Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Poltergeist of Pelhamdale


There is a lovely historic home located at 45 Iden Avenue in the Village of Pelham Manor. It is known as "Pelhamdale." Portions of the home including the rear basement with entrance and massive fireplace are believed to pre-date the Revolutionary War. The home once was owned by American Patriot David Jones Pell. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The home has been significantly altered since the eighteenth century. 

The home, known also as the Old Pell Place and the Old Pell Home, is located today on a triangular tract bounded by Carol Place, Iden Avenue, and the Hutchinson River Parkway. The plot on which the home sits was part of a large 18th and 19th century farm that once was bounded by today's Colonial Avenue (the Old Boston Post Road), the Lane that became known as Wolf's Lane, today's Boston Post Road, and the Hutchinson River. 

Col. Philip Pell III (1753-1811) owned an adjacent farm, the farmhouse of which once stood at the intersection of today's Cliff and Colonial Avenues. Col. Pell was a son of Philip Pell II who, in turn, was son of Philip Pell who was a son of Thomas Pell (so-called Third Lord of the Manor of Pellham). The original farm cottage that forms a portion of today's "Pelhamdale" at 45 Iden Avenue was built by Philip Pell II around 1750-60. 

Philip Pell II was the father of Col. Philip Pell III (often referenced, oddly, as Philip Pell, Jr.) and David Jones Pell. Both the sons were American Patriots. After the death of the elder Pell, his son David Jones Pell became owner of "Pelhamdale." David Jones Pell's brother, Philip Pell III, built his adjacent farm and farmhouse. That farm included the land on which today's Pelham Memorial High School stands. A memorial marker and date stone of the home built by Col. Philip Pell III stand next to the front entrance of the high school. 

After the death of David Jones Pell in 1823, Pell's widow sold the farm to James Hay who owned it until his own death in the 1850s. Hay extensively expanded and renovated the home, giving it an appearance similar to the home's appearance today. Apparently during the expansion of the home, James Hay embedded in the north wall of the home a large block of sandstone on which is carved in relief the Hay family coat-of-arms. 

As one might expect, with a portion of the home now nearly 270 years old, there has been a long succession of owners and tenants who have lived in the home over the years. Also, as one might expect, the home is associated with a number of entertaining and important Pelham ghost stories. One of several such stories associated with the home is that of the poltergeist of Pelhamdale. 

Mrs. Garnett Mabel Winslow was visiting Pelhamdale, the stunning home of her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Le Roi Layton Elliott, some time ago. After a pleasant Friday evening with the family, Mrs. Winslow retired to an upstairs guest bedroom where she slept soundly in the supremely-appointed bed. 

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, before the sun had risen, Mrs. Winslow was startled awake by the screech of furniture being dragged on a floor. It took her a few moments to clear the fog of sleep from her mind until she heard the banging of chairs and, again, the dragging of furniture above her bedroom. 

Mrs. Winslow loved her daughter and her son-in-law, but it was a little annoying so early on a Saturday morning that they had chosen to rearrange furniture in the room above her as she slept. To make matters more annoying, the sounds suggested that furniture was being dragged from one side of the room to another and then back again, repeatedly! 

As the banging and scraping grew more frantic, Mrs. Winslow realized that she was wide awake and unlikely to slip back into sleep. She lay in bed awake as the bumps and scrapes continued until the sun rose and dawn crept into her room. At that moment, the noise from the studio above ended. Mrs. Winslow got up, dressed, and wandered downstairs for coffee and to visit with her daughter and son-in-law. 

When she made it downstairs, not a soul was there. Pelhamdale was quiet. Neither her daughter nor son-in-law was downstairs. Thinking it odd that they would work so hard in the third-floor studio overnight then return to bed, Mrs. Winslow shrugged, made the coffee herself, and waited for pair to come downstairs. 

Soon Le Roi Elliott and his wife wandered downstairs. Still sleepy, they were surprised to find Mrs. Winslow and a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen. The trio sat to enjoy the morning together when Mrs. Winslow remarked that the work in the studio in the wee hours of the morning must have been exhausting since it sounded as though her daughter and son-in-law had been rearranging furniture for much of the night. 

Mr. and Mrs. Elliott stared at her in disbelief, then glanced at each other. “Mom,” Mrs. Elliott said, “we just got up. There was no one in the studio last night.” 

Mrs. Winslow felt a chill run up her spine. She knew better. Someone had, in fact, been in the studio last night. That someone, it turns out, was the poltergeist of Pelhamdale. . .



Pelhamdale, 45 Iden Avenue, Pelham Manor, New York.

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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Another Account of the Phantom Fire Ship of Long Island Sound


Long, long ago when three-masted merchant sailing ships plied the waters of Long Island Sound, one such ship departed New York Harbor for Newport, Rhode Island. Ominous dark clouds hung over the region. The air was thick and experienced seamen knew a storm was brewing. 

The captain intended to sail his fully-loaded ship into Long Island Sound nonetheless. He had sailed the Sound in bad weather countless times and he viewed this time as no different. He wanted to make it to Newport on time. Not only was his ship carrying a heavy cargo of lumber, but it also was transporting a few horses for delivery in Newport. 

His experienced crew went about their tasks with professional precision.  Soon, the captain gave the order to let go and haul. The ship maneuvered through Hell Gate and the Devil’s Stepping Stones into Long Island Sound as the winds became violent and the Sound became angry. To make matters worse, the evening was fading away and darkness enveloped the ship. 

