A Sunday Sample from a book edited by the Written Word
By Tim D. Smith
“I thought it was a ghost story,” Samantha said as she tried to blow out her marshmallow that was burning on the end of a stick.
I added another log to the fire.
“It is,” I said. “I’ve done research over the years, so I probably should explain how this place came to be so haunted.
“See, Dauphin Island, right over there,” I said, pointing west across the Gulf of Mexico, “used to be called Massacre Island. Settlers found all sorts of bones on the beach. What they didn’t know was that a hurricane had unearthed all the corpses and scattered the bones on the beach. They thought a massacre had occurred. Later on, they renamed it Dauphin Island. Maybe those remains had something to do with all the ghosts.
“The first ghost apparently originated from that and something that happened in 1711 . . .”
I told her the story that went something like this:
After hearing two explosive blasts that they assumed were a distress signal, the settlers ran to the beach and discovered a ship anchored just past the sandbar about 200 yards offshore. The ship flew a French flag, and soon two longboats dropped over the side, were loaded with men, and began to approach the shore, alternately rowing and letting the waves take them.
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“She’s sick, please!” one of the men exclaimed as they neared the ever-growing group of settlers. Though the settlers initially thought the ship to be French, it seemed as though these men had a different accent altogether. Maybe Jamaican.
The settlers looked uneasily at each other before speaking.
“Who’s sick?” one of the townspeople asked in broken French.
“De wife of da Captain!”
“How do we know we can trust you?” another of the better-dressed locals asked. Further down the Gulf in Havana, pirate ships operated with lawless and ruthless abandon and without harassment. The possibility of pirates was real.
“You have my word, friend. Please . . .”
Two settlers, one a doctor and the other the newly appointed mayor, waded into the water and climbed into one of the boats. The crew immediately rowed back toward the ship. The settlers stood watching. But as the boat neared the larger vessel, the crowd watched in horror as a red flag began to rise on the mast. Pirates. And at the same time, several other small boats loaded with men splashed into the water and began to race toward land. A pirate in the landing boat that remained at the beach barked, “Stay where you are!” Watching with wise, stony, black eyes, deadly with intent, a pistol was now in one hand and a knife in the other. He adjusted his gray tricorn hat, a long pigtail flowing down his back onto a creamy, billowing shirt. His loose brown breeches to his ankles made it difficult to judge his build, but his strong chin and sinewy forearms suggested muscles. He had perfect teeth, save for a blank gap where his left canine should have been. His serpentine gold necklace and a large gold ring said this was not his first crime. “Stay still or they die!”
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The Ghosts of Sand Island Lighthouse
During a summer in the community of Fort Morgan, Alabama, Sam and Dex, along with their newfound friend and soon-to-be crush Mac, begin to realize ghosts inhabit the area, and the spirits are not only frightening, they’re bent on destruction. After finding a cryptic message left by Sam’s now deceased grandfather, the trio realizes they may be the only ones who stand in the way of the ghoulish General’s vile and fiendish plans.
Every other chapter early in the book tells the true story of the untimely demise of some of the future ghosts in the area around Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island. As the ghosts manifest to our characters, Sam realizes that clues and a trinket (that in reality is a talisman) left behind by his grandfather may have been provided to prevent a takeover by the evil spirits.
With little hope battling the evil entities, the General steals Grandma’s dog, McRuff, in the hope of luring our heroes into what he believes will be a gruesome ending, and as a hurricane approaches the trio battles not only the ghosts but mother nature in a fight for not only Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores but also their lives.
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