Outer Banks Tales to Remember by Charles Harry Whedbee

Author:Charles Harry Whedbee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Folklore/Ghosts
ISBN: 9780895874993
Publisher: Blair
Published: 1985-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

A MODERN GHOST

GHOSTS, like nuggets of gold, are where you find them. There seems to be no particular habitat or locality where ghosts abound. It does seem to be the rule, though, that the older the town or community, the greater the likelihood of running across ghost stories.

There are literally hundreds of stories about ghosts of the long ago and ghosts in far-off places, but the accounts are usually frank hearsay and impossible to verify. It is a most unusual circumstance when one is able to document a tale of supernatural occurrences. It is even more rare to find hard-headed, practical businessmen who will look you square in the eye and tell you, not only that they have seen a ghost, but when and where and under what circumstances the sighting occurred.

Such is the case at hand.

When you think about it, it seems that “the original Washington,” located on the broad waters of the Pamlico River in Beaufort County, North Carolina, might be a likely spot to evoke spirits. Older than our nation’s capital city, Washington was a port of entry to this country as far back as colonial times. Sailing ships from the far corners of the world visited there regularly, and a busy trade was carried on with the West Indies and other islands in the Caribbean. It is established historical fact that the pirate Blackbeard visited Washington often, and that one of his several homes was located in Bath Town, just down the river a few miles from Washington. Today, a stroll along the restored waterfront and an examination of the handmade bricks comprising the walls of some of the old buildings will give you a sense of the town’s antiquity.

In the more modern part of town is located a fine shopping center known as Washington Square Mall. The mall houses a number of large and completely stocked stores of various kinds operated by successful and hardworking owners and managers.

Typical of these establishments is a store owned and operated by one of the most respected businessmen in Washington. He is a highly literate person and also a strictly-business, no-nonsense type of merchant. If you had to pick one adjective that would best describe his standing, that adjective would most likely be “responsible.”

Down the Pamlico River from Washington there is a series of exclusive riverfront residential developments, all bearing appropriate names and all fronting on the ever-widening Pamlico. Most of the mansions have large, green front yards sloping down to the water with little piers running out into the stream for the use of boaters, fishermen, and swimmers.

On May 27, 1980, shortly after ten o’ clock P.M., our businessman was sitting on a bench on one of those piers in the development known as River Acres. He was relaxing and enjoying the beauty of a full moon rising over the river.

As he gazed idly at the other piers, his attention was drawn by a burst of music and laughter just downstream from where he sat. There was another pier just to the east, and it was from there that the merriment seemed to come.

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