The Ghostly Storm Watcher of South Carolina

[00:00:03] Mark had been out on the boat since early in the morning. It was about time to start heading back, but he wanted to do one more sweep for oysters. He still had little time, and just as he was about to start that last sweep, he saw something. There was a man standing on the shore, and he was alone. He appeared to be waving. Mark had no idea who this could be or why he would be waving at him, and as his boat got closer,

[00:00:32] Mark realized that the man was not waving. The man was holding his hand out as if he were telling someone, Stop! Come back! Now! The man was dressed in all gray, and he reminded Mark of a pirate. So he continued to stare, wondering if he should listen to this stranger in gray. So he took his hat off, rubbed his head and eyes, and then he looked out to the shore once again. The man was gone. He had vanished.

[00:01:01] Into thin air. Mark decided to not stay out for more oysters and headed back to dock. And a few hours later, he looked out the window from his house. He could see the inlet where he had been fishing for oysters. The waves were wild, the wind was roaring, and the rain was coming down hard. That powerful storm that the weather channel had announced arrived two days earlier than it was supposed to. So he closed the curtain and sat in the dark, thinking,

[00:01:31] If the gray man had not waved him down, he would have been stuck in the storm. This reminded me that many stories of spirits only exist to warn us from danger. There's countless of them. But today I'm exploring the tale of a spirit said to warn people. The gray man of South Carolina. Mostly seen in Polly's Island.

[00:02:00] My name is Edwin. And here's a horror story. Sightings of the gray man date back to 1822 and they all have one thing in common. They're almost always in Polly's Island. This area has a long and tragic history. The first people who lived here were the indigenous Waccamaw and Winyaw people. They had been there for over 10,000 years.

[00:02:29] They used to farm the land and eat clams and oysters. They kept deer, chickens, ducks, and geese. At least they did until the first Europeans began to arrive in 1521. Their arrival was devastating for the Waccamaw and Winyaw people. They were captured and enslaved. They were starved when Europeans took their land and animals. And when they weren't killed from the violence or starvation, they died from the diseases brought by the Europeans.

[00:02:57] But the years went by and soon there were almost no indigenous people on the island and it became a beach resort in the 1700s. Percival Polly received a land grant in 1711 and his plan was to make a plantation there. But it became a summer refuge. George Polly inherited the island from his father and he started to sell parcels to rich farmers. Farmers that wanted to escape disease-causing mosquitoes.

[00:03:24] Centuries later, the island is still providing an escape for anyone needing some time at the beach. People even say that their blood pressure gets better the moment their feet touch the sand. I can believe that. It really is a beautiful place out there. But there is one thing that time can't change. The weather. You see, this part of the country has always been hit with hard weather.

[00:03:48] It has been affected by hurricanes so much that it ranks fifth in the United States for having the most hurricane impacts. On top of that, the town of Polly's Island was built on a barrier island. By the way, the entire purpose of a barrier island is to receive the impact of a hurricane first, so that hopefully everything behind it isn't as affected. It doesn't always happen like that. It depends on the severity level.

[00:04:13] But as you know, we have alert systems now that warn people if and when they need to evacuate. However, the people of Polly's Island seem to have another system. The gray man. He has been sighted right before major hurricanes since 1822. No one really knows who he is. But there are different stories that might give us a clue.

[00:04:41] In the early 1800s, a young man was returning home after being gone for a long two years. He took a ship to Georgetown and then took a horse the rest of the way. He couldn't wait to get home to the love of his life and he decided to take a shortcut. It would save him hours. He rode fast, hoping to outrun the terrible storm behind him. He was desperately trying to get his horse to hurry, but then he came across quicksand and he got stuck.

[00:05:10] His servant was on horseback behind him and watched as the man and his horse sank. He was going lower and lower until he was completely enveloped. The servant doubled back and took the long way home. Once he arrived, he had to break the tragic news to the man's fiancee. He was dead and she was heartbroken. After the funeral, she took a long walk along the beach.

