Anderson's landmark 1888 hotel — among the first in the South with electricity — is the documented setting for repeated sightings of Sister Rose Lummis, a nun who died of pneumonia here in March 1900.
102 W Whitner St, Anderson, SC 29621
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Hotel and event venue; rates vary by accommodation type
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown historic building with elevator access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1888 · Built 1888 on site of former Waverley House · Among first hotels in the South with electrical service · Site of the death of Sister Rose Lummis (Society of the Sacred Heart) in March 1900 · Repeated nun apparition sightings documented in 1982 and 2007
The Hotel Chiquola was built in 1888 on the footprint of the former Waverley House, making it one of the most prominent addresses in Anderson's downtown at the turn of the twentieth century. The hotel distinguished itself as one of the first in the South to offer electrical lighting — a feature that marked it as a modern establishment in an era when electricity was still a novelty in the region.
In January 1900, Sister Rose Lummis, a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart, arrived at the hotel from New York. She had traveled to Anderson on business connected to the Society's work and took a room at the Chiquola. By March 1900, she was dead — pneumonia, according to accounts documented in a 2015 Living Upstate feature on Anderson's haunted historic buildings. She was buried, presumably, through arrangements made by the Society, though the details of her burial are not in the available sources.
The hotel continued operating through the twentieth century and has since been renovated and repositioned as the Chiquola Club Hotel. The 2015 Living Upstate feature and a dedicated episode of the Ghosts of Anderson podcast (released 2020–2021) document the hotel's paranormal reputation, centered on Sister Lummis. Sightings of the nun apparition were recorded by staff in 1982 and again in 2007.
Sources
The paranormal history of Hotel Chiquola is unusually well-dated. Staff and guest encounters with the nun apparition were documented in 1982 and again in 2007, giving the record a longitudinal consistency across twenty-five years that distinguishes it from single-incident reports. In both documented cases, witnesses described a woman in a religious habit — specifically the type worn by members of the Society of the Sacred Heart — appearing in corridors and common areas of the hotel.
The identification of the apparition with Sister Rose Lummis is based on the historical record of her death at the hotel in March 1900. She arrived from New York in January 1900 and did not leave alive. The Ghosts of Anderson podcast devoted an entire episode to the Hotel Chiquola story, bringing together the historical record and the apparition accounts in a researched format.
The nun in a habit figure is the most consistent element across all accounts — the classification of the apparition by its clothing, rather than a named figure recognized by witnesses, gives this case more evidentiary weight than many similar hotel hauntings where the identity of the spirit is presumed rather than connected to documented history.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Guests booking rooms at Hotel Chiquola have reported encounters with the apparition of a nun in a habit throughout the building. Multiple documented sightings have occurred across several decades, with the figure consistently described as a woman in religious habit. Book through the hotel website.
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