~ Est 1983 ~
9.99 on Kindle
(readable on iPad, PC, Mac, etc.)
also available from . . .
The Book Depository
(FREE Worldwide Delivery!)
or in
Espresso Book Machines,
and on NOOK.
Stories from
Tales from Brookgreen
More Tales
Lowcountry History
and Culture
About Tales from Brookgreen
Also . . .
Meet Alice Flagg, Ghost of the Hermitage in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
"What can you tell us about the ghost of Alice Flagg?" a curious visitor to Brookgreen Gardens, the popular tourist attraction in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, asked Genevieve Wilcox Chandler, Brookgreen Gardens Hostess, one steamy afternoon in the 1950s. Miss Genevieve rarely told this story in my hearing. Perhaps she considered it her brother’s story, as he still lived in Alice’s home. But when asked, she certainly complied.
After telling the romantic story of the tragic life and death of Alice Flagg, resident ghost at Miss Genevieve’s family home, The Hermitage, at Murrells Inlet in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Miss Genevieve and Cousin Corrie Dusenbury, the other Hostess, recounted experiences of their own with Alice . . .
Miss Genevieve explained:
At the Hermitage here in Murrells Inlet, where my brother Clarke still lives, our ghost, the
White Lady, comes and goes as she pleases, not at anyone’s beck and
call. Perhaps she is still looking for her lost ring. Some have seen her
walking near the shell-covered bank that was her temporary resting place
or along the shore by the Hermitage. Miss Dusenbury has seen her there.
Cousin Corrie's Encounter
At Miss Genevieve’s bidding, Cousin Corrie took up the story:
One evening at dusk my younger sister Dell and I walked over to the
Hermitage to visit the Wilcox family. We were sitting on the front
porch, enjoying the sea breeze and waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, Mrs.
Chandler and her husband Tom, and Mrs. Chandler’s brothers Charlie and
Dick, to finish eating supper. Suddenly the two Wilcox dogs that had
been sleeping at our feet jumped up, growled, and scooted inside! We
looked out and saw a glowing patch of light in the yard toward the
water. At that point, we followed the dogs inside! When we all returned
to investigate, the light was gone. Perhaps it had just been the lamp
shining through the dining room window, but we asked ourselves, “What
about the dogs?”
Wilcox Family Encounters
Miss Genevieve continued:
Most often, the White Lady appears in Alice’s upstairs bedroom, which my
parents always used as a guestroom. My brother Dick has seen her there a
number of times, and even walked right through her once. A little cousin
staying in Alice’s bedroom one time described a beautiful Lady in White
who had comforted him when he was crying. My mother’s sister
occasionally saw her there in the dressing table mirror and finally told
us that if we kept putting her in that bedroom to sleep, she would stop
visiting us! She was tired of being startled by the apparition.
My mother started to sleep in Alice’s bedroom one night herself. She was
tired from working in the flower garden all day, and my father had
wanted to read in bed so my mother moved across the hall to the guest
room for a good night’s sleep. As she lay there in the dark, planning
what she wanted to do with the flowerbeds the next day, she was
surprised to see the securely latched door swing open. Then she saw a
luminous white cloud the size and shape of a person glide into the room,
and out again. She doesn’t sleep in there anymore, either!
But in spite of being startled, we have always enjoyed our ghost. She is
quite one of the family.
Cousin Corrie spoke up with a smile, "Yes, you do enjoy her! Your
mother, Mrs. Wilcox, told me a story many years ago about your fun with
the White Lady."
Cousin Corrie Tells Mrs. Wilcox's Story
Before we had electricity at the Inlet we all lit our homes with
kerosene lamps. One night, shortly after Mrs. Chandler and her husband
Tom were married, they were relaxing in the downstairs sitting room of
the Hermitage. It was lit by a kerosene lamp. Mrs. Wilcox needed the
light somewhere else briefly, so Mrs. Chandler, here, picked up the lamp
and carried it off to her mother, leaving her husband sitting peacefully
in the dark. Pretty soon a cry arose from the darkened sitting room,
"Bring back the lamp!"
When Mrs. Wilcox and Mrs. Chandler hurried back with the lamp, they
found Mr. Chandler sitting stiffly with eyes as big as saucers. He said
that "someone" had been in the room with him but "she" had floated out
into the hall and up the stairs.
Excited and a little alarmed, they decided to investigate. Mrs. Wilcox
told Mr. Chandler to take the lamp and go first. She would follow him,
and Mrs. Chandler would bring up the rear. (Mrs. Wilcox told me that her
main objective was to get safely between the two of them!) So they went
out of the sitting room and into the hall in that order, with Mr.
Chandler in the lead holding the lamp way up over his head.
As they entered the hall they passed Mrs. Wilcox’s sewing basket sitting
on the Victrola. It contained a pair of soft pajamas waiting to be
mended. In a spirit of mischief, Mrs. Chandler, here, grabbed up the
pajamas, wadded them up into a ball, and threw them up into the air over
the stairs. She was so quick that all anyone saw was this white thing
unfolding and coming down the stairs at them! Mrs. Wilcox said that she
gave one screech so loud that it scared the neighbors, and then they all laughed
until they nearly “gave up the ghost” themselves.
To learn more of Alice’s story . . .
Buy the complete
paperback version
(single copies or in bulk) of Lynn Michelsohn's
Tales from Brookgreen
Gardens, Folklore, Ghost Stories, and Gullah
Folktales in the South Carolina Lowcountry
also $9.99 on
Kindle
and available from other online booksellers, your local bookstore,
or on
NOOK.
These charming stories interweave ghostly legends, local reminiscences, and
Gullah folktales with factual information about the history, geography, and
people of the South Carolina Lowcountry around Brookgreen Gardens, near Myrtle
Beach . . . an entertaining and informative addition to your visit to this unique area.
Shorter selections from Tales from Brookgreen are also available as ebooks . . .
Crab Boy's Ghost and Other Gullah Folktales.
Just $0.99
Kindle
Lowcountry Ghosts
Stories of Alice Flagg, Confederate Blockade Runners, and Haunted Beads
$2.99 on
Kindle
Gullah Ghosts
Stories and Folktales from Brookgreen Gardens in the South Carolina Lowcountry
with Notes on Gullah Culture and History
$2.99 on
Kindle
© Cleanan Press, Inc. 2004-2011
All rights reserved.