As rich as the coast of South Carolina is in history…. there are some that say it is JUST as rich in spooky paranormal activity! Two of the more famous Pawleys Island stories include Alice Flagg and the Gray Man. Thanks “Haunted Lowcountry” for the stories below.

The Gray Man 

The Gray Man has to be South Carolina’s most famous ghost.  The spirit of John C. Calhoun himself could not top the Gray Man’s long enduring history and tragic legend.  Pawleys Island sits along the coast and is home to small cottage homes, inns, and one very famous spirit.  The story is always the same – the Gray Man warns residents to flee the island from an impending hurricane.

My favorite version of this legend tells a tragic love story.  A young man returning from a long absence was eager to see his fiancee.  He rode on horseback from Georgetown, SC to Pawleys Island.  The young man was so eager to see his beloved young girl that he decided not to follow the road, but take a short-cut across the marsh.  In this untraveled marsh the young man’s horse fell in quicksand, both horse and rider were killed.  The young girl was devastated and began to forlornly walk the beach, mourning her lover.  One windy summer day, she saw a man dressed all in gray approach her and recognized him as her dead fiance.  He told her to get off the island immediately because there was danger.  Without another word, he vanished.  The young woman told her parents what she had seen and they fled to the mainland.  That night the hurricane came ashore destroying nearly every home on the island.  The home of the young woman was left somehow untouched by the storm as though it had been protected by an unseen force.

The first recorded sighting of the Gray Man is from the hurricane of 1822 that hit Charleston and caused over 300 deaths on the outlying islands.

In 1893 the Gray Man appeared to the Lachicotte family.  He was silent, but his meaning was clear.  The family fled the island and survived the storm.  This hurricane, called the Sea Islands Hurricane, killed an estimated 1,500 people and Lachicotte’s surely would have been part of that tragic number.

October 1954 found Bill Collins and his new bride honeymooning on the island.  Around 5 AM Bill heard a knock at their door.  Too early to be anything unimportant, Bill answered the door.  Before him stood a man in rumpled gray clothing and a gray hat which hid his features.  He said that the Red Cross had sent him to tell them to leave because a big storm was coming.  Bill could smell salty brine on the man’s clothing and heard the urgency in his voice.  Suddenly the man in gray disappeared leaving Bill stunned and shaken.  Bill and his new wife left the island and Hurricane Hazel struck soon after as a Category 4 storm.  Hazel eventually killed 95 people and destroyed 15,000 homes.

September 19, 1989 residents of Pawleys Island, Clara and Jack Moore were walking along the beach.  They saw a man dressed all in gray suddenly appear among the dunes.  He approached them, then vanished.  This was warning enough for Clara.  She and Jack packed bags and fled inland.  Two days later Hurricane Hugo struck the coast as a Category 4 storm killing 76 people along its path and causing $10 Billion in damage.

Often when the Gray Man is seen the homes of his audience will be left completely untouched by the storm while the neighboring homes are decimated.  Is the Gray Man somehow protecting these homes?  If his warnings were not heeded, would the homes and residents truly be destroyed?  For people who have seen the Gray Man it is without question – he came to warn them and if they hadn’t listened their lives would’ve been taken by the storm.

The Hermitage – Alice Flagg – A Story of Unrequited Love

In 1849 Dr. Allard Flagg moved into his new home, The Hermitage, on Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.  He soon invited his widowed mother and 16-year-old sister, Alice, to live with him.  Alice Flagg was a beautiful young girl with long, thick auburn hair and bright brown eyes.  Dr. Allard Flagg and Alice’s other brother, Dr. Arthur were affluent doctors courting sisters of perhaps the most wealthy and upper-class family in the lowcountry.

While on a shopping trip in town Alice met a young lumberman and over the next few months they fell deeply in love.  The young man came to call on Miss Alice at The Hermitage one day but was met by Dr. Flagg in the garden.  After speaking with the man for some time Dr. Flagg realized the man’s low station and qualities and sent him away before he could speak with Alice.

Outraged by her brother’s treatment of her beau, Alice agreed to meet the man in secret and they soon became engaged.  When Dr. Flagg saw the plain gold band on Alice’s finger he demanded Alice return it and forget about the young man.  He wished her to find a young suitor who was of their social stature.  Alice agreed to return the ring but instead hung it on a ribbon and secreted it around her neck beneath her dress.

To help Alice forget her young man Dr. Flagg sent Alice away to boarding school in Charleston.  Alice had loved Murrells Inlet and disliked everything about the elite, highborn society of Charleston.  She refused to forget her love but reluctantly accepted her new surroundings, although never removed the young man’s ring hanging beneath her dress.

Late one night Alice fell seriously ill.  The physician concluded that she had contracted malaria and instructed the school to contact her family immediately.  Dr. Flagg sped to Charleston in his carriage but found Alice in a delirious state.  Despite the night being stormy, he packed her things and laid her in his carriage for the journey back to The Hermitage.

When the girl was lifted from the carriage Dr. Flagg found that she was much worse.  She drifted in and out of consciousness all night long, often clutching at her chest where she knew her young man’s ring still hung.  By morning Alice could not fight the illness and she fell silent and died.  Her body was dressed in her favorite long white dress, but when Dr. Flagg discovered the ring her removed the ribbon and threw it out onto the marsh.  Alice was buried at All Saints Cemetery near Pawley’s Island.  A plain marble slab covers her grave.  The engraving on the stone consists of only one word – Alice.

Although more than 150 years have passed, the ghost of Alice Flagg is still occasionally seen in her lovely white dress coming in and out of the front door of The Hermitage and walking the cemetery at All Saints Cemetery.  Whether she’s seen at the house or the cemetery she’s always clutching one hand to her chest, hoping her ring will be returned.

The report of the ghost of this young girl walking the salt marsh graveyard searching for her ring brings many romantics to this site.  Visitors often bring flowers and small tokens of remembrance in hope of contacting Alice and calming her heart-sick soul.

(As you probably know, my son, Joseph Kaz, wrote an opera about Alice Flagg. I have it on DVD if you are interested.) 

For more information about real estate in the Pawleys Island area and DeBordieu Colony, at prices that won’t SPOOK you, contact Troi Kaz: 843-455-4523, tkaz843@gmail.com.