Neither the captain nor his experienced crew were alarmed. Instead, the captain began looking for a sheltered cove where his ship might ride out the storm. He thought of City Island, Hart Island, and Eastchester Bay at Pelham Bridge. The captain gave the order to come about just as the lookout in the crow’s nest shouted “ship ahoy!” 

The captain and his crew turned and could see a large ship advancing on the stern of the merchant ship. Something seemed terribly odd. Despite the darkness, the ship had no navigation lanterns lit. 

The captain had no stern chaser to fire a warning. His was a merchant ship. Indeed, only a few of his crew likely had any personal firearms. Now the captain became alarmed.

The large ship advanced quickly on the merchant ship and pulled alongside. “Pirates!” one of the crew members shouted. As quickly as he shouted, a shot rang out and a musket ball dropped that crew member, dead. The captain of the merchant ship shouted “all hands!” but was shot as well before he could finish his command. 

Grappling hooks flew.  In a moment the heavily-armed pirate crew boarded the merchant ship. There was nary a scuffle. The crew of the merchant ship had been entirely surprised and were overwhelmed. 

As the storm intensified, some of the pirates rounded up their victims and tormented them while others of the cutthroats rampaged throughout the merchant ship and looted all valuables they could find. Though not interested in the cargo of lumber and horses, the pirates found many valuables among the possessions of the captain and his crew as they pillaged the merchant ship. 

As the storm intensified, both ships were rolling in the high waves. The pirates tied the merchant ship crew tightly to masts and other parts of the ship as the howling wind intensified and the storm displayed peculiarly terrific violence. Most of the pirates disembarked with their loot to their ship. A couple, however, slipped down to the cargo hold of the merchant ship. 

Shortly, the two pirates scrambled out of the hold and leaped back onto their ship. Within moments, the orange flicker of flames could be seen coming from the hold. Smoke was billowing and the anguished screams of horses filled the air. The merchant ship was rolling in the heavy seas from side to side as the flames consumed the lumber and the ship. 

The poor souls tied to the masts and other parts of the ship struggled and struggled to free themselves to avoid the coming conflagration, all to no avail. 

Had the wind not howled so loudly and the rain not pounded so heavily, those along the shores likely would have heard the piteous screams of the merchant ship crew as the flames reached them and slowly burned them to death. The screams seemed unearthly as burning debris cascaded onto the deck of the ship. Soon, the shrieks and screams gave way to nothing but the sound of the howling wind. 

Ever since that terrible night long, long ago, mariners and landlubbers alike have reported that during storms on Long Island Sound of peculiarly terrific violence a luminous three-masted merchant ship fully enveloped in a glowing fire may be seen plowing through the waves of the sound with a great white horse stamping and pawing at the heel of the foremast of the ship with a ghostly phantom crew assembled at quarters. As the fiery ship passes, long comet-like streaks of flames and sparks stream from the ship and unearthly screams and shrieks can be heard though the ghostly crew remains motionless and statue-like still assembled at quarters.




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Below is an excerpt of another of many accounts of the Phantom Fire Ship of Long Island Sound on which today's Pelham ghost story is based.  The excerpt is followed by a citation and link to its source. 

"ON FOOT IN WESTCHESTER.
-----
Revelations of a Tramp Through an Interesting County.

A tramp or a ride through Westchester county, such as a Sun reporter recently took, zigzagging his way often by little-frequented roads, brings to light many interesting nooks with which our readers are little familiar.

There is still standing, not far from Pelham Manor, on a lonely strip of the old post road, overlooking the neck of the Sound, a natural wayside rest, looking like a a giant horse block and almost buried out of sight by weeds and grasses.  This stone was once known as Huguenots' Rest, and it recalls a strange old time church going procession.  Before the erection of the first Huguenot church in New Rochelle the inhabitants of that settlement footed it regularly every Sunday to New York, to attend services at the old Church du Saint Esprit, in Pine street, returning in the Sabbath evening to their humble homes.  This was between 1689 and 1691, and at this stone was one of the customary halting places.

Then as now the neighboring waters were famous for their bass and blackfish, and a little further on there was standing not long ago a weather-stained, shingle sided building whose doorpost bore a quaint emblem, with rude rhymes attached.  The design was that of a chestnut leaf and bore these lines:

When chestnut leaves are as big as thumb nails,
Then bite blackfish without fail;
But when chestnut leaves are big as a span; 
Then catch black fish if you can.

The reporter came across an old lady in New Rochelle, who remembered her grandmother's abiding belief in the famous Phantom Fire Ship that was so well known to haunt the Sound coast from the boiling waters of Hell Gate to Gardiner's, and the lone beacon tower of old Montauk.

My grandmother was certain, said the old dame, 'that she had once seen the Fire Ship glaring through the darkness, with her phantom crew standing like red-hot statues at their quarters, and the big fiend-horse galloping through the flames, till all, was suddenly caught up in a storm cloud, and, bless you, nothing could have convinced by grandmother that she only dreamed it all.'

