Swathed in mist, surrounded by the secretive sea, wind wailing like the lost souls of sailors around its shores, Prince Edward Island is the ideal setting for the strange and incredible, even the supernatural. Islanders have handed down, from one generation to the next, legends and ghost stories: tales of phantom ships, Indian curses, buried pirate treasure, sea serpents, and ghostly apparitions. In this book, Julie Watson has collected a wealth of "true tales"; many were told to her by those who experienced them, or knew someone who did. Others are culled from old newspapers and books; to add to their charm, the author has copied these exactly as written, including the sometimes quaint spelling and punctuation. And, strange as most of these stories are, who dares to doubt the veracity of the sailors who met a phantom schooner, the fishermen who fled a sea monster, or the countless Islanders who have dug for pirate gold, only to be terrified by something uncanny, into abandoning their search?
Perhaps you will visit West Point Lighthouse in the dark of the moon, or watch the drowned spectre of Holland Cove, trailing sea-water across the floor, or, like the doomed Peter McIntyre, venture into the cemetery at Scotch Fort at night, never to return. On the other hand, you can curl up with this book on a dark night and find yourself transported into the haunting legends, delightful yarns, and spine-tingling ghost stories of the magical and mysterious Prince Edward Island.
Photographs by: John C. Watson