DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710170659

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   87 lines

ELIZABETH CITY'S GHOST STORIES BEING USED TO SCARE UP TOURISTS

When 14-year-old Ryan Caruso thought he saw the ghost of Nell Cropsey near his bedroom recently, he was so scared that when he tried to scream, nothing came out.

He eventually made enough noise that his parents came to his aid. By then, Nell was gone.

Nell Cropsey is Elizabeth City's most famous ghost and Ryan now lives in her former home. She was living there at 1901 Riverside Ave. on Nov. 20, 1901, the night she disappeared. Nell, an actress playing Nell, or both, and the home will be one of the highlights of the first Elizabeth City Historic Ghost Walk on the evenings of Oct. 24 and 25.

``Some of the ghosts are real historic figures of Elizabeth City, and some of them are not,'' said Patsy Houtz, chairwoman of the walk.

Houtz organized the Ghost Walk to help bring more attention to Elizabeth City's history. The event has received widespread attention, drawing notices on a calendar in Southern Living magazine and getting hundreds of visits on the Elizabeth City Internet page.

``I expect we'll do this every year if it is halfway successful,'' Houtz said.

The proceeds from the $8 tickets, Ghost Walk T-shirt sales, sale of ``The Mystery of the Beautiful Nell Cropsey'' by Bland Simpson and a dinner at First Baptist Church will go to the event's sponsor, the Elizabeth City Historic Neighborhood Association.

The tour will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and include seven historic homes, two old churches, a 100-year-old community building and a cemetery full of some of the city's most famous, historic figures.

Local actors will portray the people who owned the homes or who were laid to rest in the Episcopal Cemetery.

``The idea is not to scare,'' Houtz said. ``We're not about frightening you. The ghosts will pop out and do a little skit.''

Christy Beacham of Elizabeth City will play the part of Nell.

Thursday, Beacham appeared at the Cropsey house in a Victorian dress and hairstyle Nell might have worn. Beacham says it's a little eerie that her birthday falls on the same day that Nell disappeared.

The story goes that Nell was talking in the parlor with her sisters when Jim Wilcox came to the door. Wilcox was courting Nell. She walked out onto the front porch with Wilcox and was never seen alive again.

They found her body in the Pasquotank River days later. An autopsy showed she had been hit in the head with a blunt object. A jury convicted Wilcox and he spent many years in prison before the governor pardoned him. Many people believe Nell had found another beau and Wilcox was jealous.

Years later, Wilcox was still ostracized by the community. He finally shot himself. Before he died, he supposedly told Elizabeth City newspaperman W.O. Saunders that he did not kill her. He told Saunders to ask Nell's father what happened. Nothing new was ever discovered.

Nell's ghost still roams the house, they say.

``The neat thing about this is it's still a mystery,'' Beacham said.

Frank and Robin Caruso own Nell's old home and often open it to groups. On one wall on the stairs up to the cupola, Nell's sister, Gertrude, signed her name in 1903. It's still there. The Cropsey family, originally from New York, left Elizabeth City that same year.

Robin Caruso said every family that has owned the house has had bad things happen to them. She is not worried about bad things happening to her family.

``We're supposed to be here,'' she said confidently.

Robin explained why her family belongs in the house. As a boy, Frank Caruso bought vegetables from the Cropsey Farm in New York. The Elizabeth City Cropseys were part of the same family. Frank Caruso's father was the banker who later financed the Cropsey Farm subdivision developed on the New York Cropsey land.

Her husband serves in the Navy and the family has lived in Elizabeth City before. She and her husband have long wanted to buy the house. They finally got their chance in the summer of 1996.

Of the disappearance of Nell Cropsey, Robin thinks Wilcox and Nell's father were in on it together.

Tour sites include the Cropsey House, the Miles Clark House, the Episcopal Cemetery, the Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church, the Robinson House, the Foreman House, the Hattie Harney House, the Culpepper House, the Wilson House, the Hugh Cale Community Association Building and the First Baptist Church.

Transportation will be provided to sites beyond walking distance. Sites can be seen on either night and in any order. For information call (800) 678-1669. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

UNSOLVED MYSTERY BAITS THE CURIOUS

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Christy Beacham will portray Nell Cropsey, a woman who disappeared

Nov. 20, 1901, and was found murdered in the Pasquotank River days

later. Nell, who many believe to be a ghost, and her story will be

one of the highlights of the first Elizabeth City Historic Ghost

Walk on the evenings of Oct. 24 and 25.

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