Charleston’s Mourning Ghost of Sue Howard Hardy

On June 10, 1987, photographer Harry Reynold was wandering through Charleston, South Carolina. He stopped occasionally to snap a picture of a romantic carriage, or an intricate wrought-iron fence, until he came to St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church Cemetery. Inspired by the lonely, historic gravestones, he began to photograph them, testing the light and the angles and attempting to tell a story without words. Instead, he uncovered Charleston’s most famous ghost story- the ghost of Sue Howard Hardy. As his film developed, he came across an eerie photo of a ghostly woman in a white dress kneeling over a headstone. He sent the photo to Kodak to be tested, and it was returned as a confirmed genuine photo.

The woman in the picture is believed to be Mrs. Hardy. On June 10, 1888, Sue Hardy Gave birth to a stillborn child. Six days later, she followed her baby to the grave due to after-birth complications. Her mourning spirit had gone unnoticed for 99 years, when Reynold captured her on film on the same date her baby was lost. This could be brushed off as a coincidence, however photos of the young Mrs. Hardy have only been captured on June 10. In fact, just this year, a woman named Cassie Alexis Lahn accidentally captured another photo of the spirit- exactly 35 years after Reynold’s photo was taken. 

One can only assume that poor Mrs. Hardy comes out each year to mourn and pray over her baby, who lays right next to her in the church’s cemetery. It serves Reynold’s evidence of her existence to see that in each photo that is captured of her, she looks just the same way, down to her white burial gown. A mother’s love never dies, as Sue Howard Hardy proves to us each year. Her dedication to her child, even in death, has spanned over a century. Will she ever find her rest, or will she continue to look after her child for centuries more?

The most recent photo of Sue Hardy taken by Cassie Lahn

The first photo of Sue Hardy, Captured by Harry Reynold