enemy #1.

Davis> In March 1934, Dillinger escaped from an Indiana prison and crossed state lines in a stolen car, violating the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act.

This caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, needed an agent with the moxie and skill to take down a dangerous criminal like Dillinger.

Hoover found the perfect man for the job: South Carolina's own Melvin Purvis.

Motte> Melvin Purvis is best known as an FBI agent who was responsible for tracking down and bringing to justice several of the most notorious organized criminals during the 1930s.

He was born in Florence County in 1903 and pursued a career in law.

He attended local schools, and then he got a law degree from the University of South Carolina, after which he became a partner in a local law firm, but decided that he wanted to do something different with his career, so he applied for a position with the newly formed FBI.

After Melvin Purvis got his job with the FBI, he was assigned to several offices throughout the country.

He moved up quickly in the ranks of the FBI, which got J. Edgar Hoover's attention.

Hoover then assigned Purvis to be head of the Chicago field office.

Chicago at the time, had become the epicenter for organized crime in the American Midwest.

Purvis led a raid against Dillinger's gang in 1933, which Dillinger escaped.

It also led to the death of an officer, after which time it became more urgent to capture Dillinger.

Eventually, an informant told the FBI where Dillinger could be found, and in 1934 they surrounded Dillinger and his gang.

While they were leaving a theater in Chicago.

Purvis's team then surrounded Dillinger.

He tried to escape and was shot.

Davis> After Purvis took down John Dillinger, morbid curiosity captured the minds of local citizens.

People were eager to catch a glimpse of one of the country's most infamous criminals.

While Dillinger's corpse was on public display, death masks with the gangster's likeness began to appear.

Now how did the Florence County Museum obtain this particular copy of Dillinger's death mask?

Thomas> It was donated to us in 2012 by Melvin Purvis's son Austin.

Motte> Because John Dillinger was such a celebrity after his death, the city of Chicago put his body on display and members of the public could come and view it.

And one person was able to sneak in some plaster into the city morgue, and they poured a mold of his face and used that to create the death mask and the death mask that we have in our collection is a copy of that original.

One of the most interesting things about the John Dillinger death mask is if you take a look, under his right eye, you can see the exit wound from the bullet that killed him.

He was shot several times, but also John Dillinger was such a well known criminal that by the time he became Public Enemy #1 on the FBI's most wanted list, he had some plastic surgery done to his face to make him less recognizable.

So the face of John Dillinger that we see in the death mask is not his actual face, but it's the result of that plastic surgery.

Davis> As creepy as the death mask may be, the Florence County Museum hopes that its collection of Dillinger and Purvis artifacts will help further cement the positive impacts of South Carolinians in American history.

Motte> We're always trying to connect local people and events with the larger context of history.

The rise of organized crime the 1930s was a major cultural event, as was John Dillinger's eventual capture and death and Melvin Purvis helped bring an end to that.

Because of this, Purvis became a national hero and a celebrity but ironically, because of J. Edgar Hoover's envy, it led to Purvis's dismissal from the FBI and some would even say to Purvis's death.

I think the story of Purvis encapsulates this moment in history, and it's our mission at the Florence County Museum to tell these stories.

Davis> It's amazing how an ordinary South Carolinian's contributions could make such an extraordinary impact in the history of US law enforcement.

We hope you found this segment on the Florence County Museum's death mask of John Dillinger... "Mask-nificent"!

Davis> The last stop on our journey circles us back to Columbia to check out a work implement said to be possessed by a ghost!

Davis> The man who is said to have used this work cart in life worked at the Allen Bros.

Mill between 1958 and 1972.

One of Columbia, South Carolina's most iconic landmarks is a rather conspicuous set of white towers in the heart of downtown Columbia's Vista district.

These reinforced concrete towers house the Allen Brothers Milling Company's massive grain elevators.

Despite the Adluh Milling Company being bought out by the Allen Brothers Milling Company in 1926, Allen Brothers decided to retain the Adluh name, which can still be seen on its buildings today.

But the old Adluh name is not the only thing from the company's past that has managed to stick around... Like some of South Carolina's other historic structures, these buildings are the home of a local ghost story: a haunted hand-truck possessed by the spirit of a former employee!

I have heard the story of Busbee's cart before, so I decided to take a walk down Gervais Street to the Allen Brothers Mill to speak with CEO Bill Allen about this tale.

Bill Allen> My name is Bill Allen.

I'm the president of Adluh Flour, Allen Brothers Milling Company.

And on behalf of my family, I just want to say thank you all to ETV for showing interest in us today.

Davis> Hey Bill, thank you for taking the time to meet with us today to talk about this rather unusual piece of Columbia folklore.

But for our viewers who don't know, could you give them a brief history on the Adluh Flour Company?

The Adluh Flour company was originally founded in the early 1900s.

The mill was built around 1900.

The Adluh name name came into being in 1914, and in the later years, in the early 20s, was purchased by my family, the Allen brothers family in 1926.

We're producing currently some 25 or better, all cornmeal and flour based.

We do a number of mixers and breaders that are cornmeal and flour based, and then we do a large amount of our businesses is in stone ground grits, white and yellow.

Davis> The spirit of a former employee named Jerome Busbee is said to still roam his old workplace, and even possessed his favorite hand-truck used in life.

After Busbee's passing, this cart became anchored to the very spot where he left it by unexplainable means.

Who was Jerome Busbee and around when did he work at Adluh Flour?

