The Grey Man of Pawleys Island and the Ghosts of the Flagg Family © Jill Stefko
Oct 29, 2005
The Grand Strand is a group of islands off of the South Carolina Coast that is warmed by the Gulf Stream. It's a resort for fishermen and women, sunbathers, golfers and people who just want to enjoy the beach. Pawleys Island is joined to the mainland by bridges. Unless things have changed since the reference books I am using were written, there are no condos, high rise hotels, fast food restaurants or glaring neon lighting. The residents live in simple cottages. Originally, it was settled by rice farmers who built plantations there, although they knew of the hurricanes that would hit the island. The identity of the Grey Man is unknown. Some think he is the apparition of Percival Pawley who was the first to settle on the island. The more popular theory is that he is the ghost of a Southern belles' lover. One of the problems with writing about and researching the paranormal is that, over the years, legends are made and there are different versions of the psychic phenomena and the identity of the ghosts are shrouded in history's mists. Whoever the apparition is, he was first sighted during the hurricane of 1822 when he appeared to warn the belle about an impending hurricane. There are also the ghosts of the Flagg family who, except for Dr. Flagg, a young niece and servant, Tom Duncan, died in the storm of 1893. One version of the story is that a plantation owner's daughter was spending the summer on the island, and awaiting the arrival of her fiancé. He returned safely, but, when he was taking a shortcut, his horse fell into quicksand. They both died. She was devastated and began to walk the beach. One wind-filled day, she saw a man in grey approach her and recognized him as her dead fiancé. She ran to him, but before she could reach him, the ocean swept him away. When her father learned about this, he took her to a hospital in Charleston. She was found to be sane. The next day, a hurricane hit the island, leaving death and destruction in its path. Another version is that when she saw him, he told her to get off of the island immediately because there was danger. Then, he vanished. When she told her parents, they left the island the following morning. She was a sensible woman and did not have flights of imagination. That night, the hurricane hit. While most of the island's homes were destroyed, theirs was untouched.
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