The tradition had it that the apparition was that of a ship which had been taken by buccaneers, who had butchered all hands and then set her on fire.  A large white horse, which had been found on board, was left near the foremast to perish in the flames.  Accordingly, when the Phantom Fire Ship made its appearance, always in storms of exceptional violence, the white-horse might be seen rushing along the deck enveloped in fire, or stamping and pawing at the heel of the foremast, while the phantom crew were assembled at quarters grinning and clapping their red-hot hands. . . ."

Source:  ON FOOT IN WESTCHESTER -- Revelations of a Tramp Through an Interesting County, New Rochelle Pioneer, November 7, 1885, p. 2, col. 4.  


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Friday, October 04, 2019

Multiple Additional Early Accounts of Sightings of the Sea Serpent of Long Island Sound in 1823


A sea serpent known variously as The Sea Serpent of the Sound, The City Island Sea Serpent, and other appellations has been sighted off Pelham shores on many more occasions than Nessie has been spotted in Scotland's Loch Ness.  Moreover, Pelham's version of Nessie clearly is a much fiercer beast that has tossed ships out of the water, grabbed and crushed porpoises, throwing their bodies high into the air, and has even taken on steamboats in the waters of the Sound.  As I have noted before, the gentle ambling Nessie of Loch Ness must be a doting, slow, and gentle distant relative of the fierce City Island Sea Serpent.

I have written of the Sea Serpent of the Sound on numerous occasions and even published an extensive article on the fearsome beast in the magazine Westchester Historian, an amazing journal that has been published continuously by the Westchester County Historical Society since 1925.  For examples of other prior articles on the Sea Serpent of the Sound, see:

Bell, Blake A., The Sea Serpent of the Sound:  Spotted in Pelham Waters in 1877, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIV, Issue 29, July 29, 2005, p. 9, col. 1. 

Wed., Jun. 29, 2005:  The Sea Serpent of the Sound: Spotted in Pelham Waters in 1877 (Part I)

Thu., Jun. 30, 2005:  The Sea Serpent of the Sound: Spotted in Pelham Waters in 1877 (Part II)

Fri., Jul. 01, 2005:  The Sea Serpent of the Sound: Spotted in Pelham Waters in 1877 (Part III).

Wed., Oct. 29, 2014:  Sea Serpent of City Island: Sea Serpent Sighted in 1877 Returned on Many Occasions.

Mon., Aug. 03, 2015:  More on the City Island Sea Serpent, Pelham's Monster of the Deep.

Wed., Apr. 27, 2016:  Two of the Earliest Yet-Known Sightings of The Sea Serpent of the Sound that Plied Waters Off the Shores of Pelham.



Detail from 19th Century "Bird's Eye View" Map of
Manhattan Entitled "NEW YORK" Published by Rogers,
Peet & Co. With Reports of Sightings of the Sea Serpent of
the Sound Arising on Nearly an Annual Basis Late in the
Nineteenth Century, the Mapmaker, Tongue-in-Cheek, Included
this Serpent Cavorting in the Waters of the East River.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Mariners and coastal dwellers seem to have sighted supposed sea serpents as long as there have been mariners and coastal dwellers.  Such beasts, however, reportedly have been sighted in waters along the nation’s northeastern shores since at least the late 1630s.  A truly sensational “sighting” of a sea serpent off American shores occurred in August 1817. Dozens of respectable citizens reported seeing a giant, snakelike creature in Gloucester Harbor in Massachusetts.  The creature reportedly visited the harbor almost every day for a month. Many notable citizens observed it and many people traveled to Gloucester to see the curiosity.  See O’Neill, J.P., THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND SEA SERPENT: AN ACCOUNT OF UNKNOWN CREATURES SIGHTED BY MANY RESPECTABLE PERSONS BETWEEN 1638 AND THE PRESENT DAY, pp. 25-66 (Camden, ME: Down East Books 1999) (reprinted by Lightning Source Inc. 2003).

Following the Gloucester Harbor sea serpent sightings in 1817, sea serpent hysteria washed over the nation.  The New York and Pelham regions were not immune.  Indeed, only weeks after the Glouster Harbor sea serpent sightings, the Sea Serpent of the Sound was sighted on several occasions.  See Wed., Apr. 27, 2016:  Two of the Earliest Yet-Known Sightings of The Sea Serpent of the Sound that Plied Waters Off the Shores of Pelham.

Today's Historic Pelham article details two additional early accounts published only six years later detailing sightings of the Sea Serpent of the Sound in 1823.

On Wednesday, July 23, 1823, Captain Wyer of the sloop Rose was sailing in Long Island Sound from New York to Nantucket.  The Rose began passing through the Race.  The Race is a treacherous area roughly eight miles from New London, Connecticut where rough waters of Long Island Sound rush both ways with great velocity and force.  Many vessels have been lost on nearby Race Point Reef.  Congress began appropriations for a lighthouse at the Race in 1838, but it took decades to build the Race Rock Lighthouse that was completed in the mid-1870s.

As Captain Wyer sailed through the treacherous waters that day, he saw the famed Sea Serpent of Long Island Sound.  Newspapers throughout the nation reported that Captain Wyer had a "full view" of the terrible monster and "judged him to be about 80 feet in length."

The first paper to report the most recent sighting of the monster was one published in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  Within weeks newspapers in England, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Vermont, and other locations carried reports of the sighting.

Once again the famed Sea Serpent of Long Island Sound was on the prowl.

