St. Helena Island, a sea island located in the Port Royal Sound of South Carolina has a long history. Some say it’s the oldest settlement in the United States, founded shortly after its discovery by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, a Spaniard looking to colonize the sea islands, some time around 1520. Port Royal, located on […]
A True Ghost Story from the Sea: The Curse of the Charles Haskell
I fear thee, ancient Mariner!I fear thy skinny hand!And thou art long, and lank, and brown,As is the ribbed sea-sand. I fear thee and thy glittering eye,And thy skinny hand, so brown.’ –“Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!This body dropped not down. Alone, alone, all, all alone,Alone on a wide wide sea!And never a saint […]
Peter Stuyvesant: A citizen of old New Amsterdam, carrying on nearly 400 years later in New York City
Before there was New York, there was New Amsterdam. Founded by the Dutch in 1614, New Amsterdam occupied much of the tip of lower Manhattan, with today’s Wall Street taking its name from the outer walls of the settlement. New Amsterdam was a company town, ran by the Dutch West Indies company. The main source […]
Hoppy Rebstock, the heartbeat in the tombstone and the joys of school picnics
“I foamed — I raved — I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder — louder — louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly , and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? […]
A warlock’s curse? The ghosts of Salem’s Howard Street Burying Ground
Has the 17th century curse placed on the town and sheriff by Giles Corey, pressed to death in Salem in 1693, been wreaking havoc ever since?
Urban legend Black Annis makes the trip from England to the midwest
Annie lost her children in a fire on the north side of Carmi, Illinois quite some time ago. Ever since she wandered the dark alleys at night, looking for her lost children. She wore black, still in mourning, her face beyond pale and ghastly blue in the moonlight. Sometimes you could hear her shuffling along, […]
