T S O H G
1B
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2024
Get into the spooky spirit this Halloween
THE MARINERS MUSEUM, COURTESY NPS
COURTESY NPS
The five-masted schooner Carroll A. Deering was built in 1919 in Bath, Maine and wrecked on January 31, 1921.
Wreckage of the Carroll A. Deering. No remains of the ship can be seen on the seashore’s beaches today.
The
GHOST SHIP of the Outer Banks By National Park Service Cape Hatteras is home to many maritime legends but perhaps none is as curious as the real-life story of the massive schooner, Carroll A. Deering. Lost on the Outer Shoals in 1921 and discovered completely abandoned by the Coast Guard, this historical event has all the makings of a Hollywood ghost story. On January 29, 1921, the Carroll A. Deering was making a return trip to Hampton Roads, Virginia from Barbados when she passed the Cape Lookout Lightship. According to the lightship keeper, the crew was milling about and a crewman, who did not look or act like an officer, reported that the ship had lost its anchors. The following day, the ship passed the SS Lake Elon southwest of the Diamond Shoals Lightship at approximately 5:45 p.m. The Deering seemed to be steering a peculiar
course. This was the last report of the ill-fated Deering before she was found run aground and abandoned. At 6:30 a.m. on January 31st, C.P. Brady of the Cape Hatteras Coast Guard Station spotted a five-masted schooner in the morning light, aground and helpless on the shoals. It was reported that the ship’s decks were awash, sails were set, lifeboats were missing, and she appeared abandoned. Due to heavy seas, the surf boats failed to reach the wreck. Finally, the wrecker Rescue arrived on the morning of February 4th and, with the cutter Manning, reached the battered ship around 9:30 a.m. Captain James Carlson of the Rescue boarded the ship and confirmed its identity as the Carroll A. Deering. Upon investigating the ship, it was discovered that all personal belongings, key navigational equipment, certain papers, and the ship’s anchors were missing.
Furthermore, food was laid out as if in preparation for a meal. But there was no sign of the crew. The wrecked and battered hull of the Deering was all that was left to signify the vessel’s strange passage. In March of 1921, with the vessel breaking apart on the shoals, it was towed away then dynamited. In April, Christopher Columbus Gray, a Buxton, N.C. resident, reported finding a note in a bottle, which told of the capture of the Deering by pirates. Handwriting experts authenticated the note as being written by engineer Herbert Bates. Later examination, however, by federal government experts proved the letter was a hoax, written by Gray himself. In May, Mrs. Lula Wormel (wife of the ship’s master), Captain Merritt (the former master), and Rev. Dr. Addison Lorimer visited Washington and convinced Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover to commence an investigation.
The ongoing lure of the Deering mystery may be due to the many historical threads uncovered in the investigation of this amazing story. Agent Thompson of the FBI visited Dare County in July of 1921. Among the leads he followed were stories of Bolshevik sympathizing pirates, rum-running gangsters, and mutiny. When he asked local Coast Guardsmen about the theory that the crew had mutinied and abandoned ship before striking the Shoals, “Impossible!” was the answer – the coast was too rough for lifeboat landings. “I believe they abandoned her after taking everything of value,” said Captain Ballance of the Cape Hatteras station, “and ran her up on the Shoals intentionally …” In the end, the investigation proved fruitless. No trace of the crew, the ship’s log, or the navigation equipment was ever discovered. A true maritime mystery began … and continues to this day.
Come October 31, there is extra mischief in the air, and who knows what might be lurking around those dim corners? Halloween is a time when the line between having fun and being scared is easily blurred. While trick-or-treating and attending parties are ways to enjoy the final day of October, there are plenty of other ways to make Halloween more fun. • Read some scary stories. There’s something to be said about reading scary stories or poems on Halloween. Readers’ imaginations take over on Halloween as they envision scary characters and scenarios. Edgar Allen Poe, author of many notably macabre works, is a popular read come Halloween. • Go pumpkin picking. Most people already make pumpkin picking an annual treat. Don’t overlook misshapen pumpkins that can be carved into spooky jacko’-lanterns. Also, enhance Halloween decor with pitted and warty gourds that lend that scary appeal. • Make creepy crafts. Children can get a kick out of crafting Halloween decorations. Drape a piece of muslin over a beverage bottle and spray it with laundry starch. Let sit and the muslin will stiffen when it dries. Paint on black circles for eyes. • Whip up Halloween treats. Candied apples, extra-rich brownies and mini hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls to look like mummies are just some of the ways to create a scary Halloween feast. • Have a costume theme. Everyone in the household can get in on the fun by planning costumes to fit a theme. For example, everyone can dress like the Addams family. • Host a Halloween book club. Those who love to read can ensure the October gathering of a book club is one that features a discussion of a scary book. Those looking for a scare can explore horror authors like Stephen King, Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, Shirley Jackson and Tananarive Due. • Host an outdoor movie. Projectors can now be hooked up to smartphones and tablets, so it’s easier than ever to watch movies outside. Simply project a device onto a screen, white fence or even a bedsheet. Since it gets dark somewhat early in October, the movie doesn’t have to start very late. Depending on the audience, choose a movie that is very scary or only mildly so if children will be viewing. • Organize a Halloween treat exchange. Similar to a Christmas “Secret Santa,” participants put together a wrapped gift of homemade or store-bought foods and exchange with others.
HAUNTED SPOTS on the Outer Banks
By Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
Graveyard of the Atlantic, Kill Devil Hills, Ghosts of The Lost Colony ... these names alone make the OBX a spooky destination. The Outer Banks is hauntingly full of history that’s still celebrated today with great events and sights to beware. Gather your family of ghouls and goblins and check out things to do on the OBX this Halloween.
Six Tales of Local Lore
1. The Town of “Kill Devil Hills” One of the most popular questions visitors ask is how the name Kill Devil Hills came about. Several versions of the story circulate within the Outer Banks. One legend suggests the pirates who once called these shores home are to blame. Apparently, one night while taking a “shore leave,” a surly lot of buccaneers were sitting amongst the sand dunes that
towered over the landscape, drinking moonshine that was “strong enough to kill the devil.” Another version holds that in the 1700s, William Byrd of Virginia, who was apparently no admirer of the Carolinas, wrote that “most of the rum they get in the country comes from New England, and is so bad and unwholesome that it is not improperly called “Kill Devil.” Other lore suggests the town received its moniker from an old brand of rum that washed ashore at
the dunes here, the only surviving cargo from a nameless shipwreck.
2. The Black Pelican Restaurant in Kitty Hawk Assigned #6 Station of seven lifesaving stations along the coast, The Black Pelican Restaurant assisted in rescuing mariners lost at sea or sailors stranded on the shoals. In July of 1884, the #6 Station’s leader, Captain James Hobbs, was said to have a short temper. When he could
no longer stand the insults of his surfman, T.L. Daniels, the Captain shot him. T.L. was supposedly buried at sea with no witnesses and Captain Hobbs was never tried for murder. To this day, T.L. can be seen roaming the restaurant. 3. The Seven Sisters of Nags Head The Seven Sisters is known today as an area located in Nags
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