The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-02-09
GHOSTS OF ROANOKE ISLAND.
BY JACQUES BUSBEE.

hearu was or reaches Light. the
phantom light Of Roanoke Sound, an
Elusive light that none could sail to
or none could catch. It came OUT Of
the Nays Head woods. those high
mountains Of sand on the sound side
of the banks. covered with dense
forest. the home in times q S OF
WreckerS and beach con1bers. L fit
ted about on the Sound and bly,
lit on the north end OF Roanoke Island
Many are the exciting stories Oh
chasing it, of sailing through it to
find nothing there at all. Of it's sudden
apparition to fishermen and its equal
-ly sudden disappearance.
On the extreme north end Of tso3-
nOke Island there stand today the
skull of a house. n Of those pathetic
reii0ts Of q scattered and disrupted
family, an old dismantled home with
gaping doorway and window sockets,
crumbling chimneys n q rose bush
struggling wildly with the choking
rampantness of blackberry vines by
the doorstep that was
when Pa married. said my friend,
"he built this place I live at now. n
one day about noon three men ia a
row boat stopped at our landing n
came up to the house. Nobody Gun
here had ~ seen n one Of them
before. and after we got dinner they
asked me U was about sevente. IN
years Odd to AXE them up to
Grandpa's old place. they wanted 10
see 1t. So We went up the road to
the pace and the men asked where the
was and we went to the
orchard and while l climbed a pear
tree they scattered about. eating
some pears and I noticed one Of them
take out q tape line and the other
one hold it for him.
Nobody lived there then: Grandpa
had died the year before and Grandma
lived with Aunt lilly. I didn't notice
IL than I,>% T nrN,an.nnra offQrEV0T ;!S
how they went all over h place ana
looked at everything. Then we al
went down the road and they got in
their boat and went off. l didn't no
tice the direction.
when we boys went down after
supper to take our boat around in the
cove from the landing abreast the
house, we saw q light towards the end
Of CoilingtOn that was acting funny.
We watched it awhile and then we
went to the house and got Pa to come
and look at it. He didn't want to come
much, but after he got there he
Wouldn't leave. He said it was Teaches
Light. 1t would go round in a circle
thr sc times and then go out for a
while, and then it Woul flash out half
a mile away. It kept acting this wa
till at last II reached the north end
of Roanoke. and vanished IN the
| woods down by the water. We were
not quite q mile away from 1t when 1t
disappeared. l wanted my brother
| to go with me to the old place and see
If we could get any nearer, but ne
| said. Nav. he wouldn't go for pay.
| Next morning at daybreak he and l
| went un there: seemed like I cOuldn
| get it off my mind that if we Went
| we'd see Teache.
The old place looked just like Il
ALWAYS did. l don't know J
| went first to the burSing-grOund an
looked at GrandDa's grave;-then We
went to the house and then l Sa1d
Lets go to the pear tree In the
orchard and get some pears. Beto'e
we reached it / saw something that
put me on the run. There In tle
orchard was q hole about eight feet
across and some six feet deep,
freshly dug, with the sand all hroWn
out and fresh tracks all around It
| We found racks to the waters edge
and there they quit. But one thing Is
certain. Teaches Light amt never
| been seen since.
Il tell you / do believe-but "a
hell. what difference does it make
what a mar b~elieves?"
TAnIrEC