The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-08-05
WEIRD LEGENDS OF
THE DISMAL SWAMP
washington Star.))

They made her a grave too cold and damp
For one SO brave and true;
She has gone to the lake of the Dismal
Where all night long by her FREELY lamp
She paddles her white canoe.
Tina was the way an early poet de-
scribed the Ghost of the White Canoe,
which is commonly credited With
haunting the unknown. impossible.
moccasin-infested reaches of the Dis
NAL Swamp, that land Of mystery that
stretches for thousands Of acres across
the southeastern part of Virginia near
the North Carolina line.
There is possibly no other section Of
the country credited with more nlys-
terry and awe than the dank teaches
OF this strange marsh, and it's mystery
stretches back to the first pages Of
American history.
The Ghost Of the White Canoe is
probably the oldest legend OF that
legend-ridden vastness. which has
never been thoroughly explored by a
white man. h story is an Indian
tale. n was handed down generation
to generation by the savageS, and pre-
served without loss in the minds of
the superstition negroes and whites
OF the section.
According to the tale, an Indian
maiden was in love with a warrior Of
a hostile tribe. She was forbidden to
see him through the hostility OF her
tribe. and the story runs a one
night she slipped away in a canoe
to search out her lover. The paths Of
the great swamp were unknown to the
girl, but her owe drove her into the
awesOme shades OF the night. and she
had penetrated far When she found
that her path vas lost.
For days and days she padded and
called to her sweetheart, but the
great black forest gave back no an
swer and the end soon came. The
story runs that the warriors Of her
lovers tribe found her dead body in
the bottom of the canoe, and because
OF the hostility they bore her people,
h was thrown into the deep, black
mud OF the swamp against the fren-
zied pleadings OF her warrior-sweet-
heart.
The story runs prettily to its close
how h bereaved savage repudi-
ated his tribe and sought the mystic
riOus. uncharted paths of the wilder
ness One night IS he fell fainting
on the shores OF the marsh, deep In
the inner heart Of the great region.
the ghost of the Indian girl came pad
ding 70 him through the darkness,
guided by the frefies. In an agony of
devotion n joy Of the reunion, the
brave is said to have plunged into the
bhAck Waters Of the marsh and was
drowned. Here the legend tells how
the phantom girl paused her canoe
over h spot foI q moment and was
Joired by the ghostly spirit Of her
mate, and that for generations they
have paddied through the blackness
It the grcSt swamp, guided by the
Exs.lt OF the fireffies. but united forever
in spirit.
! Another OF the weird stories OF the
Dismal Swa up wilderness Is the ons
concerning Osman, g. famous African
Ichief, who was sod into cha very, but
whose high. proud spirit revolted. and
who sought refuge from bloodhUuocs
and puESuers in the inner ana urex-
plored caches d the swamp.
Osman led a reign OF terror in the
wilderness during the early ffties. HI
obtained firearms, and chung to the
most Wild and impossible sections OF
tine brake, where no man had eYeI
reached before. and where only the
wild beasts kept him company. Az
!, the rolled by. the Chief Osman
became half Wild. and was credited
with h power of speech with thu
, snakes and animals Of the forest and
cypress Swamps.
| Urged on by the offers of reward
numerous white men, armed to the
teeth, penetrated into the swamp il
( yOONASA L AK AA6AtAvS. OO1ilc Oh tnCu
never came back. but one hunter, VIII
had followed the negro's trail with 6
companion. feebly padded back t.
camp weeks later, fever-tricken ant
delirious shouting in his madness 6
| tale OF a wild man who had killed
his companion with naked hands ani
who had nearly killed the survivor
who fed. The man who came bach
lived but a few days and died in tn.
ldelirfum OF fever.
But the story ends not there, 70,
the tradition Is fast fixed in the mind:
OF the negroes and swamp settlers tina
3Osman accidentally stepped upon tn
coiled body of a cotton-mouth mecca
{ sin and died q few minutes later IL
dreadful agony.
4 1t Is but natural from this traei,
, superstition a more weird legen(
should later grow and the negroes tel
t that late in the night from the IA,
reaches Of the swamp comes a demo
mac Scream0the scream Of Osnan'
9 shost re-enacting the death struggl,
D or the 6 chief who died from tn,