Buried Too Soon: The Baynard Mausoleum Legend
THE LEGEND: Scratches inside the Baynard Mausoleum fuel one of the Lowcountry’s most chilling tales
Few fears were more terrifying in the 19th century than being buried alive. Long before modern medicine could reliably distinguish death from certain states of unconsciousness, stories of premature burial circulated widely — and across the Lowcountry several old tombs eventually acquired legends of their own. On Hilton Head that story became attached to the Baynard Mausoleum at Zion Cemetery.
The legend identifies the victim as Josephine Baynard, a young member of the prominent family that owned Braddock’s Point Plantation. No definitive historical record identifying Josephine as one of the Baynard children has been found, and versions of nearly the same story are told elsewhere in the Lowcountry. But Hilton Head’s version has one particularly eerie detail: scratches visible inside the old mausoleum.
According to the story, Josephine became gravely ill during a diphtheria outbreak. Believing she had died, the family placed her inside the mausoleum and sealed the chamber. Years later, when the tomb was opened for another burial, Josephine’s remains were said to have been found outside the chamber where she had been placed. The horrifying explanation quickly became legend: Josephine had not been dead at all. She had awakened inside the crypt. The scratches on the mausoleum walls became part of the story, said to be the marks of a terrified child desperately trying to escape.
Whether those marks have anything to do with a young Baynard — or whether a widespread fear of premature burial simply found the perfect setting inside an old Hilton Head tomb — may never be known. Either way, once you have heard the story, the scratches are difficult to look at quite the same way again.
More Lowcountry Legends
Explore the complete series: Still Among Us: 10 Haunting Legends of the Lowcountry
