Montpelier examiner., 1912-12-06
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partition was signifcant-the ship was never
heard of again.
The rocky coasts of New England are haunted
by many ghost ships The Palatine is the best
known specter The coasters and fishermen Of
Long Island Sound will tell you that when a sight
of her is gotten. disastrous and Iong-lasting
storms will follow. The Palatine, Dutch trader,
misled by false lights shown by wreckers. ran
ashore upon Block Island in the year 1882 The
wreckers, when they had stripped the vessel,
set her on fire In order to conceal their crime.
AS the tide lifted her and carried her flaming
out to sea. agonzing shrieks came from the
blaze and the figure of woman who had hid
den herself in the hold in fear OF the wreckers
stood out black amid the roaring blaze. Then
the deck fell in and ship and woman vanished.
The whaling in Nantucket as you will remem-
Der, was in it's palmy days carried almost en-
tirely by Quakers. One Sunday evening a meet
ing was in progress; the simple service seemed
as though 1t might pass. and the spirit moved
none Of the company. The elder Friend was Just
about to offer his hand to his neighbor in the
closing of the meeting, when a stranger rose
and declared that the Lords wrath was upon a
certain whaling ship. and that he had her
in vision descending a huge wave from the
hollow of which she never rose. The meeting
closed hurriedly but the speaker could not be
found. and the ship never heard Of
Some Of the best ghost stories are those which
tho writer has heard from the simple folk of the
salt marshes. 1t is hardly possible to describe
these dreary Districts for when one has said
they fiat, stretching for miles, and rather
subject to mists, has said pretty we'll all that
is to be said-the rest must be felt However
Just as there is call of the sea, SO there is a
call of the marshland. You shall 60 into the
saltern and feel its moist breath upon your cheek
and the breath of its salty winds and the ozone
of its calms. You shall be lost In It's vastness
and. threading its innumerable twisted narrow
waterways. which lead to nowhere ye shall
tread its carpet of scentless flowers You shall
go to its very edge where the sea comes often.
most. and where the flowers decaying leave theiI
rust-colored remains. There you shall meet mud
and the cry of the curlew shall mock as you
founder In its flth The moon shall come ur
refracted by the mist into unrecognizable shape
which shall be blood color. You shall be a gray
shape. differing little from the common thinga
that are there. for you shall be enshrouded by
fog; nay. It shall sink into your very soul until
you are not flesh and bones but q particle Of
fog yourself You shall listen to its silences: yor
shall be told things by them. and. strong man
that you are you shall be afraid
Is 1t to be wondered at then that these sirnni<
Essex marsh-dwellers remember such tales .,
that OF the young skipper. home from Ions
voyage. whose haste to embrace his wife and tbs
babe ne had not yet seen bid him to go the neare,
way OF the marshesf The tale has it that In
crossing narrow gutway, near Pitsea he sanl
In the mud So deeply did he sink that he couId
not extricate himself; the more he struggled ths
deeper he sank and with the horror OF knowine
that the tide was rising and would come stealing
up tne creek, ne shouted AS the tide rose higher
the louder were his screams The salterns nea,
Pitsea are lonely; the cries were heard only by
q half-witted peat.cutter. who often in his le.s
sane moments heard such screams and though,
no more OF the matter. So the shrieks became
gurgies and by the time the tide had lifted the
peat-cutters punt they had ceased
The older folk at this stage OF the story aa
sumo a mysterious air. and. with Iargeeved
g1ancings athwart their shoulders. will tell Won
that the skpper's shrieks heard ON starlii
nights as the tide glides up that creek
So here are my ghost stories and If anne
times believe in them when sail all alone ON
the midnight deep. you will not laugh at me.