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"The Sea Serpent was in Long Island Sound on Wednesday the 23d ult.  A New Bedford paper says -- 'we are informed that Capt. Wyre, of the sloop Rose, from New-York for Nantucket, in passing through the Race had a full view of him, and judged him to be about 80 feet in length."

Source:  [Untitled], Vermont Journal [Windsor, VT], Aug. 4, 1823, Vol. XLI, No. 2087, p. 3, col. 4 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"DOMESTIC SUMMARY.

The sea-serpent has been seen in Long-Island sound by Captain Wynn, of the sloop Rose who had a full view of him, and judged him to be about 80 feet long. . . ."

Source:  DOMESTIC SUMMARY, The York Gazette [York, PA], Aug. 19, 1823, Vol. VI, No. 16, p. 3, col. 2 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

The Sea Serpent was in Long Island Sound on Wednesday week.  A New Bedford paper says, 'We are informed that Capt. Wyer, of the sloop Rose, from New York for Nantucket, in passing through the Race, had a full view of him, and judged him to be about 80 feet in length.'"

Source:  [Untitled], Lancaster Intelligencer [Lancaster, PA], Aug. 26, 1823, Vol. I, No. 28, p. 3, col. 3 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

"The Sea Serpent was in Long Island Sound on Wednesday last.  A New Bedford paper says, 'we are informed that Captain Wyer, of the sloop Rose, from New-York for Nantucket, in passing through the Race, had full view of him, and judged him to be about 80 feet in length.' -- Late American paper."

Source:  [Untitled], The Liverpool Mercury on Commercial, Literary, and Political Herald [Liverpool, England], Sep. 12, 1823, Vol. XIII, No. 641, p. 6, col. 4 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"The Sea Serpent was in Long Island Sound on Wednesday last.  A New Bedford paper says -- 'we are informed that Capt. Wyer, of the sloop Rose, from N. York, for Nantucket, in passing through the Race, had a full view of him, and judged him to be about 80 feet in length.'"

Source:  [Untitled], National Standard [Middlebury, VT], Aug. 12, 1823, p. 3, col. 5 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"The Sea Serpent was in Long Island Sound on Wednesday last.  We are informed that Capt. Wyer, in the sloop Rose, from New York for Nantucket, in passing through the Race, had a full view of him, and judged him to be about 80 feet in length -- N. Bedford pap."

Source:  [Untitled], Woodstock Observer, and Windsor and Orange County Gazette [Woodstock, VT], Aug. 5, 1823, Vol. IV, No. 31, p. 3, col. 3 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

"The Sea Serpent has been seen in Long Island Sound, by Capt. Wyer, of the sloop Rose, who had a full view of him, and judged him to be about 80 feet long. -- True American.

Our Boston correspondent states, that 'the Sea Serpent was off Sandy Bay Point, and was fired upon several times, the balls apparently making no impression upon him.' -- [ Frank. Gaz.

We assert upon unquestionable authority, that the far-famed 'Sea Serpent,' or something very much like him, was taken at Plum Island, on Wednesday last, after a sea-fight of two hours and a half! -- [ Depositions hereafter.

[Newbury post Herald."

Source:  [Untitled], National Intelligencer [Washington, D.C.], Aug. 16, 1823, Vol. XXIV, No. 8491, p. 1, col. 3.


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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

The Ghost Ship Palantine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter Continue to Haunt Waters Off Pelham


All Hallows' Eve is upon us.  Today Historic Pelham presents the last in this annual series of Pelham ghost stories.  Today's is particularly horrific. . . .

The shrieks are undeniably horrifying.  They begin in the distance, difficult to hear over the rumbling surf crashing onto the shores of Pelham and Pelham Bay Park and pounding the rocks around Shore Park in Pelham Manor.  As the shrieks and screams intensify, usually there is a glow in the distance -- many say a greenish glow.  Those willing to remain at waters edge despite the unearthly shrieks and the terrifying, constantly-growing glow typically must strain to focus into the distance until, eventually, they can make out the profile of a large 18th century ship sailing on Long Island Sound enveloped in flames.  As the burning ship nears, the unearthly screams become louder until it is clear they are the demoniac screams of a mad woman in hellish agony.

Those who have seen the apparition report that the luminous, green, glowing ship is entirely afire, with flames even climbing the masts of the vessel.  In the midst of the flames can be seen the specter of a woman screaming and writhing in agony as the flames envelope her until the  burning deck seems to collapse beneath her and she disappears into the flames below, screaming preternaturally as she falls, while the burning ship sails into the distance and disappears.

Those who have witnessed the horrifying spectacle have witnessed "The Ghost Ship Palantine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter" that plies the waters of Long Island Sound.  It can be seen from Hell Gate to Block Island and beyond.  Indeed, mariners and coastal dwellers have seen the apparition as far north as Boston and even beyond there.  The specter is so widely known and has been seen in our region for so many centuries that even famed American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about the terrible 18th century tragedy involving the Palatine and its apparition that sails Long Island Sound (quoted in full below).  

A simple search on the Web for Palatine ghost ship will turn up hundreds of fascinating resources that detail the well-founded history of the actual shipwreck on Block Island at the northeast entrance to Long Island Sound that led to the terrifying apparition that has been seen -- and reported -- by thousands since the mid-18th century.  The shipwreck of The Palatine led to investigations and even depositions intended to get to the bottom of the matter.  Nevertheless, several versions of the story since have evolved.

