The third annual Southern Gothic Festival returns to Camden on Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10, bringing together acclaimed authors, historians, storytellers, podcasters, musicians, and investigators for a thoughtful—and suitably spooky—exploration of the South’s darker side.
Set among the historic streets and famously haunted places of South Carolina’s oldest inland city, the festival considers Southern Gothic in both its literary and supernatural forms.
Programs will explore how contemporary writers continue a tradition shaped by eccentricity, moral complexity, inequality, religious fervor, and troubled history, while also celebrating the ghosts, legends, folklore, and uncanny landscapes that remain part of Southern culture.
According to Amy Schofield, Kershaw County Library Director, “The idea started with a suggestion from Robb Hinson, who works the front desk at the Camden Library and is an unapologetic book pusher. Excited about recently attending a Grady Hendrix book reading, Robb suggested the concept. From there, it's been a library effort every year with help from staff and volunteers, and support from our Friends group, the Arts Commission, Historic Camden, and the City of Camden.”
Schofield continues, “Each year of the Southern Gothic Festival has brought a different kind of excitement. The first year, we wondered if anyone would come; the second, we wondered if we could successfully turn it into a larger, two-day festival—and now, in our third year, I’m cautiously confident enough to simply be excited about what we’ve put together. We have an extraordinary range of writers, musicians, storytellers, podcasters, and historians exploring everything from contemporary Southern horror, folklore, and haunted houses to race, masculinity, true crime, and the continuing influence of writers like Edgar Allan Poe.” But, more than anything, she says, “I’m excited that the festival keeps expanding the conversation about what Southern Gothic means today while still being a really fun place to spend a couple of days immersed in the darker, stranger corners of the South.”
The festival begins Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Broad & Vine with “Agnes of Glasgow: The Legend and Lore,” featuring Brandon Schexnayder, creator and host of the acclaimed Southern Gothic podcast. The podcast combines careful historical research with atmospheric storytelling to investigate the history behind the South’s legends and hauntings.
Agnes is said to have traveled from Scotland to Camden during the American Revolution in search of her fiancé, a British soldier, only to die before finding him. Buried in Camden’s Quaker Cemetery, her spirit is still said to wander nearby, continuing her search. Schexnayder will discuss the research behind a new podcast episode devoted to Agnes, examining what can be documented, how the story has changed across generations, and what local ghost stories reveal about the communities that preserve them.
Broad & Vine will be open during the free program, with food and beverages available for purchase. No tickets or reservations are required.
Friday evening continues at 6:45 p.m. with a free outdoor concert by Valentine Wolfe and the Southern Gothic Opera Company at the Rutledge Street Green Space. The Greenville-based ensemble combines haunting soprano vocals, keyboards, electronics and electric upright bass in music inspired by gothic literature, classical traditions and heavy metal. According to Schofield, “Valentine Wolfe brings a genuinely Gothic musical sensibility, including a preview of music they will feature at the Harbison Theater later in October as part of the Southern Gothic Opera Company. I’ve given the bluegrass band The Mill Hands a cheerful assignment of digging through their bluegrass repertoire for murder ballads and the darkest songs they can find. They’ll also help kick off the last show of Shock, an original Southern Gothic play at the Arts Center of Kershaw County, one of several venues this year alongside Historic Camden, the Revolutionary War Visitor Center, and downtown Camden.
Historic Camden will also offer its ticketed Southern Gothic Lantern Tour beginning at 7 p.m.Saturday features a full day of concurrent programs examining Southern writing, history and storytelling. Bestselling author Karen White will discuss the historic homes, family secrets and ghosts behind her popular Tradd Street and Royal Street novels, set in Charleston and New Orleans.
“We have an extraordinary roster,” Schofield says. “For readers of contemporary horror, we have always had something. We started with one horror writer, had four our second year, and this year we have eight, writing everything from folk and body horror to slashers and more experimental forms. At the same time, writers including David Joy, Jason Mott, Ray McManus, and Scott Gould will explore the larger tradition of Southern writing and the ways it continues to wrestle with race, masculinity, history, and place. We’ll have haunted tours and ghost stories, certainly, but also serious conversations about the things that continue to haunt the South.”
Award-winning authors Jason Mott and David Joy will join South Carolina poet Ray McManus for “Southern Man: Race and Masculinity in Southern Writing,” exploring how race, class, violence, history, and identity shape their work and the lives of men in today’s South.
