The Haunted History of Lois Jane’s Riverview Inn — Southport’s Riverfront Secret

There’s a kind of hush that settles over Southport at dusk: gulls call, the Cape Fear River slows to a pewter ribbon, and the porches lining West Bay Street take on a soft, amber glow. Tucked among those porches — a white, gracious, late-19th-century house that became a family-run inn — is Lois Jane’s Riverview Inn, a place that people come for Southern charm, river views, and, if you believe local lore, a resident who never quite checked out of the room upstairs.

A house with roots (and a family story)

The building commonly called Lois Jane’s Riverview Inn dates back to the late 1800s and has spent much of its life in the hands of the same local family — an uncommon continuity that helped the place keep its period details, wraparound porches, and the kind of personal hospitality you only find in small coastal towns. It sits on West Bay Street, facing the Cape Fear River, and for generations has been part of Southport’s hospitality scene.

That continuity matters: names, stories, and memories layered over decades give a house personality, and in the case of Lois Jane’s Inn, personality has grown into legend. Locals and visitors alike refer casually to “Lois Jane” as if she were an old neighbor — sometimes fondly, sometimes mischievously.

The legend: who was Lois Jane?

Legend says the inn is haunted by the spirit of a woman called Lois Jane — sometimes described as the daughter of a sea captain who once owned or lived in the house. In the retelling, Lois Jane is not malevolent. Rather, she is associated with laughter, music, and the small, uncanny disturbances that make guests look twice: a soft singing in the hallway, footsteps pacing the upstairs at night, or a bed that trembles as if shaken lightly by invisible hands. These are the kinds of stories that get repeated among visitors and in the barroom chatter of summer guests.

Reports and anecdotes: pranks, songs, and shaken beds

A few consistent motifs recur in the accounts people leave behind. Visitors have reported:

1. Hearing a high, airy laugh or singing on the upper floor when no one is there.
2. Beds being shaken in the night — an occurrence so vivid that some guests woke suddenly and felt their room had been physically disturbed.
3. Small pranks: objects moved, doors latched or unlatch themselves, and the general sense of being watched by a kindly, restless presence.

Those incidents show up in ghost forums, on haunted-places registries, and in the oral storytelling circuit of Brunswick County. Whether you believe every tale or chalk some of them up to creaky old floors and coastal breezes, the stories are part of the inn’s identity — and they have proven durable.

How haunted culture shaped a business

Family ownership and the inn’s historic character made Lois Jane’s a natural magnet for visitors who love both antique charm and ghost stories. Local coverage and travel write-ups often mention the inn’s atmosphere — period furnishings, riverfront views, and a convivial innkeeper willing to share a tale or two over breakfast. In small towns like Southport, a place’s stories are good for business: they create a memorable experience and give guests something to tell when they return home.

At the same time, the inn’s listings and some public comments show the realities of running a historic property: shifting tourism patterns, the cost of restoration, and the occasional closure or change of ownership. As of recent listings, some directories list the property as closed, and travel sites vary in how they reference the lodging. If you’re planning a pilgrimage to see “Lois Jane,” check current availability before you go.

The local context — a town of seafarers and stories

Southport itself is a town in which history and the supernatural comfortably coexist. Lighthouses, shipwrecks, and maritime tragedy are part of the civic memory, and there are several local inns and homes with ghost stories attached. In that context, Lois Jane’s Riverview Inn fits neatly: a riverfront house whose resident spirit is linked to the sea and to family memory, rather than to sensationalized horror. That gentler, wistful vibe is what keeps the storytelling at tea-time and in walking tours rather than in thrill-seeking midnight stakeouts.

Walking the boards: what the inn feels like

If you visit (or once visited) Lois Jane’s, expect the sensory details that make ghost stories plausible: old floorboards that respond to weight, doors that settle and click with changing humidity, and wind through the eaves that can easily be mistaken for human breath. Throw in a veranda swing facing the river and a house illuminated by gas-lamp era architecture, and you have a setting that invites stories. Those tactile elements — creak, shadow, breeze — are the perfect props for recollections of laughter late at night.

Skeptic’s corner: the rational takes

There are plenty of mundane explanations for the phenomena reported at Lois Jane’s. Old plumbing, settling foundations, the way coastal humidity contracts and expands wooden structures, and the natural way humans pattern-match in low light can produce convincing impressions of presence. Innkeepers often report that a relaxed, storytelling atmosphere encourages guests to interpret a weird noise as supernatural. Even so, the stories themselves are real: they tell us about people’s need to connect places with personality and about how history becomes narrative.

Visiting: etiquette and tips

If you come to Southport hoping for a brush with the supernatural, keep this in mind:

1. Treat the house with respect. It’s a family place with historical value, not a set for pranks.
2. Ask permission before exploring private corners; many accounts of “hauntings” arise from guests wandering where they shouldn’t.
3. Bring patience, not confrontation. People report small, gentle occurrences — not violent haunting. A calm curiosity is the tone that most locals prefer.

And — practical note — verify whether the inn is open before you go. Directory entries in recent years show some inconsistencies about its operating status.

Why the story matters

Lois Jane’s Riverview Inn is a case study in how a place becomes haunted: not because of a single recorded tragedy, but because of continuity, character, and the human appetite for stories. The inn’s architecture, riverside position, and long family ownership created fertile soil; local storytellers and visitors planted the seeds. Over time, the tales became shared property — a gentle ghost that belongs to the town more than to any single narrator.

For those who love a chill with their tea

Whether you’re a believer, a skeptic, or somewhere between, Lois Jane’s Riverview Inn is worth visiting for the full sensory package: the river, the porches, the antique rooms, and the stories that linger on the stair. Bring a notebook, an open mind, and a flashlight for the boards, and if you hear a soft laugh or the echo of a song, you’ll understand why Southport keeps telling Lois Jane’s story.