Allen> Jerome Busbee was an employee here.

we assume my grandfather hired back in the day would have been here from the mid to late 50s to the early 70s, somewhere around, I'm guessing around 1958 to 1972, he was a warehouse worker.

He did a number of things, but he was a mill worker in the in the flour mill, primarily.

Davis> Now, this is not Jerome's cart exactly but this is more or less the same make and model as what he used back in the day, correct?

Allen> That is correct.

He would have pushed this on a daily basis, multiple times, if not hundreds of times a day, moving product and whatnot to the warehouses and also to potentially loading trucks as well.

Davis> Now, where did this legend originate?

How did this whole thing get started?

Allen> Well, I think it's just from the rumor here and noises and whatnot in the warehouse.

There have been times we've heard footsteps from the ghost of Jerome Busbee, And the story is that they found this cart here in the mill, and it could not be moved.

And it's just a legend to this very day.

Davis> It's been said that Jerome Busbee was, in fact a practitioner of Voodoo, correct?

Allen> Well, I reckon yeah that can be said as well.

Yes, sir.

That's a part of the folklore story as well.

Davis> Now, I've personally heard about Voodoo, but I admit I do not know that much about it.

In order to familiarize myself, I have invited a special guest onto the show to help me understand the subject better.

Medical doctor and author Dr.

Burnett Gallman.

Gallman> My name is Burnett Gallman, and I am a gastroenterologist, retired from private practice and currently working at the, Dorn V.A.

Hospital.

Davis> Now, have you heard the story of Jerome Busbee and his haunted work cart at Adluh Flour?

Gallman> I have.

Davis> Alright... What exactly is Voodoo?

Gallman> Voodoo or Vodún is a bonafide religion that came from Africa.

That is very spiritual.

And it deals with goodness.

It deals with the positive attributes that you would want in any religion.

Vodún, the religion itself probably got to South Carolina, and I'm not sure how many practitioners of Vodún there are in South Carolina, but as Africans were traded and trafficked, they took their religion with them.

And Vodún is very, very common in Haiti, but it's also very common in New Orleans.

From Haiti and New Orleans you had the spread so that Vodún spread up Mississippi, it spread eastward to South Carolina.

These folks practice their religions, but they were able to hide them under the banner of Christianity, usually Catholicism, In order to maintain enslavement, the religion, the culture, the language of the enslaved people had to be taken away from them.

So in order to keep it going, the Africans would pretend to accept Catholicism.

But a large percentage of the Africans in coastal South Carolina practice Hoodoo.

What a lot of people get confused is that Hoodoo, even though it sounds like Vodún it's not a religion, it is a belief system, but it's not a religion.

It actually provided the enslaved Africans the methodology of survival during some of the bad times.

And it was basically for healing, for protection, for ancestral veneration, for, trying to go somewhere and get good luck.

One of the differences is Vodún was a religion and it was communal, whereas Hoodoo was basically individual.

Davis> Whether Busbee practiced Vodún or Hoodoo, Dr.

Gallman is skeptical but open minded about the story of the haunted cart.

Gallman> I think it's very interesting, that story.

I'm not sure that it is what they say it is, and I'm not sure that it was something that occurred as a result of Vodún.

If he was not jealously guarding that piece of machinery during his lifetime, why should he do it after death?

The bottom line is that I think it's possible.

I don't think it's probable, but I think it's possible, and I honestly can't offer any conjecture on that because if it couldn't move and then all of a sudden it disappeared I know that there are things that happen that we feeble humans have absolutely no clue about.

Davis> Unlike other artifacts featured on Curiosity Trek!, this one is different in that Busbee's cart cannot be found on display anywhere.

In fact, nobody seems to know where it is, for it disappeared under mysterious circumstances before the old storage warehouse's conversion into a restaurant.

Any thoughts on where it may have ended up?

Allen> That's just a mystery that I think only the ghost of Jerome Busbee can answer.

Davis> And we may never find out!

Allen> Very well may not, but I think the ghost of Jerome Busbee would be where the answer would lie.

Davis> Though the hand-truck itself is gone, the tale of Jerome Busbee's ghost lives on in Columbia.

The story has not managed to scare away any customers or affect business in any way.

In fact, the Allen Brothers Milling Company has embraced the legend and welcomes customers who inquire about it for themselves.

Davis> Have you ever had customers come in asking about the story?

Like, hey, is this story true?

Allen> That indeed has happened on occasion, and that's primarily older people that have been around and have been loyal customers of ours through the years and just heard about it.

But that has been discussed, and have been some people come in with real interest in asking that very question, yes.

And we try to share with them as best we can.

It's just something that we've known about through the years.

I think it's more than a myth and just folklore.

We really don't know.

But it has been discussed and handed down from one generation to the next.

It's something we've known about since my early childhood days, but it's just something of interest that some people express interest.

And when they come and call upon us to inquire about it, then we really try to be as accomodating as we possibly can, in answering what we know.

Davis> Do you think the disappearance of Busbee's cart is mere coincidence?

Or perhaps Busbee reclaimed his favorite hand-truck and took it back with him into the afterlife?

The world may never know, but if you're curious for yourselves and want to pay a visit to the Allen Brothers Mill, I'm sure they won't mind talking about it with patrons.

Davis> We hope you enjoyed this journey into some of the Palmetto State's weirder history!

There are many more mementos to see and places to go in South Carolina with unusual tales tied to them.

As bizarre as some of these may be like today's featured artifacts, they are part of South Carolina's story.

I'm Andrew Davis.

Thank you for joining me on Curiosity Trek!.

I hope to see you with us on our next endeavor!