Rain drops tink against the solid window panes, creating a poor condition for a paranormal investigation but, an ideal ambiance for a ghost story especially when the lights go out. For one already skittish with storms, the loud clap of thunder only magnifies the fears. Animals will scurry under tables and shelter to hide themselves from the storm; and humans learned long ago the necessity of having a roof over ones head for the coming pour of rain. As electricity lights the sky, there are some who do not seek shelter, instead they feed off of the energy of the storms to their own advantage. There are also some who perished during a storm that now chose to come out into the realm of the mortal world to show themselves and to lead others to safety. This latter group is a cluster of spirits who some call the “storm watchers,” spirits who warn the living to seek shelter or else suffer the same fate as the deceased.
There are many people who claim personal experiences of paranormal activity that seem to magnify during times when it is storming outside. At an undisclosed retirement home, staff have claimed to see several shadowy and full body figures walking the hallways on stormy nights. The most prevalent tale involves staff seeing a long deceased doctor wearing a long coat. Inevitably checking on his patients throughout the gloomy nights.
Another arrange of stories come from a couple who live in an old house, built at some point during the early to mid-1800s. Historical records offer little information on the property, other than to state that the property sits near what used to be an old tavern for travelers through Central Pennsylvania in the late 1700s. Activity in the house is normally quiet, with only an occasional sighting of a female apparition that is said to touch visitors on the arm when they sit in the living room. It is only at night, particularly ones when it is raining outside, that a man’s voice can be heard in the back of the home in the kitchen area. He has never made contact with the investigators in the home, the only noises that can be heard is him coughing violently as the rain grows heavier outside.
Other accounts talk of sightings on coastal beaches before a storm or an approaching hurricane. Likely, these spirits are the victims of shipwrecks that occurred during a storm at sea. It would not have been an unusual event to lose a ship at sea, some of the best ships were lost during storms. For instance, the ironclad Monitor was lost during a gale off of Cape Hatteras during the Civil War. The Patriot, a ship carrying the daughter of the historic villain Aaron Burr, was lost during a storm off of North Carolina. As was the Dash, a ship from Maine that was lost in January of 1815.
John Porter of Maine was the captain of the Dash on this voyage. Along with the Dash was the Champlain, a new privateer schooner; the two ships raced out of the harbor, with the Dash pulling ahead as a winter storm set in. The Dash steered head first into the storm; while the Champlain changed her course. This was the last that the Dash was heard of; presumably the ship was lost to the storm, possibly around the shoals at Georges Bank, with sixty men on deck. Even though the ship was lost, her record stands as one of the most successful of the war. This ship is considered by many to be the Ghost Ship of Harpswell. A story popularized by the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who wrote a poem about it entitled: “The Dead Ship of Harpswell”.
“And men shall sigh, and women weep, Whose dear ones pale and pine, And sadly over sunset seas Await the ghostly sign. They know not that its sails are filled By pity’s tender breath Nor see the Angel at the Helm Who steers the Ship of Death”.
In 2014, I tried experimenting with weather changes and gauging readings to see if paranormal activity does spike with an approaching storm. The experiment involved using a thermometer, EMF detector, a watch, and a pen and paper. The findings were that, along the New Jersey coast on the beach at Wildwood Crest – the EMF meter spiked when a storm began rolling in. Before and after the event, there were no similar spikes on the meter.
Of the “storm watchers,” few are more prominent than the Gray Man of the Hatteras Island Lighthouse. The legend says that this man has been appearing on the beaches between the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Cape Point, which is near the lighthouse and a popular fishing site, since the early 20th century. He only appears right before a major hurricane comes to the island. The man is wearing a sou’wester, which is a collapsible oilskin rain hat; and he is seen swinging his right arm as if in a warning for someone to come away from the beach.
Fitting with the story, it is assumed that due to the spirit’s duty, he was a man who died during a storm. Some believe that he was a local man by the last name of Gray, which is why he is called the Gray Man of Hatteras; it is true that surname of Gray is a part of the local population of the island. They say that he was swept out to see and drowned during a storm; which gives the cause for why he is out before hurricanes to warn people of the beaches.
During the early 1900 and late 1800s, the time period when it is claimed that the Gray Man first started to appear; there were only a few tropical storms and hurricanes on the coast of North Carolina. Of the early 20th century storms, none caused heavy damage and there were no recordings of ships or lives lost. Looking back on the late 1800s, two storms did ravage the North Carolina coast within months of each other; the San Ciriaco Hurricane on August 18, 1899 cost ten vessels and throughout the state, twenty lives. The other unnamed hurricane occurred on October 31st, 1899 and cost one ship wreck and one life. The only shipwreck listed for this time was the Roger Moore, a schooner, which sank on October 30, 1899 off of Big Kinnakeet. No lives were lost on this vessel. Of course, upon examination of the facts at hand, there could be other explanations for his existence on the shore.
Between the years of 1900 and 1902, three vessels were lost off of Cape Hatteras in the approximate area of the legendary man: the William H. Kemal, a schooner lost on April 5th, 1900 off of Cape Hatteras with unknown lives lost; the Virginia, a steamer lost on May 2nd, 1900 off of Cape Hatteras with six lives lost; and the Wesley M. Oler, a schooner lost on December 5th, 1902 off of Hatteras Inlet with ten lives lost.
Investigators who set out to prove or disprove the stories of the storm watchers may find themselves at a disadvantage. Approaching storms or hurricanes can be hazardous to human life and their surroundings: strong winds, lighting, flooding are all problems that are impossible to contend with while doing paranormal research. For safety reasons, it is not recommended that anyone try to hunt during a storm anyway, at least not outside. There are plenty of spirits who become more active inside homes during storms too, one just has to ask around and follow the tales of activity that only occur on eerie, stormy nights.