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    Forgotten Tales of South Carolina
    Forgotten Tales of South Carolina
    Forgotten Tales of South Carolina
    Ebook125 pages1 hour

    Forgotten Tales of South Carolina

    By Sherman Carmichael and Kyle McQueen

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    About this ebook

    From the desk of Sherman Carmichael comes a collection of about a hundred quirky and unpublished tales from the Palmetto State. Tales include everything from folk tales, urban legends, monsters, mermaids, ghost sightings, mysterious lights, UFO sightings, dinosaurs, and haunted locations.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe History Press
    Release dateNov 3, 2011
    ISBN9781625841476
    Forgotten Tales of South Carolina
    Author

    Sherman Carmichael

    Sherman Carmichael has been dabbling into things that are best left alone since he was seventeen, like ghosts, UFOs, monsters and other strange and unusual things. He has seen, heard and felt things that defy explanation. Carmichael's many books have centered on ghosts and the strange and unusual, hovering objects and strange lights in the sky. Carmichael has traveled throughout the United States visiting haunted locations, including Roswell, New Mexico. He has also traveled to Mexico and Central America researching Mayan ruins. Carmichael worked as a journalist for many years, thirty years as a photographer, thirty years in law enforcement and twelve years in the movie entertainment business.

    Read more from Sherman Carmichael

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      Book preview

      Forgotten Tales of South Carolina - Sherman Carmichael

      Asaro.

      Prologue

      South Carolina is rich in history, and along with history come mysteries and legends. Whether these stories are true or just campfire tales, they still hold our attention. The stories in Forgotten Tales of South Carolina are based on research of reported actual happenings. All of these stories are based on stories from around the Palmetto State. I have tried to collect as much information relating to South Carolina as possible. Variations of some of the stories you are about to read have been handed down for hundreds of years and may bear some similarities to stories from other states.

      Forgotten Tales of South Carolina

      GHOST LIGHTS

      When the sun sets in South Carolina, many talk of the darker side. Some are skeptics and nonbelievers, while others are believers and will heed the warnings of folk tales, legends, myths and ghost stories handed down from generation to generation. Though time has erased many names, exact dates and exact locations, these stories still catch the interest of many people today. Are they campfire tales or true stories? Scientists and other skeptics have tried to disprove the very existence of ghosts and other unexplained phenomena since they began investigating them. None has yet been scientifically proven to exist or not to exist.

      Strange lights have been seen throughout recorded history from the time of Columbus to the present day. This unexplained phenomenon, described as a glowing ball, or balls, or glowing orbs of light, has been recorded throughout the world. They seem to appear in every color of the rainbow. In some locations, they have been reported to emit more than one color, usually two. They have been reported to sparkle, be stationary or move. Some have been reported to be high in the air, while others are low to the ground. Normally, the lights will vanish or move away when one moves too close to them. No one has been able to approach them to get a good visual. They always seem to be observed from a distance.

      You may have seen or heard of these lights in a location near you. There are many different names, depending on the location, the story and who’s telling it. Some names given to the ghost lights are earth lights, St. Elmo’s fire, fox fire, will-o’-the-wisp, spook lights, earthquake lights and ball lightning. Every location seems to have a different name for them.

      In the United States, they generally appear in the southern and western parts of the country. This could be because these parts of the country are riddled with ghost stories. They are usually in a fixed location. They are comparatively reliable in appearance, location and time.

      Many theories and legends surround these mysterious glowing lights. Some theories include ignited gas from marshlands or reflections from car lights or a nearby town. Some people have even gone so far as to say that the lights come from farmhouses across the woods. None of these theories has held up to scientific study.

      Some common folk tales are about ghostly Indian braves, UFOs, ghosts of slaves or ghosts of Confederate or Union soldiers. Others include the ghosts of condemned sinners left to wander the world for all eternity. In some locations, ghost lights are known as a death omen. Legend has it that anyone who sees these lights is sure to die soon.

      Earth Lights

      Earth lights are a rare light phenomenon often mistaken throughout history for dragons, UFOs and ball lightning. One leading scientific theory, still not proven, is that the lights are produced by tectonic strain in minor earthquake fault lines. However, they are seen in locations that do not have recorded fault lines.

