Camp Morehead By-The-Sea
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Camp Morehead By-The-Sea
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Headless Hattie When Blackbeard sailed up and down the coast of North Carolina, he often stopped at the little coastal port of Salter Path. In that town was a flaming red headed beauty known as Hattie. Blackbeard was quite taken with her and married her. She did not travel with him but would stay in Salter Path and wait until he returned from his plunders. After he had been gone for about two years, his ship sailed into the view of Salter Path. Word went to Hattie that her man had returned. She got some locals to row her out to the boat, but when she boarded the boat, she stopped dead in her tracks. In the arms of Blackbeard was another woman. Hattie was known for her temper, and this time she flew into a rage attacking Blackbeard. She went at his face with her long fingernails, scratching deep before he could grab her hair. He pulled her away, held her at arms length, with his left hand. In his drunken stupor, with his right hand he took his saber and, with one stroke, severed her head from her body. Still holding the head, he walked over to a trunk on the deck, opened it with his foot, dropped Hattie's head in it, shut the trunk, and kicked it overboard. He then ordered that her lifeless body be thrown overboard after it. The ship was anchored where marker 13 now stands. For years after that there were reports of a headless creature coming out of the surf on the nights of the full moon, wandering around as if it were looking for something. Nothing was recorded until the Civil War. A large group of confederate soldiers were camped where Camp Morehead now sits. One night, under a full moon, a young cadet was on watch when he heard a splashing sound near the shore. He took his rifle and went down to investigate. The men in the camp heard a scream, but it was cut off by a guttural noise. When they ran down to shore, all they found was his lifeless, headless body. Two days later his head washed ashore. The funny thing was that his body looked as if someone had taken a very sharp knife to cut off his red head, but no known knives were that sharp. Back in the 1930's, a fisherman had a little shack that used to be in front of Purcell and Helen's house. You can still see the remains of the pilings at low tide. One night he heard some very strange noises. It was so loud it woke him from his sleep. He wandered out onto the porch of his cabin, and silhouetted against the full moon was what looked like a woman, but covered with seaweed. When he turned on the light above it, he yelled in horror. As soon as the light hit this creature, a high pitched screaming noise came from it. What this fisherman saw was what appeared to be a woman, but in place of it's head was a mass of seaweed which dripped down her fleshless body. Bones stuck through shreds of cloth and what was a body. As he watched, this creature started toward him, flailing her arms back and forth. Her fingernails were what he noticed most as they were at least a foot long and sharp as knives. The fisherman grabbed the net that was hanging on the side of the shack and threw it over the creature. As it tried to free itself, it lost it's balance and fell backwards into the sea. The next day the remains of the net washed ashore and the fisherman shut the door of his shack and left never to return. In 1938, Camp Morehead was founded and Cap'n Pat Crawford opened it's doors. Nothing of the sort of horror had happened in several years until about 1958. The counselors used to have cook outs with the campers down near the pier, right at the water's edge on the nights of the full moon because that was when the phosphorescence is more visible in the water. It's almost as if the water has a silver coating on it. Well, one time, when everyone was by the huge bonfire, a few of the counselors heard someone swimming in the water. When they walked to the water's edge to get a closer look, a seaweed covered thing rose up out of the water and grabbed the closest counselor and cut off his head. It took the head and tried to fit it where it's head had been only to toss it aside. It then turned and went back into the water. Since that time, on the nights of the full moon, she is seen, in the surf in front of Camp Morehead, looking for her head...or someone's who she can use in its place. Oh, and by the way, the counselor who lost his head was red headed.
From: James C. Marrow (5/7/97) How can a proper history of the Camp Morehead be written, even for the internet, without mentioning Headless Hattie, our patron saint? I am partly to blame as it was during our watch that the legend seemed to be spoken less often. But in the 50s and 60s the story of Headless Hattie lived.... in countless invasions of the apparition from the sound, (apparently astride the swimming raft as it floated to shore) under the full moon, wrapped with fish nets and dripping a trail of seaweed (with sometimes even an assistant to carry a bucket of water to pour into the oversize sneakers to make louder squishing noises) and scaring the bejeebies out of numerous weenies (7 & 8 yr. olds, each less than 3 feet tall) whose on-duty counselor, ever alert, had just happened to sense the approach and alert the cabin. Hattie was supposedly beheaded by her husband, Blackbeard, at marker 13 of the inland waterway. This was in sight of camp which wasn't there of course, but we never questioned that Marker 13 was there. I recall that Hattie had a child who was also beheaded (or at least killed) by Blackbeard, and Hattie comes ashore each full moon with her head under her arm, looking for the child....which was the real reason the kids were so attentive. James C. Marrow, Jr.
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