The most widely-told legend of The Palatine involves pirate "wreckers" on the shores of Block Island.  Eighteenth century "wreckers" used "false lights" to lure ships to rocky shores where the ships wrecked and, then, were plundered.  

In the mid-eighteenth century, so the story goes, The Palatine was carrying a shipload of Dutch immigrants from Holland to Philadelphia but was blown wildly off-course by a terrible gale.  As the gale intensified, the captain of the ship saw onshore lights on a small island indicating safe harbor shelter.  The captain sailed toward the lights only to sail into the trap set by pirate wreckers on Block Island.

The ship wrecked and many, many of the hopeful immigrants were drowned.  The wreckers climbed onto the wreckage and killed others as they plundered the wreckage.  One of the Dutch women witnessed the carnage from the hold and lost her mind from the butchery she witnessed and the fear that she would be next.  She secreted herself in a wrecked niche below and listened to the screams of her fellow immigrants until, finally, all grew silent.

As the storm intensified, the wreckers looted all they could from the wounded vessel.  Once the dastardly slaughter and thievery was completed, they set fire to the ship to destroy as much evidence as possible and slithered off the burning wreckage back to shore with their booty.

To the surprise of all, however, the rising torrents of tide and the massive waves raised by the gale lifted the burning wreckage from the rocks and washed it offshore, burning all the way.  As the wreckers watched the sight they began to hear in the distance, quite difficult to hear over the waves crashing onto the shores, undeniably horrifying shrieks.  Those shrieks and screams intensified and the glow of the burning ship shimmered on the frothing waters and lit the demonic faces of the wreckers straining to focus into the distance to watch the burning ship.  As the deck burned and the flames climbed the masts of the ships, the wreckers could see a single Dutch woman standing on the burning deck screaming demoniacally, in hellish agony, as she burned with the ship.  As the burning ship rolled into the distance on the massive waves, the burning deck collapsed and the mad Dutch woman disappeared into the flames below, her screams soon ending.

Tonight, as Trick-or-Treaters scurry about the dark streets of Pelham, those near Long Island Sound should pause a moment and stare across the distant waters.  Search for a greenish glow.  If you see it, watch closely.  You may join the ranks of thousands  of coastal-dwellers along the shores, and mariners sailing, Long Island Sound who have witnessed the ghost ship Palatine and its mad Dutch woman specter. . . . . 



"A WOMAN APPEARED ON DECK AMID THE CRACKLING
BLAZE."  An Artist's Depiction of the Mad Dutch Woman Specter
of the Ghost Ship Palatine.  Source:  Bridges, T. C., "Ghosts of the Sea"
in The Strand Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 205, pp. 62, 66 (Jan., 1908).
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Today's story of The Ghost Ship Palatine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter is one of at least three ghost ship stories that form part of Pelham's rich legends and lore.  The other two such ghost stories previously have been published as Historic Pelham articles.  See:

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and LegendsThe Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1 (article includes the story of "The Fire Ship of Long Island Sound").

Fri., Oct. 26, 2018:  The Ghostly Gunship that Sails Off the Shores of Pelham.

Tue., Oct. 30, 2018:  The Ghost Ship Palantine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter Continue to Haunt Waters Off Pelham.

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"Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New England

BOSTON -- The lights of the ghost ship Palatine are being sighted again off the eastern seaboard. 

Harbor police at Boston received more than 100 calls in the last year from waterfront residents who insisted they had sighted a mysterious green glow out to sea. 

Patrol boats failed to find any trace of the eerie lights or what may have caused them, however.

The phenomenon is nothing new.  For two centuries seamen and landlubbers alike have been spotting the 'Palatine lights,' named for the lost vessel from which they are said to emanate.  Some even claim they have sighted the ship, sailing in flaming majesty on the horizon.

The legend started in 1752 when the Palatine was making a voyage from Holland to Philadelphia, carrying a cargo of immigrants.  Winter gales lashed the little ship and drove it far to the north off its course.

CREW MUTINIED

The crew mutinied.  They killed the captain, stole the possessions of the passengers, took all the food and water on board and left the ship in small boats. 

Winds blew the Palatine landward, into a cove of Block Island on Long Island Sound.  The island was the headquarters of a ruthless band of wreckers who had terrorized settlements along the entire coast in their quest for salvage.

The hardened wreckers softened at the sight of the starving immigrants.  They took them into their homes, fed them and cared for the sick.

According to tradition, a pretty Dutch girl. driven insane by the horrors of the shipboard ordeal, refused to leave the Palatine.

SHIP SET AFIRE

The Block Islanders grew impatient.  Another storm sprang up, and rather than have their prize carried out to sea by the gale, the wreckers set the ship afire.  The sea nevertheless still claimed the Palatine.

The wreckers and immigrants stood on the shore, watching the burning ship move out to sea while back across the water came the unearthly screams of the mad woman left aboard to burn. 

Legend has it that the Palatine, like the storied Flying Dutchman, is doomed to sail the seas forever, her masts blazing above the screams of the Dutch immigrant girl who went out with her on that last flaming voyage."

