"Get Your Ghost..."

Wheeeeee!

Here goes the first installment of "Get Your Ghost..." Where we explore ghostly-ghoulie-great trivia, news, and tidbits from the supernatural side of the tracks.

We begin with her highness of the American icon; the Statue of Liberty, dedicated in 1886. Well, not her exactly. Her island.

This entry utilizes sources: "Ghosts of New York City" by Therese Lanigan-Schmidt, published by Schiffer, her source for her Liberty Island entry: "Ghostly Beacons: Haunted Lighthouses of North America"

Did you know the Statue of Liberty was the first electrically lit lighthouse in the United States and remained so until the year 1903? Well I didn't! Learn something new every day. Well I hope to.

Liberty Island began as Bedloe's island and had been used as a smallpox quarantine station. In the year 1800, Fort Wood was erected on the island (walls remaining as framing for Lady Liberty's pedestal)

Beginning in 1825, Sgt. Gibbs and Carpenter, a recruit, began a long and extensive search for something on the island. Treasure. (insert intense beat of musical score here).

Yes, Treasure left in the wake of the former privateer, infamous pirate, murderer, stockpiler of wealth, etc, Captain Kidd who had been active all around New York Harbor. Kidd was executed in 1701 but rumors of the ghosts he left behind hung on in Bedloe. Pirates were said to toss murdered crewmen down into a treasure hidey-hole so their ghosts would haunt the booty.

A psychic told Gibbs and Carpenter that during the next full moon, to look for a particular rock, and use a witch-hazel divining rod (my kingdom for a metal detector) to find the treasure.

The branch dipped along the rocky shoreline. Digging several feet down, Gibbs and Carpenter struck gold! Well, a trunk.

And that's when the ghost came in. Boo! (clang of tension-inducing music) With a lightning flash, and a "pressure" (I'm not sure what that means, maybe seeing ghosts makes your ears pop?) they saw a frightening figure and started screaming like little girls. When Fort Wood guards came running, Gibbs was unconscious and Carpenter was captured while running away. The men were turned over for questioning since they were out way past their bedtime. They told the sergeant that a demon-like form rose from the earth, breathed sulfur, and glided around; obviously a dead pirate on booty-stealin' guard, and swore to it in a signed affidavit.

The end. Or... is it?

(Problem is, my sources gave no resolution on where the treasure went. That's what I want to know. Any conjectures anyone? Hard facts?)

Like ghost stories? So do I! You can read one I dreamed up and published over at the Glade at Crescent Moon Press, it's a twisted lil' ghost story called Sea-Found and it is a FREE download:

http://www.crescentmoonpress.com/Lore.html