Long Island Sound’s Fiery Ship

A New York legend states that on stormy nights a fiery ship is seen sailing up and down Long Island Sound.

At one time Long Island Sound was a dangerous place for merchant ships to sail. Buccaneers attacked these ships, killed everyone on board, and then stole their cargos. These pirates rarely had to pay for their ruthless actions.

A merchant ship filled with crates of expensive furs, one clear, bright morning, sailed out of Pelham Bay.

It was a warm day, but this ship’s captain could not enjoy it for he had an uneasy feeling. He stood on deck, keeping a sharp eye for any unsavory activity.

He had cause to worry for the authorities, Governor Peter Stuyvesant and his 40 men, could not protect his ship for there were hundreds of inlets and coves where a pirate ship could hide unnoticed.

The captain warned his crew to keep alert and watched as a beautiful white horse neighed and stamped upon the deck. This horse was a part of his cargo, he was charged with delivering it to a harbor further down the Sound.

The captain was briefly distracted by the calls and laughter of several passengers who were sitting on bales of straw playing cards. A chill shiver ran down his spine—a sense of foreboding gripped him.

It was then he spotted a ship sailing quickly toward them. His first mate called out a warning. The captain ordered the passengers below deck as his crew armed themselves.

The captain saw armed men standing on the deck of the other ship leering at them. As they drew near the pirate captain shouted, “Surrender the ship.”

The merchant captain had his first mate fire a warning shot across the bow of the pirate ship. Its crew laughed with contempt, and one buccaneer jeered, “Is that the best you can do?”

This one-eyed man then threw a hook across the water, and it landed on the rail of the merchant ship. The merchant captain ordered his men fire. A smoke filled battle ensued as the men only stopped to reload.

More grappling hooks caught the rail of the merchant ship, and the two vessels came together. The pirate crew leaped aboard the merchant ship, and the men now struggled in hand-to-hand combat.

Boarding ship

The merchant captain found himself in a duel with the leader of the pirates, the two men slipped as they fought in the spilled blood from the men that battled around them.

A buccaneer grabbed the merchant captain from behind and held him tightly as his captain stabbed him through the heart with a cutlass.

The captain was the last member of the merchant ship to die. The pirates then went down in the hold and slaughtered the passengers. They stole their jewelry and valuables.

They passed the crated furs to their ship and they even tried to take the white stallion but he reared back and bucked violently, so they tied him to the mast instead.

They set fire to the ship and sailed away without looking back.

The horse screamed and tugged—his neighs were almost human in their agony-- as flames engulfed the abandoned ship.

As the pirate ship sailed out of view, something strange occurred on the merchant ship—even though the flames were fierce, the vessel remained intact. The longer the fire raged, the less burned it became.

The torn sails mended themselves, and her bloodstained decks were washed clean. One by one, the captain, his crew, and the passengers revived. They stood silently among the flames and then began going about their usual activities.

The passengers sat on the flaming straw bales and merrily gambled, but no one spoke. The only sound that could be heard was the dreadful neighing of the white horse.

Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled—the waves tossed the ship about as it began to move forward. It followed the pirate ship’s course.

At first, the pirates fighting the storm did not notice the burning ship sailing after them through the rain. But when the lookout gave a shout filled with terror and almost fell from his perch the other pirates saw the fiery ship moving erratically through the stormy waters toward them.

The captain ordered his terrified buccaneers to flee. They tried to outrun the burning ship, but it drew closer with every minute.

They listened in horror at the sounds of the neighing horse. No other noises were heard. Several Buccaneers dropped to their knees imploring God to save them, but the burning ship drew nearer.

The pirate ship finally entered a small hidden cove, and the fiery merchant ship passed by and disappeared into the storm. The pirates abandoned their ship to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

They never returned to the Sound.

On stormy nights witnesses state they have seen this burning merchant ship sailing up and down the sound. It appears the captain and crew are still looking for the pirates that murdered them.

