Legend of the Gray Man of Pawley’s Island-
Good evening my dears, welcome to my humble
blog. I’m not one to talk about politics, so I discovered this amazing
legend/history about what they call ‘The Gray Man’, that I believe is true of
the Pawley’s Island. I happened to find it while watching T.V. late one night
so I wrote down the legend and decided to look him up for an interesting post
for you all. I hope that you all find it as interesting as myself. Apparently,
he is quite popular on the east coast with the hurricanes season. When I watch
the show, it had a very sad story that started in 1822 with it first rate 5
hurricane Hazel in 1954. Apparently, there are many different versions of the
tail. This is the one that I heard of myself;
In 1822 a young woman was staying on the
island of Pawley Island with her family when she received word her fiancée was
going to join her on the island after going to see his family. Delighted with
the news, she had the servants prepare all his favorite dishes and decorate the
house in anticipation for his arrival. When the time for him to arrive, no one
showed. For hours, she waited upon the beaches of the island worried and
holding the very watch her fiancée had given her. Later she was visited on the
beach by her fiancées servant with the tragic news. What had happened was, that
her fiancée was in great haste to see her. So, as they were traveling down the
road, her fiancée was in great spirits. So, he was racing his horse to her
home. Not watching carefully as he would always do before. He then saw a
shortcut through the marsh but didn’t think first before checking it out. In
those days, the marsh had what they would call blogs – they look fine on the
top but that was just a thin layer on the top. Underneath was like quicksand,
once you got stuck you never get out no matter how his servant tried to help.
The more he moves the faster he sank into the blog. So, Fate caused his horse
to stumble, throwing him off into the blog. He tried to stand, but he found
himself sinking in the quicksand. Despite his best efforts, he or his companion
were able to free him and the young woman husband sank beneath the very deep
sand. This news nearly drove his fiancée mad. She would spend hours just
walking along the sandy beaches of Pawley’s Island strand. However, one afternoon
she while she was out walking on the beach sands she saw a man looking at her
out by the water, As, she got closer and closer she felt her stomach get
tighter. She couldn’t believe her eyes. When she got just a mere few feet from
the man, she was sure it was her love. It looked exactly like him. The way he
would dress and his face was him but Suddenly as a wave burst down on them, he
vanished in the sand. After seeing her lover, she ran to tell her family of
what she had seen. They of course thought since losing her fiancée, that she
was starting to lose her mind. That very night, the young woman had a horrific
dream of being in a small boat in the ocean tossed by the waves, with wreckage
all around her. All the while her lover stood on a dune, trying to wave to her
to him. When she awoke, she was terrified. So, her father took her and the rest
of the family to Charleston to see a doctor. This act actually saved the entire
family. Within hours of leaving their home, a hurricane had struck the Island
of Pawley’s with force of a rate of 5 categories – which at the time was the
highest rate of a hurricane could be. When it was all over, almost if not
everyone of the inhabitants of the North Inlet had died in the hurricane. You
see they had no warning back in the day but the gray man. The young woman
realized that her lover had returned to save her from a horrible fate, the girl
returned to her normal self after that.
There have been many different stories of the origins
of the Spirit of the Gray Man and the Young woman who was so much in love with
him. Well, I thought I should touch on that part of the story too: So, this is
one story about John Calhoun & Belle; The spirit of the Gray Man was John
C. Calhoun, the man in live could not top the Gray Mans long enduring
history and tragic legend. In the South Carolinas as the most famous ghost. As
for the Young woman, his lover was to believe to be of Charleston Belle
that was sent away to France because their relationship was not acceptable to
their parents. The story goes on…There was a rumor that the two were cousins
and that the man was a scoundrel of sorts. The lover had vowed to return and
make her his wife one day. Well, time passed on and it was reported that the
lover was reported have died in a duel. Grief yet again the stricken young
woman mourned her lover. However, another man who had recently been widowed
drew the woman out of her grief by marring her-then making the island of Pawley
island their summer home from May through October each year. In 1778 John
Calhoun joined the Army to fight in the American Revolution. During his
absence, a hurricane had hit the Pawley island sinking a brigantine off the
islands shores. All, were believed to have perished. However, a lone figure was
seen struggling along the shore of the beach line. A manservant helped the surviving
man to this Mistress’ door advising that the Master was gone to war but his
Mistress would look after him. When she opened the door, and saw her lover their
Belle fainted on the spot. The man realizing that his lover had married another
and fled. He died alone on the mainland of a deadly fever. The Belle resumed
her life but she was frequently troubled by the gray figure that watch her from
the dunes from the beaches. He appeared to her prior to any hurricane, advised
her to leave immediately, When, she returned to her home it had been the only
one that had been spared the devastation wrought by the hurricane.
