Andrew Davis> Are the ghostly visages of two Civil War soldiers embedded in Fort Sumter's battle flags?

Shelby McAllister> In the "Storm Flag" underneath one of the stars, someone proclaimed they could see a face in the blue fabric of the flag.

For the Palmetto Guard flag the old legend with that flag is the face that you see in it is John Bird, who brought in that flag and stuck it on the parapet of Fort Sumter.

Davis> 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.

I'm your host, Andrew Davis.

In this episode of Curiosity Trek!, we're traveling down to Charleston, South Carolina to take a closer look at these flags for ourselves.

It takes about a couple of hours to get down to Charleston from Columbia.

What started out as kind of a grey, dreary day... Thankfully, the weather cleared up nicely before we got to downtown Charleston.

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?

I'm Andrew Davis.

See you on the next episode of Curiosity Trek!