There are some 81
cemeteries on the little island of Ocracoke and these don’t include the
unmarked graves of countless pirates, shipwreck victims, native Americans, and
slaves. Some say there are more dead
people on the island than living.
Shipwrecks of course are a large provider of ghostly
stories. One very famous wreck is that
of the “Home”. The Home was a new 220ft.
steamship considered a marvel at the time.
She ran from NY to Charleston, SC in record time, making the trip in
just 64 hours. The cream of NY and
Charleston society purchased passage on her.
On only her 3rd
voyage from NY to Charleston on Oct. 7, 1837 she carried 130 passengers. As she neared Cape Hatteras she encountered a
monster hurricane, a so-called Racer's Storm.
The captain knew even this modern vessel was no match for the storm and
turned her west hoping to beach her.
Running aground was better than being lost at sea. At 10 PM the Home got caught in the shoals
just before hitting the beach 6 mile north of Ocracoke village. The crew launched the 3 life boats (yes 3)
that they had and handed out the 2 personal life vests (yes 2) they carried on
board. They also rang the ship’s bell
hoping to rouse sleeping Ocracokers. It
must have sounded like a death toll. As
the ship broke apart its passengers and crew were thrown into the sea.
Only 40 passengers
made it to shore while 90 perished. Most
of their bodies found the next day were strewn across the Ocracoke beaches
along with miles of wreckage. The
islanders worked throughout the night and the next day collecting the
dead. Most could not be identified and
were buried as they were found with clothing and jewelry still on. One islander said the bodies were so swollen
from the sea, one could not have gotten their jewelry off, and they were buried
with their diamond, pearls, and jewelry of all description. Arcadia Williams said as a child she
remembered her mother salvaging a complete outfit from a trunk that washed
ashore. “It was the prettiest thing I
had ever seen. The owner must have been
a very wealthy lady. My mother never
would wear it. She hung it upstairs
where she could look at it now and then until it rotted away.”
One thing of
value came of the 1837 Home tragedy.
Congress passed the Steamboat Act the next year requiring all seagoing
vessels to carry at least one life jacket for every person on board.
Many people in the village report seeing an older couple
dressed in very nice clothes resembling 1800’s attire walking in the cemetery
or along Cemetery Road. They are
suspected to be spirits of a couple lost with the “Home”. Here is the location of the often seen identified couple.
Front of the cemetery along Cemetery Rd.
In 1921 a
five-masted schooner, the Carroll A. Deering ran aground on Diamond shoals near
Hatteras Island just north of Ocracoke.
When rescuers reached the boat, there was no one on board. Everything was in order and tables were said
to be set for a meal, but no people were found.
An intensive investigation never determined what happened to the crew. Rumors of piracy and mutiny of course abound,
but we may never know. Her bow
eventually washed ashore on Ocracoke and maybe some of the unidentified spirits
here are from the Carroll A. Deering also known as the “Ghostship of Diamond
Shoals”.
A later tragedy
occurred and involved an island resident, Jim Gaskill. Jim was the son of Bill and Annie Gaskill,
the owners of the Pamlico Inn on Ocracoke.
As WW II neared, Jim left Ocracoke and joined the US Merchant Marine and
shipped out on the vessel “Caribsea”.
This was a freighter that carried manganese ore. Jim was the second mate on board the
“Caribsea” and as such his license was displayed in a glass case along with the
other officers.
On the night of March
11, 1942, the ship was off Cape Lookout just south of his home of Ocracoke when
a German U-boat torpedoed the “Caribsea”.
She was hit at the waterline and went down quickly. Only 7 men survived, all on the deck or
bridge above the water. The remaining
crew members were killed including Jim Gaskill. His body was never found.
Something of Jim’s
was found however. A panel from the
pilothouse of the ship washed ashore on Ocracoke Beach. On that panel was the mate’s license and
Jim’s license. The other ships officers’
papers were not on the section of the panel that washed ashore, only
Jim’s. The next day, a spar from the ship
with Caribsea painted on it was found on the Pamlico Sound side of the
beach. This was unusual, as this piece
of debris would have had to drift through Ocracoke Inlet to come to rest on the
sound side of the beach. Even more
unusual it came to rest not far from the Pamlico Inn. Islanders took the debris as a sign and made
the spar into a cross that is still in the Methodist church here on the island. This is the United Methodist Church were the spar is located.
The Ocracoke
lighthouse, is of course, also subject to hauntings. One unnamed ghost frequents the lighthouse
lawn. She is sighted most often on
summer evenings after a thunderstorm.
The apparition is of a pretty young woman wearing a light blue gown. She has long dark hair and olive skin, and is
sometimes reported to be carrying a lantern.
Her identity is a mystery.
A second spirit
around the lighthouse, however, is believed to be a famous lady. Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of US
Vice President Aaron Burr. She married
Joseph Alston, Gov. of South Carolina during the war of 1812. On Dec. 31, 1812, Theodosia sailed aboard the
schooner Patriot from Georgetown, SC heading to NY. She was to visit her father Aaron Burr who
had just returned from a 4-year exile in Europe. (That is another story for you history
buffs). After leaving Georgetown on Dec.
31st, the Patriot and all those aboard were never seen or heard from
again. Stories of the ship’s fate and
that of Theodosia abound. Some believe
pirates attached the ship killing those on board or possibly kidnapping Theodosia. Others suspect a mutiny or most likely the
ship was sunk in bad storms that were known to have been along the coast during
late Dec. and early Jan. of that year.
To this day it is not known what really happened, however many believe a
ghost seen around Ocracoke lighthouse is Theodosia. She is in a white period dress and has long
dripping wet hair. Ocracoke Lighthouse on a sunny bright day.
The Island Inn of
Ocracoke has a spirit that frequents room #23.
It is the ghost of Mrs. Godfrey a former keeper of the inn. She is fond of rearranging the make-up and
toiletries of females that stay in this room.
She has also been known to sit at the foot of the bed of visitors to
room #23. This is the Island Inn which is now abandoned and somewhat rundown looking. It would really be spooky at night.
These are only a few of the many tales that abound on the island but I thought they might be fun for some to hear about.
Tomorrow Keith and I will hopefully be heading out of Ocracoke to
Moorhead City. The wind last night was really ripping but it is slowly laying down today and should be nice for tomorrow's ride to Moorhead.
1 comment:
Your story about Theodora Burr was a $2000 Jeopardy question last night! I think Alec has been reading the blog!
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