Source:  Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New EnglandOleanTimes Herald, May 5, 1951, p. 7, cols. 4-5

"GHOSTS of the SEA

HAS the reader ever heard the voice of the night-shrouded sea?  Has he heard the wild wail of the raging hurricane and the weird whispers of the ambrosial calm?  Has he seen ships creep out of the night when they blot out the stars with their darling silhouettes, or when the sea and sky are one save for the gray patches of froth left trailing in the wake of breaking seas; has he seen great gray sails ooze out of the fog, or ships stealing across the 'moon glade' athwart the glitter of silver cast upon the waters by the imperial votaress when the rays pierce the sails so that they become gauzy films?

If he knows these things, who shall blame him for not scoffing at the superstitions of those who go down to the sea in ships?  Will he not rather give an ear to the tales of strange things seen and believed by sailor-folk?

It is the writer's pleasure to waste time sailing the sea in a sound craft usually alone.  Upon one of these voyages having anchored upon the edge of Nore Sands, he awoke in the middle of the night to find himself enshrouded by a thick fog -- eerie enough the uninitiated reader will doubtless think.  Upon looking out at the black woolly wall of fog that surrounded him, he distinctly heard his own name hailed across the water.  No other craft was near.  This struck him as being so peculiar that he mentioned it to a friend when he arrived at one of the little anchorages, and the skipper of a barge, chancing to overhear, said:  'That's the ol' gentleman of the Nore!  Often on foggy nights ye may 'ear 'im a-yelling aht in a kind o' 'elpless way, but sometimes 'is language is something horful.  They say as 'e was a first mate wot dropped overboard and swam to the sands, where 'e walked about until the tide rose an' drownded 'im.'

Upon another occasion I was sailing along the coast of France, under the cliffs upon which stands Gris Nez lighthouse, which is about the most powerful light in the world.  It was a very dark night, and the revolving rays of the lighthouse kept flashing upon the sails of my boat, lighting them like a powerful searchlight, until proceeding along the course I got out of their range.  The strange effect had been forgotten only to be remembered in time to prevent me from becoming a firm believer in ghosts.  There out at sea a ghostly ship was sailing; she was rather too modern, perhaps, to be a real ghost, for every sail set like a glove; ghost ships were never particular in this respect -- indeed, she was one of those fine ships out of Glasgow which are the last words in sailing craft.

From apparently nowhere a ship had come -- a ship uncannily glowing with an unnatural light.  Her sails were surely cobwebs and her ropes were spider strongs.

Strange sights and sounds frequently come the way of seafarers.

The grovelling hissing sea, breaking through the night.  Its appearance is ghastly gray.  It comes from nowhere, it fades away soon after.  What could not the imagination weave it into?  Shape or sound of [illegible] chased by the Evil One, the dying wife with arms outstretched, or sound of mother's voice.  Moreover, such messages as sea sounds give have frequently come from the dead; the howl of the raging gale, or the murmur of the gentle breeze through the halyards have borne the departing message in words that were exactly those the lost one whispered last.

To the mind of one who knows the sea, it would seem strange that sailors are not more superstitious than they are, and there are certainly many reasonable excuses for their belief in such stories as that of the Flying Dutchman.  A patch of swirling vapor through the rigging of his ship upon a dark night.  Imagination does the rest; he has seen the Flying Dutchman.

Cornelius Vanderdecken, a Dutch navigator of long ago, was making a passage from Batavia.  For days and days he encountered heavy gales and baffling head winds while trying to round the Cape of Good Hope.  Struggle against the winds as he would, he lost as much on one tack as he gained upon the other.  Struggling vainly for nine hopeless weeks, he ultimately found himself in the same position as he was in at first, the ship having made no progress.  Vanderdecken in a fit of wrath, threw himself on his knees upon the deck and cursed the Deity, swearing that he would round the cape if it took him till the day of judgment.  Thereupon came a fair wind, he squared his yards and set off, but although his ship plowed through the seas he made no headway, for the Deity had taken him at his word and doomed him to sail the seas for ever.  Superstition has it that the appearance of the phantom ship leads to certain and swift misfortune.

Old sailors will tell of the ship of the Flying Dutchman bowling along in the very teeth of the wind, and of her overtaking their own ship which was beating to windward.  Some of them say they have seen her sail clean through their ship, the swirling films of her sails and rigging leaving a cold clammy feeling like the touch of death.

Cornwall in the old days was remarkable for its wreckers and its rock-bound coast was the scene of many evil deeds.  The Priest's Cove wrecker during his evil life lured many vessels to their doom upon the cruel shore by means of a false light hung round the neck of a hobbled horse.  To this day the good Cornish folk will tell you of the phantom of the wrecker seen when the winds howl and the seas rage high, carried clinging to a log of wood upon the crests of the breaking seas, and how it is sent crashing upon the rocks, where in the seething foam it disappears from sight.

The wide stretching sand-choked estuary of the Solway has many a ghost story and more than one phantom ship, ran into the Solway 

The 'Spectral Shallop' is the ghost of a ferry-boat which was wrecked by a rival ferryman while carrying a bridal party across the bay.  The ghostly boat is rowed by the skeleton of the cruel ferryman, and such ships as are so unlucky as to encounter this ghastly pilot are usually doomed to be wrecked upon the sands.

No money would tempt the Solway fishermen to go out to meet the two Danish sea-rovers whose ships, upon clear nights, are seen gliding up one of the narrow channels which thread the dried-out sands, the high-curved prows and rows of shields along the gunwale glittering in the moonlight.  These two piratical ships, it seems, ran into the Solway and dropped anchor there, when a sudden furious storm came up and the ships, which were heavily laden with plunder, sank at their moorings with all the villains which composed their crews.