[00:05:39] The same beach they used to walk together hand in hand. She felt at peace during this walk and she started to do it every day. Back and forth for hours. And then, one day, during one of these walks, the figure of a man appeared ahead of her. At first, she thought it was him. Her fiancee. So she ran toward the man. But when she got close, he yelled, Leave the island at once! You are in danger! Leave the island!

[00:06:09] Leave now! So she stopped running, confused about what the man said. So she rubbed her eyes and... When she was done... The man had vanished. It was a little windy and the rain was just drizzling. So she stood there for a second, still looking for him. It was like... He just disappeared into thin air. There was no trace of anyone else on the beach.

[00:06:36] So she ran back home and told her family about the man's message. And they listened to her and started packing right away. But not because they believed her tale. Her parents were worried about her mental health and wanted to take her to a doctor right away. They left inland first thing in the morning. And that night... A deadly hurricane hit the island. There were several people dead and buildings were destroyed. All of them. Except a young woman's house.

[00:07:09] This story just happens to line up with the Carolina Hurricane of 1822. It landed in South Carolina on September 27th of that year. And it was one of the most catastrophic to ever hit the area. When it was over... More than 300 people had died. But that's not the only gray man origin story. Some say that he was a Confederate soldier who died in battle. But just before he died, he sent a telegram to his family,

[00:07:37] warning them of a terrible storm that was on the way. The telegram got to them and they left, just in time. When they returned, their house was the only one standing. And then they received another telegram telling them about his death on the battlefield. But this doesn't line up with the 1822 date at all. So the other origin story is that the gray man is Percival Pauly, the founder of the town.

[00:08:05] Others say it was a man named Plowden Weston, a wealthy rice planter and owner of the famous Pelican Inn. But neither of these men really makes sense. I mean, their ages don't line up with the first 1822 sighting. They would have been children back then, making each of them too young to be the gray man. Others believe that the gray man is Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, the pirate.

[00:08:30] He operated in the West Indies and along the East Coast of the US in the early 18th century. He was called Blackbeard because of his thick black beard and his scary appearance. He captained Queen Anne's revenge until he ran it aground. Then he retired in Bathtown, North Carolina after accepting a royal pardon. But he was meant for the seas and it wasn't long before he was back out there. His return back to the life of a pirate brought the attention of Alexander Spotswood,

[00:09:00] the governor of Virginia at the time. Governor Spotswood got together a party of soldiers and Navy sailors to capture Blackbeard. They caught up to his ship on November 22nd, 1718, and there was a ferocious battle. Blackbeard and some of his crew were killed during the fight. Now, whichever origin story you believe, the sightings continued.

[00:09:27] There were news of an approaching hurricane when a tenant farmer was herding animals for a local family. And as he led the animals, he encountered a man in gray. The farmer told the man he needed to get moving because of the incoming storm. The man just stood there in silence. The farmer repeated himself, but the man remained quiet. And finally, the farmer stormed off, annoyed that the man did not listen.

[00:09:53] The farmer turned around to warn the man one last time. But when he did, the man was gone. That night, the hurricane went through the island and that farm was untouched. Everything surrounding them had been destroyed. Now, this actually took place in August of 1893, just before the devastating 1893 Sea Islands hurricane.

[00:10:17] There were 16-foot tidal surges and 1,000 to 2,000 people died. There was more than $1 million in damage to Georgia and South Carolina. The Sea Islands were nearly destroyed. One woman named Ann Westensmoke managed to survive by clinging onto a tree next to her house. Her house was destroyed, but she held on for hours, literally clinging to life.

[00:10:45] Still, it is considered the seventh deadliest hurricane in United States history. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel left Haiti completely devastated. At least 469 people died. Almost half of all the coffee trees and half the cacao crops were gone. And as it made its way to the U.S., people knew it was going to be bad.