Another Story was about The Gray Man; This one
is not as popular as the one above but I thought to include both…This man was
called Plowder Charles Jeannerette Weston who loved his home and the island of
Pawley’s faithfully. He died of tuberculosis but he is said to appear to
residents to warn them of impending storms. No one could identify the Gray Man
as he does not have a face some say or it’s not clearly seen. Even someone
coming face to face with him cannot make out his facial details as they are a
blur almost like a silhouette. The Gray Man to this day continues to warn his
residents of hurricanes of the Pawley’s islands and the spirit who remains
behind do so for various reasons that we still haven’t figure out. These are
some of the various reasons that the people of the Pawley island believe;
Some because they don’t want to believe they
are dead, some who died tragically, and those who love someone or something so
greatly they feel a need to be the guardian for eternity. Sometimes there is no
explanation only faith! We have faith that someone will watch over us and keep
us safe. Pawley’s Islands sits along the coast line and its home to small
cottage homes, inns and one very famous Spirit too! The story is always the
same, The Gray man warns the residents to flee the island from an impending
hurricane.
The People of the Pawley Island in South
Carolina claim to still see the Gray Man. He has been walking the coastline for
nearly 200years. Much like what he did in the pass he does now in the present
is helping the people of the island of impending danger of the small island and
the people that dwell there. It seems that while he is responsible for saving
lives he was unable to save his own...So he is walking the beaches of Pawley’s
to do what he couldn’t do for his own life… During the life time of the Gray
Man there has been five deadly hurricanes that have battered the Pawley’s
Island over the past 2ooyears, including hurricane Hazel in 1954|hurricane Hugo
in 1989. If the stories are true about the Gray Man – he has appeared on Pawley’s
Island before each of these deadly storms. Strangely, People who have seen the
man in gray not only survive the storm, but their property remains intact as
well… There is one such case – Jim and Clara Moore who encounter the Gray Man
just two days before the hurricane Hugo roared ashore. They were taking a walk late in the afternoon
which they usually would do. Many folks would take walks on the beach at that
time of the day the couple would say. However, that particular afternoon they
only saw the one, coming directly toward them. When Jim got within speaking
distance, he raised his hand to say ‘Hi’ or ‘Beautiful evening’ or whatever,
then he vanished.’’ Hurricane Hugo decimated Jim and Clara’s neighborhood, but
the couple’s home suffer very little damage if any at all! Clara attributes their
good fortune to the Gray Man and the Lord! Most of all eyewitness accounts are
describe as a Man figure dressed in all gray clothing…And when he vanishes it’s
like sand in the wind. He will appear mostly on the beach, out in the dunes or
waving at boaters or anyone without saying a word…
Another example of the Gray man’s warnings of
the people of Pawley
Island…One lone fisherman had spotted the gray man in
Murrells Inlet, at the coastal town about 10 miles north of Pawley’s island. He
said he had been out on his boat nearly the entire day and the sun was beginning
to set. He was going to do one more sweep of the Inlet for oysters when he
noticed a man standing alone on the shore waving at him. As the fisherman drew
closer to the man, he realized he wasn’t waving at all. He had his hand out as
if he was telling me to stop. He was dressed in all gray and looked like an old
pirate. He couldn’t believe what he had saw. He had to literally rub his eyes
and look again. But he was gone…A few hours later, a powerful storm had rolled
ashore, it was pounding in Murrells inlet with heavy winds and lashing rains.
The fisherman truly believes the Gray man appeared to him to get him off the
water and out of harm’s way. So, there you have the legend/truth of the Gray
Man. I myself truly believe he is real. I hope that you enjoy the story…
Your
Wendy hugssss.
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