When this ship is seen the captain and crew are observed attending their tasks while the passengers' gamble. The only sound heard is the stallion’s neighing as it paws the deck and tries to free itself from the mast.

Excerpts from Spooky New York by S. E. Schlosser

Virginia’s Old House Woods, Part l

Town of Mathews

One of Virginia’s most haunted places is in Mathews County. Old House Woods is a 50-acre pine forest with marshlands, located in the Tidewater area of Chesapeake Bay.

Old House Woods got its name from an old house that once stood in the center of this forest—it has since burned to the ground.

This area was an active port before and during the Revolutionary War. There are many stories and legends connected to this area, including lost treasure, and an unusual phantom ship.

This forest lends itself to these kinds of tales because it is densely wooded, which does not allow much light at night. The trees are so tall the moon and stars can not be seen.

Old House Woods

For over 200 years tales of pirate and British lost treasures have been told.

Pirate's Loot

One early legend is about a band of pirates who buried their treasure on the banks of Whites Creek intending to return. But when they left to acquire more loot, their ship was lost in a storm.

This legend is connected to the phantom ship that is seen around Whites Creek, which is in Part ll of this post.

Another legend about buried treasure involves England’s King Charles ll. It is said he sent chests of treasure to Jamestown following the battle of Worcester in 1651.

He wanted a treasure in safekeeping in case he had to flee the country and go into exile.

Unfortunately, the crew in charge of this treasure encountered a storm, and they headed up the wrong creek—they ended up at Whites Creek. As they unloaded this treasure, bandits attacked them.

These robbers got away with some of the treasure, and the rest was buried in the woods. 

These besieged men intended to return to retrieve the buried treasure, but their ship capsized in a storm.

When they returned to England to give the King the news of what happened, they were put to death.

Yet another treasure story told about Old House Woods happened in 1781. It is said a large amount of gold and silver coins and jewelry were buried in large canons near a graveyard near Willow Creek.

This treasure was said to be patriot plunder left by soldiers, under the command of General Cornwallis, they were eventually captured and not allowed to return to the area.

In Part ll of Virginia’s Old House Woods, a popular tale about a phantom ship seen above this forest is told. 

The Ghost of Theodosia Burr Alston

Theodosia Burr or Theo as she was called was Aaron Burr’s only daughter. 

Burr, an influential political figure in the early 1800s, was a doting parent. He made sure Theo was educated beyond what most young ladies of the time were offered. She was allowed to study music, languages, philosophy, and politics. 

Theo was also charming and very beautiful. 

When her mother passed away from cancer, Theo was more than prepared to take over as her father’s hostess, at Richmond Hall, the family home in Albany.

Prominent figures of the time, as well as hopeful young suitors, attended the dinners that Theo hosted. Theo had her pick of eligible bachelors, but to everyone’s surprise, Theo married Joseph Alston. 

Joseph was a southern gentleman who had inherited his families’ wealth. 

Alston came from a very different world from the high society that Theo was used to. Burr, unlike most, was delighted with his daughter’s choice. He admired Alston’s political ambitions.

Theo and Alston on their way south, to the Carolina Lowcountry in February of 1801, stopped to see Aaron Burr inaugurated, as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president. 

Joseph Alston had attended Princeton and passed the bar at the age of twenty, but he didn’t practice law. 

Part of his inheritance was a large rice plantation called “The Oaks” in South Carolina. This is where he brought Theo after they were married. 

Theo helped manage The Oaks and several other properties Alston owned, but the hot, humid southern climate did not agree with her. Though she loved her husband, she missed her father and the beauty of the Hudson River Valley.

The distress she felt being separated from her father increased as Burr became embroiled in two political scandals. 

The first involved a bitter political rivalry he had with Alexander Hamilton, which resulted in a duel in which Burr killed him in 1804. Burr was arrested for murder but later was acquitted. 

Theo rushed to be at her father’s side during this time. 

The second scandal revolved around some shady land schemes Burr was involved in. Burr left for Europe in a self-imposed exile.

