Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub, the Molony Building, & a Map of Where the Ghosts Belong

Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub is not haunted as a single space. The spirits associated with it are tied to specific physical locations, shaped by how the original Molony Building once stood, what surrounded it, and how it was divided in the 1980s. When the geography is understood, the stories fall into place.

This is not one haunting — it is several, carefully mapped by history.

THE ORIGINAL MOLONY BUILDING IN CONTEXT

When the Molony Building existed as one unified structure, it stood in an active industrial pocket of Charleston.

• The Molony Building functioned as a home upstairs and a grocery / Irish pub downstairs

• A candy factory stood immediately next door

• Train tracks ran directly behind the building, where the deck of Tommy Condon’s exists today

This combination of domestic life, industry, and rail traffic created the conditions for multiple, distinct tragedies — each leaving its own imprint.

A MAP-BASED EXPLANATION (TEXT ORIENTATION)

Think of the site in three connected zones:

ZONE 1: MAIN ROOM OF TOMMY CONDON’S + OUTDOOR DECK

(formerly the industrial-facing side)

• This area aligns with where the train tracks once ran

• The deck of Tommy Condon’s sits directly over the former rail line

• This zone bordered the neighboring candy factory

This is where the little girl ghost belongs.

ZONE 2: THE ABBEY OF TOMMY CONDON’S

(leftmost portion of the original Molony Building)

• This area was part of the domestic side of the building

• It is associated with family life, not industry

• After the fire, this section retained the emotional weight of the tragedy

This is where the Molony family fire hauntings are reported.

ZONE 3: REMAINING MOLONY BUILDING / FORMER BOCCI’S

• This section was once part of the same unified home

• It shares the same family tragedy history as the Abbey

• Heavy, residual activity has also been reported here

This zone shares the same haunting source as the Abbey, not the child spirit.

VISUALLY, THE STORY WORKS LIKE THIS:

Candy Factory →

Train Tracks (now deck) →

Main Pub Room (child spirit) →

Abbey / Molony interior (family fire spirits)

THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE INDUSTRIAL SIDE

The ghost story of the little girl struck by a train while heading to the candy factory is geographically specific.

Her presence is associated only with:

• The main room of Tommy Condon’s

• The deck, which occupies the former train line

Reports tied to this spirit include small sounds, fleeting movement, and a light, childlike energy. In folklore, railway deaths often result in spirits tied to place rather than people — bound to the path they never finished.

She does not appear in the Abbey.

THE FAMILY FIRE AND THE DOMESTIC SIDE

A separate tragedy — the Molony family fire — belongs to a different physical space.

This event occurred when the building was still whole and family members were living inside. The hauntings associated with this tragedy are isolated to:

• The Abbey of Tommy Condon’s

• The remaining Molony Building (formerly Bocci’s)

These hauntings are described as heavier and more emotionally charged, consistent with residual hauntings tied to traumatic domestic loss rather than sudden industrial accidents.

THE 1980s SPLIT AND WHY IT MATTERS

In the 1980s, the original Molony Building was physically divided into:

• Bocci’s

• Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub

• The Abbey (leftmost section)

The split did not erase memory. It clarified it.

Each section retained the history tied to how it was originally used.

THE IRISH PUB, THE MIRRORS, AND SPIRIT TRADITION

Before the split — and long before the modern pub — the entire first floor of the original Molony Building functioned as Charleston’s first Irish pub, quietly operating during Prohibition as a back-room establishment.

Today, Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub contains numerous mirrors brought from Ireland. In Irish folklore, mirrors are spiritually dangerous during times of grief. Traditionally, mirrors were covered after a death to prevent the souls of the newly dead from becoming trapped.

In a building that experienced death, secrecy, and prolonged mourning — and later filled with uncovered Irish mirrors — this belief becomes part of the haunting narrative.

Reports of figures appearing briefly in reflections and vanishing when looked at directly align closely with this tradition.

WHY THE MAP MATTERS

Without geography, these stories blur together. With it, they make sense.

• The child belongs to the tracks and factory path

• The family belongs to the home and fire

• The mirrors belong to the gathering place

The Molony Building was divided physically — but its hauntings stayed exactly where history placed them.

CONCLUSION

Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub is not haunted by accident. It is haunted with precision.

The deck remembers the trains.

The pub remembers the child.

The Abbey remembers the fire.

And the mirrors remember everything.

Charleston’s ghosts do not wander aimlessly.

They stay where the story tells them to.

SOURCES

• Preservation Society of Charleston documentation on the Molony Building at 158 Church Street

• Historic Charleston Foundation architectural archives referencing Molony family occupancy and commercial use

• Southern Spirit Guide and Charleston ghost tour documentation discussing the candy factory, train tracks, and child apparition

• Official Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub history regarding Irish mirrors and establishment origins

• Ghost City Tours Charleston: Tommy Condon’s haunted pub reports