In “New Monsters: Contemporary Fears in Horror,” Michael Wehunt, Clay McLeod Chapman, Tanya Pell, and Chris Panatier will consider how horror transforms modern anxieties—including misinformation, technology, aging, trauma and mental illness—into new forms of the monstrous.
Other literary programs will examine the continuing evolution of Southern Gothic. “Haunted Landscapes” brings together Yah Yah Scholfield, Julia Elliott, and Robert Gwaltney to discuss magical realism, folklore, and the uncanny places that inhabit contemporary Southern fiction.
In “Beyond the Grotesque: The New Southern Gothic,” Lindy Ryan, Andy Davidson, Nathan Ballingrud, and Scott Gould will explore how the tradition now reaches into horror, humor, historical fiction, literary fiction, and science fiction.
Poe scholar Dr. Scott Peeples and horror author Clay McLeod Chapman will consider Edgar Allan Poe’s Southern roots and continuing influence in “Poe and Place: The Original Southern Gothic.” A related display of Victorian mourning jewelry presented by author and living historian Kim Poovey will be open from 2 to 5 p.m.
The festival will also celebrate the South’s oral traditions. USC professor and storyteller Nancy Tolson and Craig Dominey of The Moonlit Road will discuss folklore and the enduring influence of African American storytelling, concluding with a live story by Tolson.
“Where History Meets the Unexplained” will explore Carolina cryptids, paranormal sightings, and the research, history, and traditions behind regional legends.
One of the day’s most serious programs, “Behind the Headlines: The Susan Smith Case,” will revisit the investigation and trial that captivated the nation in 1994. Camden Mayor Vincent Sheheen will moderate a conversation with prosecutor Tommy Pope, former SLED Chief Robert Stewart, and Mark Brandenburg, who served as clerk to the presiding judge. The panel will reflect on the investigation, media coverage, and the case’s lasting impact on South Carolina.
Scott Gould
From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, visitors can also meet independent and regional authors. Local favorite Miles Gardner will offer books, including Murder and Mayhem in Kershaw County. South Carolina writers include Julia Elliott, a recent winner of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, whose magical realism transforms familiar Southern landscapes, and Scott Gould, whose work celebrates deep family connections and small-town Southern life. Arcane Carolinas will bring its knowledge of Carolina cryptids and regional lore, while other participating authors will offer ghost stories, horror, history, and fiction grounded in recognizably Southern experiences.
A vendor market will feature gothic ceramics, jewelry, artwork, and unusual merchandise, while Books on Broad will offer books by featured authors. Food trucks will be available, and visitors can also explore downtown Camden’s restaurants, coffee shops, and a variety of retail experiences.
The Millhands
Saturday evening begins at 6 p.m. with “Dark Strings,” a free performance by Columbia bluegrass band The Mill Hands featuring Appalachian murder ballads and mournful mountain songs—the kind of music that might once have been heard in Camden’s nearby mill villages.
The festival concludes with two ticketed partner events: the Fine Arts Center’s original play SHOCK at 7 p.m. and Haunts and Spirits at Historic Camden at 7:30 p.m. According to Chad Henderson, Executive Director of the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County, “ We are absolutely delighted to partner with the Southern Gothic Festival to bring Shock to the Arts Center’s Black Box. There is something meaningful about collaborating with a festival that celebrates such a distinctive part of our Southern culture and imagination, while also welcoming longtime Camden theatre favorite Larry Hembree back to direct.” He continues, “Larry has been an important and beloved part of this community’s theatrical life, and we’re thrilled to have him leading this production. Partnerships like this are what make the Arts Center so special —bringing together talented artists, community traditions, and new creative experiences for our audiences to enjoy together.”
Most Southern Gothic Festival events are free and require no reservations. Complimentary shuttles will operate from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday among Historic Camden, the Revolutionary War Visitor Center, the Arts Center, and downtown Camden.
Together, the festival’s programs celebrate something Southerners have long understood: places hold stories. Some are carefully documented, some are passed from one generation to the next, and some may still be wandering just beyond the edge of the light.
“What I love is that the festival has become big enough to ask a question we’ve been interested in from the beginning: What is Southern Gothic now?” says Schofield. “We want to honor the literary tradition, but we also want to explore how contemporary Southern writers, artists, and storytellers are expanding it—who gets to tell these stories, what histories need to be confronted, what still frightens us, and why the South remains such fertile territory for stories that are dark, strange, funny, and sometimes beautiful. This year feels like our fullest exploration of that question yet.”
For the most up-to-date information visit the Southern Gothic Festival website here.
