
DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710230305

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 20   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: OLDE TOWNE JOURNAL 

SOURCE: Alan Flanders 

                                            LENGTH:  122 lines

LEGENDS STILL PASSED DOWN ABOUT DISMAL SWAMP SPIRITS FORMER PORTSMOUTH EDUCATOR WROTE THE BOOK ON THESE SPOOKY, RURAL GHOSTS THAT ARE SAID TO MAKE APPEARANCES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

This time of year we can expect a bumper crop of Jack O'Lanterns and small fry ghosts and goblins going house to house taunting neighbors with that old favorite tongue-in-cheek threat - ``Trick or Treat!'' After all it is Halloween in Hampton Roads and loose spirits running from house to house seem normal for the occasion.

However there was a time in old Norfolk County when generation after generation passed down haunting stories of apparitions who made their homes in the shades and darkness of the Dismal Swamp.

According to the late Portsmouth Public School System Science Supervisor Hubert J. Davis, these rural poltergeists made their appearances to Indians, backwoodsmen, hunters and farmers throughout the year.

A collector of folk tales from the likes of early 20th century swamp dweller Colonel Bill Crockett, who was something of a specialists concerning ghosts and haunting spirits of the Dismal Swamp.

Davis preserved these wild tales in his ``History of the Great Dismal Swamp.'' Hearing about them today is no less chilling than when Crockett passed them along to Davis decades ago.

Davis wrote, ``In this brooding quagmire, shrouded in mystery, people report that they have seen weird lights and heard strange noises.

``Standing on the shore of Lake Drummond at midnight, one is able to see a beautiful beam of light streaming from the star studded sky. This light seems to be concentrates on a small area in the center of the lake.

``It is drawn from the sky by the swamp spirits. It soothes the huge demons which dwell in the forest during the day, and bathe in Lake Drummond at night.

When the witches or evil spirits are displeased in the forest, the light fails. Then the demons with angry fury, toss about in the lake and produce furious and unruly waves on Lake Drummond.'' Davis noted that even the celebrated Irish poet Sir Thomas Moore fell under the spell of the swamp spirits.

As legend would have it, after a visit to the great Dismal in 1803, Moore retired to a Norfolk pub and is said to have written, in part, the following eerie poem. Moore's ``A Ballad - The Lake of Dismal Swamp'' is based on an Indian legend of two star-crossed lovers who become eternally lost in the swamp.

``They made her grave too cold

and damp

For a soul so warm and true;

And she's gone to the Lake of

Dismal Swamp

Where all night long by firefly

lamp,

She paddles her white canoe.

But oft from the Indian's hunter

camp,

The lover and made so true,

Are seen at the hour of midnight

damp,

To cross the lake by firefly lamp,

And paddle their white canoe.''

Davis wrote that many years ago, in little Dismal Town, on the White Marsh Road - a lovely maiden and her family prepared for an elaborate wedding feast. The groom had gone into the swamp that day to hunt for a deer for the wedding feast.

Worrying that he had not returned, the maiden slipped into the bog to find him. Then both were reported lost.

``The natives believe,'' wrote Davis, ``that she went into the swamp in search of her lover and found him. They decided to make their beloved swamp forest their home. Today, daily at five o'clock in the morning, fishing hour on Lake Drummond, a ghost of a beautiful girl in wedding gown appears in the misty dawn.

``She always appears on the southside of Lake Drummond. She walks sure-footed out on a log about twenty feet in the water, calmly baits her hook, and casts her line.

``It is believed that she daily provides her lover with breakfast of Drummond fish in return for the venison he provides for other meals.

``Many hunters have sprinted around the shore for a closer look. When they arrive there is only a mist lapping the waters and not even a log.''

One of Captain Crockett's all-time favorites, according to Davis, was ``The Tale of the Frustrated Witch.'' Davis took the story down, word-for-word.

``Once upon a time there was a beguiling and wrinkled old witch whose delight it was to bedevil the hounds and the hunters who came to Dismal Swamp.

``When the hunt began she would turn herself into a fleet-footed deer and lead the dogs on a merry chase through the morass and jungle until they died of exhaustion.

``One day a wise old hunter took along an Indian guide who was said to be possessed by the devil. When the witch appeared she immediately turned herself into a doe and began the chase.

``However, the guide skillfully maneuvered the chase so that the course led straight to Lake Drummond.

``When the doe reached the water the hounds were too quick for her. She had to be caught by the dogs, or turn herself into a stump. She turned herself into a stump.

``Then the Indian guide called upon the devil for help. Satan gave him a mysterious powder.

``The concoction had been made from the dried liver of a bear, dried toads and ground-up rattlesnake rattles. The guide poured some of the powder on the ground at the base of the stump. Suddenly a bluish-white flame curled up around the stump.

``The roar of the thunder resounded throughout the swamp and lightening streaked across the sky. Then the guide began a weird chant, accompanied by an Indian dance. At the end of the chant he muttered, 'Now the old witch will never roam the forests again.' ''

Sure enough, his prediction came true. Today near the east shore of the Lake there stands a witch-like stump. This is mute testimony to the magical powers of the devil working through the Indian guide.''

Although they're not your garden-variety haunted house stories, thanks to Hubert Davis, old Dismal Swamp ghost stories can still haunt us today! ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Legend has it that as a maiden and her family prepared for an

elaborate wedding, the groom had gone into the swamp that day to

hunt for a deer for the wedding feast. Worrying when he had not

returned, the maiden slipped into the bog to find him. Then both

were reported lost. Some believe that they decided to make the swamp

their home. Today, early-morning anglers have reported seeing the

ghost of a beautiful girl in wedding gown who appears in the misty

dawn on the south side of Lake Drummond. She walks out on a log

about 20 feet in the water, baits her hook, and casts her line.