>> If you're walkin' 'long the beach and you feel
a strong wind a-blow, dat may be a hurricane
on the course. And if you hear somebody
whisperin', tellin' you you better get yourself ready,
dat's probably the Gray Man ghost.
They say he walked dese parts from Pawleys Island
and Georgetown County. Say a long time ago,
he was the original owner of the Pelican Inn.
Went to England to be educated, but he turned back
and come back to South Carolina 'cause he loved dat place so.
>> Wolf: The Gray Man is the ghostly guardian
of Pawleys Island. Any major hurricane is preceded
by a visit from the Gray Man. Visitors will simply be
walking along the seashore here at Pawleys, and they'll see
ahead of them a gray figure. When they approach the figure,
it disappears into thin air. Not behind a piling
or a sand dune, mind you, but into thin air.
It's happened before every major hurricane since
the great hurricane of 1893. There was a gentleman who
lived here in the Pelican Inn named Plowden C.J. Weston.
He had Hagley Plantation that had belonged to his parents
and their parents. Here, on their ocean part
of their plantation, they built the Pelican Inn,
Plowden C.J. Weston and his lovely English wife,
Emily Esdaile, who he had met while he was attending school
those two years in England. Well, Emily and Plowden
had this house constructed out of boards milled
at Hagley Plantation. All these boards
were brought over and constructed on the island.
They loved their island home so very much.
He was a kind and dear, generous man,
but he didn't live out the war, and not because
of fighting either. He had tuberculosis.
Those who were in higher-up ranks than him had it fixed
so that he got a job where he wasn't out in the field anymore.
So he did live till almost the end of the war.
He passed away in Conway, South Carolina,
with dear Emily by his side. He was buried in All Saints
Waccamaw Episcopal Churchyard. After his death, when people
began to see the Gray Man before every major hurricane,
they wondered, Well, since he wears gray,
could this not be the gray great coat
of Plowden C.J. Weston, who loved the island
more than anyone else? Perhaps he is the Gray Man!
Just know that if you're walking along the seashore of Pawleys
Island and see him, beware. A storm is coming,
and you need to leave. >> Ghosts and legends
of South Carolina, in the midst of these legends,
there's traces of history and heritage.
Listen here, send us your stories.
I'm Aunt Pearlie Sue,
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