Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-03-15
THE DISMAL SWAMP,

slave on the plantation but had startling
experience to relate Of the ghosts that
haunted Graysyille, one Of the most ia
nous old plantations Of Louisiana. Every
slave that ever trod southern soil is afraid
of graveyards, and the Graysville grave .
yard was indeed a solemn old place and .
awesome enough TO those minds super
stitiously inclined, 1t was not more than .
"A hundred yards from the back doorstep |
and in full range Of the little windows OF
. the room that had been the sitting room OF
Sall my grandmothers for unnumbered gen
erations
1t was not ori ginally meant 70 be grave
yard. One of the FIRST Gray women had lost
babe and il was her desire that the child
might be buried somewhere in sight Of her
window, where she might have the com
fort of seeing its little grave at all times,
and knowing it was not quite alone when
the wind blew mt night and the snow fell
over Graysville
But the little grave which held the dead
did not 10y any means help to heal the
wound in the heart of the living, and De
fore the flowers bloomed again in the old
Louisiana woods another grave was opened
beside the lonely little sleeper and Grand
mother GRAY went to keep her child com
many under the rustling old liveoaks. OF
course grandfather was put TO sleep beside
his wife, and so i'm time all the Grays were
laid there under those grim old oaks, and
the family graveyard" 50 to speak, estaD-
Hshed within a stones throw Of the back
door.
But it was not the graveyard which
made one afraid Of Graysville Beyond,
more than a mile, and cut of 10y one OF
those still. treacherous lagoons so common
oh. d for gI
low, wet strip Of timber land known as the
Dismal Swamp.
The place was full Of uncanny associa.
tions-as the hiding place for runaway
slaves, the hotbed of malaria and all man.
ner of ills and aches At length the crown
ing in was put upon il when u became inc
abode of the Graysville ghost.
True these stories of the ghost never
for a long while at least got beyond lh'
quarters: but there they we're rehearsel
night after night with startling and bloo'
curdling variations,
Il was said that nothing ever came on
of the swamp alive-eyen the cattle, wan
dering within It's deadly limits, were elthe
stung TO death 10y the poisonous repIlle
there. or else broke their necks among tn
tangles Of bamboo and rattan, crossvln
b and swinging MOSES Of the swamp
swamp, and no human power could hav
persuaded me beyond the separating wa
ters of the lagoon.
of the ghosts had no fear whateve
but stories of the runaway slaves, the pc
sonous atmosphere and the unfortuna
cattle had filled my mind with horror
the place which to this day | have new
been able to shake of.
Nv first recollection of it was the TN
one OF the men came running IN from u
field, painting with fear and declaring Tn
something like big black shadow HI
run out Of the swamp and chased hl
home.
The something" proved to be Ora
Dick, an old slave who had disappear
months before and was supposed TO bede
somewhere in the impenetrable depths
the Dismal Swamp. He had indeed oe
there all the while, living upon the W
rlurns and berries which grew there
rant inclusion. He returned to his hidi
Mace and died there, his dead body havi
been discovered by seeing the buzzafds
cling about it on the farther bank OF
lagoon.
7Iiterally torn to pieces by the witche
they said in the cabins Of the superstitl'
blacks. who repudiated the existence
the briers for the more JhrllllhB 'ue'
witches"
From that time forward the ghost
GRAVY Dick WAS said to wander about
swarm and could be seen almost
night. "al in white" crossing the lag
and the rice field, and coming on acl
the lawn to the graveyard, where ne az
peared lust at daylight" in his own gr
in the far corner OF the lot' over Touea
oraat bouse.u The story was told unit
ar
zion. and when at last the oyerseer
self. returning from the quarters
midnight where he had been to sit up
verv sick slave. declared that he
With his own eyes seen the ghost, 9
was something Of a panic in ana al
Graysville.
was a girl then Of about seven
,,oors of are and my terror of the sw
became so intense that ! would stop
ears and leave the room at the bare
tion of the place. 1t preyed upon
thoughts day and night.
At night my dreams were run oil
had wandered among all those Hyste
depths. trampled upon the nest OF the
perbead and adder, brcathrd the SON
fume of the wild magnolia ana pfu
aside, as it trailed against my lore
the rank red Blossoms Of the poisc
oak and the deadly ivy. In my area
had dipped my feet into the sun
waters of the lagoon and followed the
made bv the ghost of Crazy Dick
tbe rice field and the family grave
and lost myself in the depths OF its
dense shadows
1 would wake at sunrise, nervous
feverish. and as weary as II had
made the horrible journey. And ever
would creep under the bed covers al
to forget the horrors Of my dream.
grew thin and pale and nervous ,
J the gold in Louisiana could not TEN
near the Dismal Swamp; my terror
creased as l. night after nlght' r'
through its terrible tangles oil WIN
brier in my dreams
One morning the very climax OF