North Carolina Tall Tales and Legends
A gallery of images telling the stories behind seven of North Carolina's tall tales and legends, including the Siren of the French Broad, Porpoise Sal, the Ghost of Zelda Fitzgerald, Lydia's Bridge, and the Gray Man.
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The Story Behind the Project
Last year, one of my friends received a grant, and as she was going through the grant process, she called me and told me that I needed to apply. The money could be used for anything that would count as “self-improvement” as an artist, and I immediately saw this as an opportunity to do a project that I wouldn’t normally do.
I knew I wanted to do something that captured North Carolina’s rich history. I did some research and found these tall tales and legends. As I read their stories, the images came to life in my head, and I knew I had found my project.
A little over a year after submitting the initial grant proposal, the project is finished. Each of these pictures were shot on the location where the story takes place, and were styled as close to historically accurate as possible (given that these are legends, which by nature don’t have many concrete details).
I am so incredibly thankful for my amazing models, Erin, Renae, and Brittany, for participating and supporting me through this process, along with the many friends and family members who put up with me talking their ears off about this project and all of the random North Carolina facts I now know. Finally, a huge thank you to the United Arts Council, because I truly would have never done this project without them.
Siren of the French Broad
asheville
According to Cherokee legend, the Tselica (what we know as the French Broad River) is home to a Siren. A beautiful woman with dark eyes and hair like moss who sings soft and exquisite music. Men who wander too closely to her home hear her music and pursue her into their watery grave.
This legend makes its first appearance in a poem titled, “Tzelica, A Tradition of the French Broad,” written William Gilmore Simms and published in a magazine in 1845. It is better known when it was published in 1896 retelling in Charles Montgomery Skinner's “Myths and Legends of Our Own Land.”
Porpoise Sal
shackleford banks
One day in the late 1800s, a girl washed up in a large barrel on the shores of Diamond City, a whaling community on Shackleford Banks. When people tried to help her, her only response was, “The killing must stop.”
For an entire year, she lived in her barrel on the island. Every morning, she would swim in the ocean and a pod of dolphins would join her. She furnished her barrel with items she collected from the houses around her, only every saying, “Mine,” and “The killing must stop.”
One day, the skies grew dark and Sal grew agitated. She walked up to a fisherman and said, “You were warned.” That night a hurricane struck, destroying the village. The next day, the survivors saw Sal floating in the ocean on her barrel. Just as they saw her, she dove into the ocean as her barrel sank.
To this day, Diamond City is the only North American community to never rebuild after a hurricane.
Lydia's Bridge
jamestown
In 1924, a man named Burke Hardison was driving on Highway 70 when he saw a girl on the side of the road near a bridge signaling for him to stop. She was dressed as though she was coming from a party, and asked if he would drive her to her home in High Point, and he agreed. When Burke stopped to get out of the car once they arrived, she had vanished into thin air.
Upon knocking on the door at the address she had given him, the woman who answered explained that it was her daughter, Lydia, who had died in a car accident at the bridge. Ever since, there have been reports of Lydia at what is now known as Lydia’s Bridge as she tries to make her way home.
While Lydia’s identity remains a mystery, researchers believe that she is Annie L. Jackson, a woman who died in a car accident at the same bridge in 1920.
The Ghost of Zelda Fitzgerald
asheville
Born in Alabama, Zelda Sayre had no idea when she married F. Scott Fitzgerald that she would go on to live such a fascinating life.
Zelda would become known as the first American flapper girl, travel across America and Europe, and enjoy the benefits that came with being married to one of the most popular authors at the time. She was a talented author, artist, and ballerina.
Despite her glamorous lifestyle, not everything was well for her. Her marriage was not always a happy one, and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia that kept her in and out of mental hospitals (though later it was thought she had bipolar disorder).
She died on March 10, 1948 at Highland Hospital in Asheville after a fire broke out. Zelda had been sedated and locked in a room, and she and eight other women died that night. It is possible that the fire was started by an employee at the hospital. Some say Zelda’s ghost still walks along the streets nearby.
The Gray Man
cape hatteras
Nowhere else on the North Carolina coast is as vulnerable to hurricanes as Cape Hatteras. The community is not left completely on their own, though.
Right before a hurricane strikes, a shadowy figure walks the beaches, warning people of the coming threat. No one has ever gotten close enough to speak to him, but it is believed that he is the ghost of a sailor who drowned at sea trying to protect others from sharing his fate.
The Blue Girl
ocracoke
Among Ocracoke’s many ghosts is a unnamed girl who appears in a light blue, long gown. While her identity remains a mystery, she is mainly spotted in the evening, strolling after a summer thunderstorm. She even says hello to some passersby and makes comments about a party.
The Lightkeeper's Ghost
ocracoke
As the second oldest lighthouse in the country, the Ocracoke lighthouse is full of stories. The last lightkeeper, Captain Joe Burrus, loved the island so much that he was never quite able to leave. His nephew, who never met Captain Joe, saw him walking at his aunt’s house. Whether or not his ghost still makes appearances, his life was full of plenty of its own tall tales and local legends. For Captain Joe’s full story, please see page 13 of Howard Street Hauntings.