[00:11:11] In all this chaos, Polly's Island was cautious, but not too worried. The weather forecasts were predicting that Hazel would stay offshore. So as all this was unfolding, a woman took a break from preparing for the storm and stood in her backyard. At the distance, she saw a man in gray, just standing there with one arm out. She thought he was waving, so she turned to grab her glasses and get a better look.

[00:11:41] But, as you guessed it, the man was gone. Nowhere to be seen. He had just vanished. She shrugged and went back inside. Later that day, the news announced that Hazel made a sharp northwest turn and was headed straight for the Carolinas. The destruction was huge. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed. Almost every single waterfront home in Myrtle Beach were gone.

[00:12:08] An entire three-story hotel and an 800-foot pier washed out into the ocean. In Polly's Island, 40 homes were destroyed. Except for the woman's house. It was untouched. Even the laundry she forgot to put away was still hanging there. Hazel was a category 4 hurricane.

[00:12:34] And if you also didn't know, there are five category levels, with five being the highest. This means that the hurricane winds were blowing at 131 to 155 miles per hour. It's no wonder the aftermath of Hazel in the Caribbean, the US, and Canada was this bad. The name Hazel was retired from the tropical storm naming list. Through the damage, somehow the house of the woman who saw the gray man stood strong.

[00:13:04] On midnight on September 22nd, 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit South Carolina. It had just left the Caribbean with winds flying at 145 miles per hour. Thousands fled as the storm ripped through the land. And in South Carolina, over 900 homes were destroyed. 35 people lost their lives.

[00:13:32] And in total, there were $5.9 billion in damage. Just like its predecessor, Hazel, the name Hugo was also retired. And in Polly's Island, only a few houses were still standing. The island was pretty much destroyed. And two days before Hurricane Hugo hit the shore, Jim and Clara Moore were taking a late walk on the beach. Something that they did almost every day. On these walks, they usually run into several people.

[00:14:02] But on this day, it was empty. Except for one man, dressed in gray. He was heading directly to them. They didn't know the man, but they were used to greeting everyone they saw. So he took his hat off to say hi. And Clara raised her hand to greet him. But before either of them could speak a word, the man vanished right before their eyes.

[00:14:29] The hurricane passed and when Jim and Clara returned to their home, they saw that their whole neighborhood was in pieces. Except for their house. It was the only one out of 14 homes still standing. They both thanked God and the gray man for saving their home. Jim and Clara shared their story on unsolved mysteries and after this, stories of the gray man grew.

[00:14:56] The most recent sighting of the gray man happened in 2018, right before Hurricane Florence hit the area. This time, most people were familiar with the legend of the gray man and they listened. They fled the area. I mean, Florence was only a category one hurricane. Even then, it still caused some damage. Because it was slower coming through, it ended up staying longer than normal. It was moving only two miles per hour, but it still caused a lot of power outages and flooding.

[00:15:26] And if you search for Hurricane Florence gray man, this image comes up. You can see the alleged sighting too. There's an image that I can link to. It was taken the Friday before the hurricane landed. The skies look gray in it and the waves are strong. And there's this man standing in the middle of the growing storm. He looks almost like a shadow. All the sightings are the same. A mysterious figure dressed in gray clothing, walking along the beach.

[00:15:56] It always appears right before a hurricane hits. Usually only a couple of days before. He's always alone. He motions people on boats, signaling them to come back to shore. Sometimes he just stands there, staring, before he vanishes. Most people don't feel scared when they see him. Seeing him is not exactly a good thing though. It means that destruction is about to arrive. And yet, those who see him are grateful for his warning.

[00:16:28] Whoever happens to see him is usually spared from the damage. It just goes to show that maybe not all entities that appear have bad intentions. If you know of a local legend or mystery that you want us to research, please let me know through our website, horrorstory.com. Links to everything will be in the description of this episode. Thank you very much for listening.

[00:16:59] Keep it scary everyone. See you soon.