Spooky places in the Grand Strand. Here’s the most notable haunts in the Myrtle Beach area

The Grand Strand, among its miles of sandy beaches, is steeped in history and the ghosts that come with it.

Along the coastal area, Spanish-moss draped trees, swamps and marshes, historic cemeteries and lonely stretches of beach provide the perfect setting for long-told legends, whether real or not.

There are several local haunts that offer up these chilling tales of the paranormal.

Here’s a look at some of the notable places in the area that are perfect for Halloween or whenever you want a good scare.

The Brentwood Restaurant Wine & Bistro

This more-than-a-century-old former home and inn turned restaurant prides itself on being haunted.

And while the ghosts are said to be seen throughout the home, if you really want to experience ghostly activity, then tables 50 and 51 in the upstairs bar is where you want to be.

“They seem to be the heart of the house,” said Jane Figueroa, manager and ghost tour hostess. Figueroa said this area has the most paranormal activity.

This Little River restaurant serves Lowcountry French cuisine in the Victorian home that was built in 1910 by Clarence and Essie Bessent-McCorsley. And while the food has been rated highly, it’s the ghosts that have become the stars of this establishment.

The restaurant offers ghost dinner tours year-round and throughout the month of October, including special tour times on Halloween.

There is a woman, a dark shadow that is believed to be a man, a little boy, a Civil War soldier and a cat.

Figueroa believes the man and woman are Essie and Clarence.

The couple raised their four children in the home. After Clarence passed away in the late ‘40s, Essie didn’t want to move because she believed that Clarence was still in the home, Figueroa said. So she turned her home into an inn, often renting rooms to fishermen and salesmen visiting the area.

The building was eventually moved to the current location sometime in the ‘70s from across U.S. 17, Figueroa said. It’s rumored that some of the businesses in the former area are also haunted, she said.

“I wonder if it’s just our ghosts and that they got lost,” Figueroa said.

The home closed sometime in the ‘80s until it was bought and restored by brothers from Brentwood on Long Island, New York. That is believed to be why the restaurant was named The Brentwood.

When the home was bought once again in 2007 by a couple, who ran it for 15 years, they didn’t know it was haunted, until things started happening.

The dark shadow figure can be seen moving through the hall, passing the upstairs bathroom before going into the front room, which was Essie and Clarence’s bedroom.

A woman and little boy can be seen in the upstairs window by visitors outside. A face has been seen coming through a mirror. Closet doors will open by themselves and the chandelier will swing back and forth.

The wine room has a wooden floor not original to the house. It is here that a Civil War soldier often appears. He can be seen walking back and forth in front of the window or sitting in a chair in the corner.

It is believed the soldier’s spirit is attached to the floor, which came from an old 1800s cotton gin in Georgia, Figueroa said. The cotton gin was used to store munitions during the Civil War.

Figueroa said there have been employees who have quit because of the ghosts.

Many paranormal investigators have been to the restaurant over the years to do investigations. The restaurant has been featured on The Travel Channel’s “A Haunting,” and “My Ghost Story” on A&E’s Biography Channel.

Litchfield Plantation

Litchfield Plantation is one of the oldest rice plantations in the area. Located in Pawleys Island, it is a popular wedding venue with its historic home and Spanish-moss draped oak trees located on the property.

The home was built in 1740 by the Tucker family and was eventually passed down to Dr. Henry Massingberd Tucker.

The ghost stories at Litchfield center on Tucker, a Civil War volunteer and doctor who made house calls, often at night. He would have to ring the bell at the plantation gates when he returned to be let back in.

People have reported hearing the sound of the bell even after Tucker’s death. In addition, his ghost has been spotted on the back staircase and in the home’s Blue Room. There also have been reports of strange lights and ghosts of maids.

Drunken Jack’s Restaurant

Located along the MarshWalk in Murrells Inlet, Drunken Jack’s Restaurant and Lounge shares the legend of its namesake Drunken Jack, a pirate who was part of the crew of the famed Captain Blackbeard.

The story goes that Blackbeard and his crew were being slowed down by a large amount of rum and the captain decided to offload some of it on one of the islands in the inlet. While there, the crew, including Jack, became drunk while enjoying the rum. Jack found a place under some bushes to sleep it off. However, when he woke the next day, he realized that Blackbeard and the crew had sailed away, leaving him behind.

The crew returned two years later to get Jack and the rum. But on the beach of that island, they found empty rum casks and a skeleton, believed to be Jack, lying nearby.

The spirit of Jack is now said to roam the area of MarshWalk.

“Murrells Inlet has a little haunt to it,” according to Al Hitchcock, owner of the popular restaurant.

Employees at the restaurant have reported hearing things late at night or while they are closing up, “but you don’t know what they are,” Hitchcock said.

It could be Jack. Or, as Hitchcock jokes, it “could be pirates that roamed the seas,” or it could be a former cook or customers that used to come.

Hermitage in Murrells Inlet

Alice Flagg’s grave and ghost are well-known in Murrells Inlet. Known as The Lady in White, Alice is said to roam the area looking for her lost engagement ring.

The story goes that Alice was an upper-class young girl secretly engaged to a lower-class man that her brother didn’t approve of. She wore the ring on a necklace. When Alice became sick, she was brought to the Hermitage. It was there her brother found the necklace with the ring, ripped it off and threw it into the inlet, according to the story. Alice begged for the ring, but he never gave it back before she died.

Alice is now said to haunt the grounds of the Hermitage. She can be seen in her white dress, clutching her neck in search of her lost ring.

Variations of the story also have Alice at All Saint’s Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island, where many of her family members are buried. That grave marker is often visited by locals and tourists.

The Pelican Inn

The Pelican Inn was constructed in the 1840s and is one of several original houses remaining on Pawleys Island, according to the inn’s website.

It was built as the summer home for Plowden Charles Jenrette Weston of Hagley Plantation.

The eight-room beachfront bed and breakfast sits behind the highest dunes on the island and is protected by live oak trees that line the boardwalk to the beach. It has helped protect the inn from storms, including two hurricanes.

As with many historic buildings, a ghost tale or two is associated with the Inn, the website says.

“We respect all of our guests living or dead,” said Bruce Taylor, who has owned the inn with his wife, Corinne, for 14 years.

Taylor said the inn gets a lot of calls about the rumored hauntings.

One of those is the tale of the Gray Man.

The Gray Man is known to haunt the coastline near Pawleys Island. Seeing The Gray Man, however, is a good sign, according to local lore. He is known to appear when a major storm is heading to the area. Not only does he warn people, he is also thought to protect a person’s property from the storm.

There is also a story of two dogs - one that apparently drowned when it went into the water to save a drowning boy. The dogs’ barks can often be heard on the grounds of the inn.