Dillon, South Carolina: South Of The Border

In March and April of this year, the South of the Border hotels were very full. I had to get rooms across the street in their overflow section. The rooms were clean and bright with extras. The rooms are all different. It's like somebody came through and bought every hotel out. So shop around for the room that suits you.

We were sat down at a Mexican Restaurant next to the main hotel. We walked out after waiting 10 minutes for water and a menu. The all night diner was pretty typical but definitely had a southern flair to each dish.

The grounds including the painted animals that are found everywhere, looked well kept. I spent way more than I should have at the biggest store there. Anything you want or didn't even want to see, is in there. The grounds have 24-hour security. Men ride around in golf carts.

Once again we rode the elevator to the top of the sombrero and enjoyed the view. We've been stopping there for the past 10 years as we travel from VA. to GA. This was the first time we got a hotel and we loved our room and the price.

To everyone who thinks room 305 at South of the Border is haunted. IT'S NOT. I repeat IT's NOT. I am a freelance journalist and stayed in that very room the night of Saturday March 29, 2003 and I did not see, hear or feel anything at all. I stayed in that room specifically because I read these postings and I am doing a travel piece. I wanted to see for myself. Nothing happened, absolutely nothing. Not exactly exciting material for my piece, but it is the truth!!

Stopped at SOB this weekend and to say the least we were extremely disappointed. The childhood memories I had have been shattered. The $100 Honeymoon room was the only room available and looked nothing like the picture we were shown. The map we were given was badly outdated. The Golf of Mexico miniature golf course is now a concrete shop. The Club Cancun is now a Antique shop and many other buildings (Silver Slipper, Donut Shop, Club Mex) are closed and empty. Restaurants were closed, and the open ones had poor service and small menus. I can only assume that with the founders death this attraction is on the downside of a once great career. Maybe the memories of a child should be left untouched!

I had learned of the South of the Border motel room 305 being haunted. I stayed at the motel (not room 305) with my 4 kids, two dogs and one cat on Sunday. We drove by the so called haunted room 305 when the power to my brand new Chevy Conversion Van went dead! My dogs went crazy, they would not stop barking and my kids were completely FREAKED out! After about one minute the power returned to the vehicle and we were out of there like a set of rims at a P DIDDY Concert.

The rest of the night I was so freaked out that I could not sleep, so I went to the front desk and told them what happened.

I found out that two people on separate occasions had perished in that room. One was a woman whose husband had left her alone for awhile as he was getting some unmentionables at the Dirty Old Man Shop. When he returned she was DEAD.

The next victim was the reverse -- a woman left her husband alone for a while, and when she returned he also was dead. This was all confirmed by a security officer during my stay over this last weekend.

On a recent trip to Florida we stopped at South of the Border. I took this picture from the top of the Sombrero Tower. A ride to the top only costs 50 cents!