Among the rocks upon the rugged coast of Kerry was found one winter morning, early in the eighteenth century, a large galleon, mastless and deserted.  The Kerry wreckers crowded aboard, and wild was their joy, for the ship was laden with ingots of silver from the Spanish Main.  They gradually filled their boats until the gunwales were almost down to the water's edge, and hastily they pulled to the shore in order that they might return for further ingots before the tide rose and floated the ship away.  Nearing the shore a huge tidal wave broke over the boats and ship, and when the wave had passed, the horrified women watching on shore saw no sign remaining of boats, men or ship.

Wild horses would not get a Kerry fisherman to visit the scene of the disaster upon the anniversary of the day the grim tragedy took place, for only bad luck has come to those who have seen the re-enactment of the affair, which Kerry folk believe takes place upon that day.

The Newhaven [sic] ghost ship signified her own doom.  A ship built at Newhaven in January, 1647, having sailed away upon her maiden voyage, was thought to have been lost at sea, when one evening in June, during a furious thunderstorm, the well-known ship was sighted sailing into the river mouth -- but straight into the eye of the wind -- until she neared the town, when slowly she faded from the sight of the people who crowded on shore to watch her.  The apparition was significant -- the ship was never heard of again.

The rocky coasts of New England are haunted by many ghost ships.  The Palatine is the best-known specter.  The coasters and fishermen of Long Island Sound will tell you that when a sight of her is gotten, disastrous and long-lasting storms will follow.  The Palatine, a Dutch trader, misled by false lights shown by wreckers, ran ashore upon Block Island in the year 1752.  The wreckers, when they had stripped the vessel, set her on fire in order to conceal their crime.  As the tide lifted her and carried her flaming out to sea, agonizing shrieks came from the blaze, and the figure of a woman who had hidden herself in the hold in fear of the wreckers stood out black amid the roaring blaze.  Then the deck fell in and ship and woman vanished.

The whaling in Nantucket, as you will remember, was in its palmy days carried on almost entirely by Quakers.  One Sunday evening a meeting was in progress, the simple service seemed as though it might pass, and the spirit moved none of the company.  The elder Friend was just about to offer his hand to his neighbor in the closing of the meeting, when a stranger rose and declared that the Lord's wrath was upon a certain whaling ship, and that he had seen her in a vision descending a huge wave from the hollow of which she never rose.  The meeting closed hurriedly, but the speaker could not be found, and the ship was never heard of.

Some of the best ghost stories are those which the writer has heard from the simple folk of the salt marshes.  It is hardly possible to describe these dreary districts, for when one has said they are flat, stretching for miles, and rather subject to mists, one has said pretty well all that is to be said -- the rest must be felt.  However, just as there is a call of the sea, so there is a call of the marshland.  You shall go into the saltern and feel its moist breath upon your cheek and the breath of its salty winds and the ozone of its calms.  You shall be lost in its vastness, and, threading its innumerable twisted narrow waterways, which lead to nowhere, ye shall tread its carpet of scentless flowers.  You shall go to its very edge where the sea comes oftenmost, and where the flowers decaying leave their rust-colored remains.  There you shall meet mud, and the cry of the curlew shall mock as you flounder it its filth.  The moon shall come up refracted by the mist into unrecognizable shape, which shall be blood color.  You shall be a gray shape, differing little from the common things that are there, for you shall be enshrouded by fog; nay, it shall sink into your very soul, until you are not flesh and bones, but a particle of fog yourself.  You shall listen to its silences; you shall be told things by them, and, strong man that you are, you shall be afraid.

Is it to be wondered at, then, that these simple Essex marsh-dwellers remember such tales as that of the young skipper, home from a long voyage, whose haste to embrace his wife, and the babe he had not yet seen, bid him to go the nearer way of the marshes?  The tale has it that in crossing a narrow gutway, near Pitsea, he sank in the mud.  So deeply did he sink that he could not extricate himself; the more he struggled the deeper he sank, and with the horror of knowing that the tide was rising and would come stealing up the creek, he shouted.  As the tide rose higher the louder were his screams.  The salterns near the Pitsea are lonely; the cries were heard only by a half-witted peat-cutter, who often in his less sane moments heard such screams and thought no more of the matter.  So the shrieks became gurgles, and by the time the tide had lifted the peat-cutter's punt they had ceased.

The older folk at this stage of the story assume a mysterious air, and with large-eyed glancings athwart their shoulders, will tell you that the skipper's shrieks are heard on starlit nights as the tide glides up that creek.  

So here are my ghost stories, and if I sometimes believe in them when I sail all alone on the midnight deep, you will not laugh at me."

Source:  GHOSTS of the SEA, The Mancelona Herald [Mancelona, MI], Dec. 19, 1912, Vol. 34, No. 18, p. 6, cols. 1-3.  

"Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New England

BOSTON -- The lights of the ghost ship Palatine are being sighted again off the eastern seaboard.

Harbor police at Boston received more than 100 calls in the last year from waterfront residents who insisted they had sighted a mysterious green glow out to sea.

Patrol boats failed to find any trace of the eerie lights or what may have caused them, however.

