The Tillman building

South Carolina · United States · School

The Tillman building — South Carolina · United States · School

The main building on this campus carries the name of the man who founded the college. His record is far worse than the story students tell about him.

This university at Rock Hill, South Carolina was founded over a century ago, and the main building on campus is named for Benjamin Tillman.

Students tell a story about a riding accident that left him embittered and cruel, and about what he did afterwards. The details of that account do not match the record: Tillman lost an eye to illness as a young man, not the use of his body to a fall.

The record itself needs no embellishment. Tillman led armed white militia in South Carolina during Reconstruction, was involved in the Hamburg massacre of 1876, boasted publicly of killing Black men, engineered the state constitution that stripped Black citizens of the vote, and defended lynching from the floor of the United States Senate.

He is who the building is named after, and students have campaigned about it for years.

What is reported in the building is reported by them.

FAQ

Where is The Tillman building located?

The Tillman building is in South Carolina, United States.

More haunted places in South Carolina

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Bill Fitzpatrick / cc by-sa 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons