Page 4 - 201210 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October 2012

Famous Ghosts in American History Famous Ghosts in Ghosts of the USS Constellation under sail; a breathtaking sight, though apt to American History Sitting proudly at rest in Baltimore vanish without warning in a shimmer of light or a sudden rising of fog. This vision has been Harbor, the USS Constellation emits an aura of immortalized in the poem The Dead Ship of peace of and security. Where once men died Harpswell, by John Greenleaf Whittier, whose under the hail of grapeshot, children now walk. opening lines are as follows: What flecks the During her 175-year history, much blood has outer gray beyond The sundown's golden trail? flowed over her wooden beams. So what or The white flash of a sea-bird's wing, Or gleam who, among the countless who have met death of slanting sail? on her deck, was the ghostly apparition that was The period around 1812 was a splendid photographed in the forecastle in 1955? Lt. time for industrious young men to make a Cmdr. Allen Ross Brougham, USN, the man legitimate fortune on the high seas. A couple of who snapped the photo, believes it is a captain boys barely into their twenties could prosper returning to inspect his ship. Hans Holzer, a trading cod and lumber for the rum, molasses professional ghost hunter and author, says it and coffee of the Indies, which was precisely could be any one of three spirits "haunting the the career George Leverett and Charles Jose old ship." To a Catholic priest who came face to envisioned when they set out from Portland, History.com face with the ghost, it is an old salt, unwilling to Maine. Their destination was the Soule leave the beloved sea. Legends of ghosts and Boatyard in South Freeport and their mission Some of America's most famous citizens are other strange occurrences have long been told was to arrange for the building of their own new now reported among its most famous ghosts. about the United States Navy's first ship. But the vessel. However, shortly after arriving in South Abraham Lincoln, John and Abigail Adams, first indication that they were more than the Freeport they met the lovely Sarah Soule, fell Dolley Madison and Andrew Jackson are reminiscences of old sea dogs came at 8 bells on violently in love with her, and out of sorts with among the spririts purportedly still lingering in a cold December night in 1955. each other. Perhaps because of his Portuguese the White House. Other tales of ghostly Commander Brougham had his camera blood, Jose pursued her more hotly, though in apparitions from unmanned ships to haunted set. Waiting patiently, he allegedly caught the the end it was George Leverett she preferred. paintings persist through history. ghost forever on film. At 11:59:47 P.M., to be After a bitter argument, during which Charles exact, the Navy officer "detected a faint scent in tried to hurl George into the Royal River, the Portrait of Theodosia Burr the air-a certain something not unlike friendship between the two men ended. Charles gunpowder." Then before him, he said, disappeared and George proceeded with On December 31, 1812, the beautiful and appeared a "phosphorescently glowing, construction of the ship. When she was finished, vivacious Theodosia Burr, wife of wealthy translucent ectoplasmic manifestation of a late he appropriately named her Sarah and prepared Governor Joseph Alston of South Carolina, left Eighteenth Century or early Nineteenth Century for his wedding to Sarah Soule. her husband's plantation and sailed north on the sailor, complete with gold stripe trouser, cocked Ill fortune arose on every side. At first Patriot to visit her beloved father, the famous hat and sword." He barely had time to snap the there were strange obstacles in the wedding Aaron Burr, in New York City. In early January shutter before the eerie figure vanished, he said. preparations. Then Captain Leverett found it the vessel was accosted off Cape Hatteras by A few years later, repairmen heard strange oddly difficult to line up a crew. Still, he was a ships of Great Britain, then at war with the moans and cries coming from below the decks, determined young man and, at last, with his United States, but was permitted to proceed on but every time they went to investigate they bride in his house and a crew on his ship, its journey. The Patriot was never seen again found nothing. Leverett sailed into Portland harbor to take on nor, with any certainty, was Theodosia. An In Hans Holzer's book, Portal to the cargo for the West Indies. At the same time, angry storm that very night swept the coast of Past, reference is made to the experience of a there arrived a curious black craft which flew no North Carolina. Some say that during the gale Catholic priest who visited the Constellation in flag and was outfitted with cannon. The ship pirates boarded the Patriot, removed all 1964. When the priest arrived, there was no was the Don Pedro Salazar and her captain was valuables, forced passengers and crew to walk member of the Maryland Naval Militia to take none other than Leverett's former partner and the plank, then sank the ship. But legend him aboard for a tour. So he went below by romantic rival, Charles Jose. persists that Theodosia survived, that she was himself. While wandering beneath the deck, he Much like a storm cloud on the horizon, cast ashore in a small boat onto the Outer said, he was startled by an old sailor who the Don Pedro trailed the Sarah south. As the Banks, bereft of all possessions except a portrait volunteered much information about history of voyage progressed the Sarah's crew grew more of herself, and that, with her sanity completely the ship and the proper names for the and more uneasy and petitioned Captain gone, she was thereafter cared for by a Banker equipment. After thanking his guide, the priest Leverett to head for Nassau to report the fisherman and his wife. went above deck where he met several of the menacing pursuer to the British Admiralty. He The years went by. In 1869 the strange regular tour guides. He congratulated them for never reached the harbor. As soon as the Don woman became ill, and a doctor from Elizabeth having such a knowledgeable man as the one Pedro saw what course Leverett was taking, she City was called in to attend her. He did what he who led him around. The real guides were opened fire, killing all but Leverett and severely could, but it was clear that she had not long to horrified. "We have no one below," they damaging, though through some miracle, not live. As he was leaving the sick room, the poor protested. In haste, the guides and the priest sinking the unarmed Sarah. Still blinded by fisherman's wife told the doctor that, as she had rushed down the narrow stairway, but the old jealousy and seeking murderous revenge, Jose no money, he would have to choose something guide had vanished into the air. could have tortured the survivor in a variety of from the house for his pay. When he replied that Sybil Leek, the famous English witch, traditional methods. However, Jose, after he would like to have the handsome portrait once paid a visit to the stately ship. She claimed looting the ship, chose only to tie Leverett to the hanging on the wall, the afflicted old woman she picked up vibrations from three spirits; a foot of the Sarah's mainmast and head him out sprang from her bed. "It is mine! You shall not captain, a sailor and an apprentice seaman, who to sea. It was then that Leverett experienced an have it! I am on my way to visit my father in had all died violently. Which one of these extraordinary phenomenon. Helpless as he was New York, and I am taking this picture of his denizens of the spirit world was the one and facing certain death and destruction on an darling Theodosia!" With that, she grabbed the photographed, if any, is unknown. unmanned and shattered vessel, he still was canvas, rushed through the door, ran down the possessed by a strange notion that the ship was surf, and walked into the ocean.. The next day, Sarah Soule under control. Indeed the dead crew began to the portrait washed up on the beach. It is fact, rise up and take their posts one by one. Sails not legend, that the doctor took the picture from Ghost ships, in the mythology of the sea, are were set and the ship's course was turned toward Nags Head to his home in Elizabeth City, that a almost as plentiful as barnacles on a rock. One home. Captain Leverett, at this point, descendent sold it an art dealer who in turn sold of the most celebrated is the phantom schooner understandably lost consciousness. it to a member of the Burr family, and that it of Harpswell which was seen by many people, exists today. usually in the late afternoon, fully rigged and (Continued on Page 5)