The phenomenon is nothing new.  For two centuries seamen and landlubbers alike have been spotting the 'Palatine lights' named for the lost vessel from which they are said to emanate.  Some even claim they have sighted the ship, sailing in flaming majesty on the horizon.

The legend started in 1752 when the Palatine was making a voyage from Holland to Philadelphia, carrying a cargo of immigrants.  Winter gales lashed the little ship and drove it far to the north off its course.

CREW MUTINIED

The crew mutinied.  They killed the captain, stole the possessions of the passengers, took all the food and water on board and left the ship in small boats.

Winds blew that Palatine landward, into a cove of Block Island on Long Island Sound.  The island was the headquarters of a ruthless band of wreckers who had terrorized settlements along the entire coast in their quest for salvage.  

The hardened wreckers softened at the sight of the starving immigrants.  They took them into their homes, fed them and cared for the sick.

According to tradition, a pretty Dutch girl, driven insane by the horrors of the shipboard ordeal, refused to leave the Palatine.

SHIP SET AFIRE

The Block Islanders grew impatient.  Another storm sprang up, and rather than have their prize carried out to sea by the gale, the wreckers set the ship afire.  The sea nevertheless still claimed the Palatine.

the wreckers and immigrants stood on the shore, watching the burning ship move out to sea while back across the water came the unearthly screams of the mad woman left aboard to burn.

Legend has it that the Palatine, like the storied Flying Dutchman, is doomed to sail the seas forever, her masts blazing above the screams of the Dutch immigrant girl who went out with her on that last flaming voyage."

Source:  Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New England, Olean Times Herald, May 5, 1951, p. 7, cols. 4-5.  

*          *          *          *          *

Famed American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about the terrible incident in 1867.  It is quoted in full immediately below:

"The Palatine 

by John Greenleaf Whittier 

Leagues north, as fly the gull and auk, 
Point Judith watches with eye of hawk; 
Leagues south, thy beacon flames, Montauk! 

Lonely and wind-shorn, wood-forsaken, 
With never a tree for Spring to waken, 
For tryst of lovers or farewells taken, 

Circled by waters that never freeze, 
Beaten by billow and swept by breeze, 
Lieth the island of Manisees, 

Set at the mouth of the Sound to hold 
The coast lights up on its turret old, 
Yellow with moss and sea-fog mould. 

Dreary the land when gust and sleet 
At its doors and windows howl and beat, 
And Winter laughs at its fires of peat! 

But in summer time, when pool and pond, 
Held in the laps of valleys fond, 
Are blue as the glimpses of sea beyond; 

When the hills are sweet with the brier-rose, 
And, hid in the warm, soft dells, unclose 
Flowers the mainland rarely knows; 

When boats to their morning fishing go, 
And, held to the wind and slanting low, 
Whitening and darkening the small sails show,-- 

Then is that lonely island fair; 
And the pale health-seeker findeth there 
The wine of life in its pleasant air. 

No greener valleys the sun invite, 
On smoother beaches no sea-birds light, 
No blue waves shatter to foam more white! 

There, circling ever their narrow range, 
Quaint tradition and legend strange 
Live on unchallenged, and know no change. 

Old wives spinning their webs of tow, 
Or rocking weirdly to and fro 
In and out of the peat's dull glow, 

And old men mending their nets of twine, 
Talk together of dream and sign, 
Talk of the lost ship Palatine,-- 

The ship that, a hundred years before, 
Freighted deep with its goodly store, 
In the gales of the equinox went ashore. 

The eager islanders one by one 
Counted the shots of her signal gun, 
And heard the crash when she drove right on! 

Into the teeth of death she sped 
(May God forgive the hands that fed 
The false lights over the rocky Head!) 

O men and brothers! what sights were there! 
White upturned faces, hands stretched in prayer! 
Where waves had pity, could ye not spare? 

Down swooped the wreckers, like birds of prey 
Tearing the heart of the ship away, 
And the dead had never a word to say. 

And then, with ghastly shimmer and shine 
Over the rocks and the seething brine, 
They burned the wreck of the Palatine. 

In their cruel hearts, as they homeward sped, 
"The sea and the rocks are dumb," they said 
"There 'll be no reckoning with the dead." 

But the year went round, and when once more 
Along their foam-white curves of shore 
They heard the line-storm rave and roar, 

Behold! again, with shimmer and shine, 
Over the rocks and the seething brine, 
The flaming wreck of the Palatine! 

So, haply in fitter words than these, 
Mending their nets on their patient knees 
They tell the legend of Manisees. 

Nor looks nor tones a doubt betray; 
"It is known to us all," they quietly say; 
"We too have seen it in our day." 

Is there, then, no death for a word once spoken? 
Was never a deed but left its token 
Written on tables never broken? 

Do the elements subtle reflections give? 
Do pictures of all the ages live 
On Nature's infinite negative, 

Which, half in sport, in malice half, 
She shows at times, with shudder or laugh, 
Phantom and shadow in photograph? 

For still, on many a moonless night, 
From Kingston Head and from Montauk light 
The spectre kindles and burns in sight. 

Now low and dim, now clear and higher, 
Leaps up the terrible Ghost of Fire, 
Then, slowly sinking, the flames expire. 

And the wise Sound skippers, though skies be fine, 
Reef their sails when they see the sign 
Of the blazing wreck of the Palatine!"




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