      They appear in many colors, with glowing orange seeming to be the most common. They come in a variety of sizes, from very small to basketball size.

      The sightings appear at night or late in the evening after the sun has gone down, when they can be seen from long distances. They have also been reported to move against the wind.

      Persinger and Lafrenière were the first scientists to recognize the ghost lights phenomenon in the late 1970s. In 1982, Devereux brought the phenomenon to wider public attention with his publication Earth Lights.

      Persinger introduced the phrase anomalous luminous phenomena to avoid the UFO controversy and all the negativity associated with it.

      St. Elmo’s Fire

      St. Elmo’s fire is an electrical discharge often observed around masts of sailing ships and poles that cause ionization of the surrounding atmosphere. It often produces crackling noises, as well as gives a luminous glow, and often disappears with a bang. St. Elmo’s fire has been known to cause radio interference.

      Both Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin recorded in their writings that they observed this light phenomenon, which many times appears after a thunderstorm. This is believed to be a signal of clearer weather ahead and thus was a good omen to sailors.

      St. Elmo’s fire has been mentioned in the writings of Julius Caesar and Shakespeare.

      Fox Fire

      Fox fire is a naturally occurring phenomenon sometimes visible in the woods at night. Its source is a bioluminescent fungi growing in special conditions. It usually appears on rotting tree bark.

      Fox fire is caused by many different species of fungi, although Armillaria mellea appears to be the most common. Armillaria mellea emits a bluish green glow similar to children’s glow-in-the-dark toys. There have been a few reports of a reddish glow, probably caused by another species of fungi.

      The following fungi may cause bioluminescence: Armillaria mellea, Collybia tuberosa, Mycenae chlorophos, Armillaria ostoyae, Mycena citricolor, Pleurotus nidfformis (ghost fungus), Omphalotus olearius and Mycena rorida (luminous spores).

      Will-o’-the-Wisp

      The will-o’-the-wisp has been recorded as flickering over marshy ground since the Middle Ages. Sir Isaac Newton mentioned the phenomenon in his 1704 Opticks.

      The most commonly referenced explanation for the will-o’-the-wisp is ignited marsh gas. Most likely, this marsh gas is slowly leaking methane whose ignition can be triggered by phosphene, also called phosphorus hydride.

      Contemporary accounts of the lights defy that theory, given the fact that in some reports the lights are seen to move and not give off any heat.

      Other names given to these lights are treasure lights, corpse candles, fairy lights or a lantern carried by a spirit.

      Bingham Lights

      Located in a small community near Dillon, South Carolina, down a dirt road and off the beaten path, are the Bingham lights. There are several suspected origins of these mysterious lights. Exit I-95 at Dillon, and at the historical marker you will see a dirt road that leads back into the woods. While all accounts are centered on the railroad tracks, the tracks have long been removed.

      One version of the legend of the Bingham lights is that a train hit John Bingham in the late 1800s or early 1900s, depending on who is telling the story. He was flagging down the train with his lantern and was struck and killed. The lantern is the light that you see. John Bingham is still waving his lantern. There is no account of why Bingham was waving the lantern at the train. Some say that if you walk a mile or so down the dirt road and start yelling for him, the light will appear. They say that you will know that you’re close because the temperature will drop.

      Another version says that to summon the lights, you just yell for John (or possibly Bill) Bingham. This version also reports that the temperature will drop rapidly before the light appears. One person reports that he shot at the light with a .30-06 rifle; the light split and changed colors. It is also reported that it will change colors if you shout at it.

      Another legend says that a black man named Bill Bingham was walking down the tracks near the woods of Reedy Creek Springs. Several different theories are handed down about why he was walking near the tracks. One claims that he was a murderer and this is where he hid the bodies. Another says that he was walking home this way because it was a shortcut. He always carried a lantern when he walked. He was walking too close to the tracks, and a train hit and killed him. Some say his head was cut off when the train hit him and that he’s still looking for his head today. Others say he’s just trying to get home.

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