Haunted Annie's Inn, Aiken: The Little Girl on the Second Floor

Annie’s Inn stands on the Charleston Highway in Montmorenci, a small village about five miles east of downtown Aiken. It is a white Greek Revival plantation house with tall columns and a deep porch, set on two acres with a pool and a row of cottages behind. It has taken guests as a bed and breakfast since 1984.

Its ghost is a little girl. Owners past and present say they have never seen her, but guests in the main house have reported giggling, a child calling for her mother, and small mischief with TVs, hair dryers and bedclothes. Some guests ask for her rooms; others ask for a cottage instead. It is the only rural bed and breakfast on our list of haunted hotels in South Carolina.

The ghost of Annie's Inn

The little girl

Guests at Annie’s Inn describe a friendly little girl who seems to live on the second floor of the main house. They hear giggling from empty rooms and the hallway, and some say they have heard a child calling for her mother.

Longtime owner Scottie Ruark told the Aiken Standard that she never saw the girl herself, but that the girl tends to make herself known whenever there are renovations.

TVs, hair dryers and blankets

The DeHart family, who took over the inn around 2022, told the Aiken Standard what their guests report: a TV that switches itself on and off, a hair dryer that does the same, and blankets pulled off the bed in the night.

The DeHarts have not seen the girl either. They say some guests book specifically to stay in her rooms, while others ask to avoid the main house altogether.

Who was she?

No one knows. Local accounts say the house was occupied by soldiers during the Civil War and that a doctor later used the second floor as a hospital, where patients died. Some people link the girl to those years, and the Aiken Standard described her as a Civil War-era child.

There are no records naming her, and no record of how many people died in the house. As with many old country houses, the story has grown around the building’s history rather than from a documented event.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The main house, second floor: The former hospital floor and the heart of the story: giggling, the TV and the hair dryer.
• The upstairs hallway: Where guests hear the girl laughing and calling for her mother.
• The cottages: The quiet choice for guests who would rather not share a room with a ghost.

History of Annie's Inn Bed and Breakfast

Annie’s Inn was built in the 1800s as a three-story Greek Revival house, with heart pine plank floors cut from timber milled on the property. Real estate listings date it to 1830. It stands in Montmorenci, a crossroads village east of Aiken.

Local tradition says Union troops occupied the house during the Civil War and that a cannonball took off the third floor, which was never rebuilt; an attic replaced it. After the war, the story goes, a doctor bought the house and used the second floor as a hospital. These accounts come from local histories and the inn’s owners, not from official records.

Scottie Ruark and her husband Bill Peck bought the house in 1981, spent three years restoring it, and opened it as a bed and breakfast in 1984. Ruark ran it for about 30 years, later with her second husband, Dallas Ruark, with cottages behind the main house, hosting weddings and murder mystery nights.

When the Ruarks retired, Sharon and Glen DeHart bought the inn, running it with their daughters. In 2025 the property was listed for sale as a working bed and breakfast with a six-bedroom main house, a carriage house, five cottages and a salt-water pool, and it was still on the market in 2026.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book by phone and ask for a second-floor room in the main house if you want the little girl.
• Because the property is for sale, confirm your booking a few days before you travel.
• Aiken is horse country: pair your stay with the Hitchcock Woods or a polo match in season.
• Make it a road trip to Charleston, about two and a half hours away, and spend a night at the Francis Marion Hotel.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Haunted places in Columbia: an hour north
• Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston: the heartbroken ghost of Room 1010
• The Marshall House, Savannah: a Civil War hospital hotel, about two and a half hours south
• Haunted hotels in Charleston: the state’s most haunted city
• Haunted hotels in South Carolina

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Aiken Standard: Thirty years later, Annie's Inn still embraces all of its guests
• Aiken Standard: Annie's Inn is thriving a year after new owners take over
• OnlyInYourState: Annie's Inn, Montmorenci
• Coldwell Banker: 3083 Charleston Hwy listing
• Aiken County: Annie's Inn Bed & Breakfast

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