Theo’s health was in a frail condition when she gave birth to a son in 1802. It was a rough delivery, and Theo never managed to completely recover. 

Joseph and Theo named their son Aaron Burr Alston, they were very devoted parents, making sure their son had the best of everything. 

Theo often wrote letters to her father about her son's progress, this and news about her husbands’ political successes kept Burr interested. He usually replied to her messages with political advice for his son-in-law.

It was during this period that Theo’s life brightened, but then another tragedy struck. 

Theo and her husband each summer would move to their summer home “The Castle” on Dubordieu Beach, to escape the rice plantations’ oppressive heat and swamps. 

Early in the summer of 1812 two weeks after they arrived young Aaron, now ten years old, and already ill with tropical fever (malaria) died. Theo was inconsolable.

Burr heard of his grandson’s death as he returned to New York. He encouraged Theo to visit him over the holidays. Theo desperately wanted to but her husband, now governor of South Carolina, felt the trip would be too dangerous. 

He was concerned about her health, and the fact that American was again at war with Britain (War of 1812). 

There were also rumors that pirates were active off the Carolina Outer Banks. Despite these dangers, Theo won out, and Joseph reluctantly wrote her a letter to the British Navy requesting safe passage.

Theo said her last goodbye to her husband, while they waited in a warm warehouse in Georgetown, near the wharf where she was to embark. 

She boarded the schooner “Patriot” in December of 1812 anticipating the six-day trip north. Joseph having important business regretted that he could not make the voyage with her. 

The Patriot never made it to New York. Theo's disappearance remains a mystery.

The Patriot did encounter a British vessel, her second day out, and Joseph’s letter worked for the British let the ship pass. 

That night a strong winter gale swept across Cape Hatteras known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Some speculate the Patriot was lost in this storm. 

There is also evidence that the Patriot might have been a victim of pirates or “wreckers." Wreckers are people who plunder a ship after it has foundered near to or close to shore.

In 1833, an Alabama newspaper reported a confessed pirate admitted that he had participated in the plunder, and murder of all on board the Patriot at Nags Head. 

Fifteen years later, another former pirate, “Old Frank” Burdick confessed a similar story on his deathbed. 

His description included how he had held a plank for a pretty woman in a white dress. Before she plunged to her death, she begged someone send word to her husband and father. 

Burdick stated they then plundered the ship and abandoned her under full sail. He also said he saw a portrait of a woman in white in the main cabin.

Further evidence came to light in Nags Head to support the above stories.

An ill patient, too poor to pay her doctor, offered instead a portrait her husband’s family had given her as a gift. 

When the doctor questioned her possession of the portrait, she admitted to him that her in-laws were wreckers and they had plundered a ship they found abandoned after a gale. It sails were fully set, with no one aboard.

She stated that her relatives had found a woman’s belongings strewn about the main cabin, and amidst this, they had found the portrait. 

It is not known if Theo left Georgetown with a portrait. It did not surface until after her husband Joseph Alston had died. But many feel this is a possibility. For the picture could have been intended as a gift for her father. 

Years after the doctor was given the portrait, a descendant of the Burr’s came forward and immediately identified it as a picture of Theo.

Whatever her fate, Theo’s uneasy spirit appears to still roam some of the locations where she was most happy and sad in life.  

Her ghost has been spotted in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. 

She is observed pacing near the warehouse in Georgetown Harbor, where she said goodbye to her husband before she boarded the Patriot. 

Others have seen her strolling along the strand near Alston’s summer home-- The Castle at Dubordieu Beach--her head bent in sorrow. 

Some have described seeing her on foggy nights floating above the waves at Huntington Beach—once called Theaville in her honor.

Her spirit is also seen walking the paths, and descending the rice island steps near her husband’s plantation, The Oaks. 

Today this plantation, combined with three other rice plantations, make up what is called Brookgreen Garden. This spot is a popular tourist attraction.