![]() |
Ghost of the Lake by Silvia Vanni |
The Indigo Lady
Next to rice, the Islands’ greatest cash crop is Indigo, and this is all thanks to Lady Pinckney dominating and taming the local species. Within a few years of her arrival, Azurholm was among the richest and most productive plantations on the whole coast. This wealth gained Lady Pinckney friends and enemies aplenty, all those wishing to capitalize on her success or steal it away. She held marvelous galas and feasts, attracting suitors by the dozen turning them all away with a smile and a wave. Many a wife AND husband were made jealous by her wiles and wealth.
It was at one of these galas that disaster struck, though accounts of the event are as varied as the people telling of them. Some say it was an accident, a misplaced fireplace grate and a smoldering carpet. Others claim it was arson wrought by a stilted lover or a jealous rival. Still others say it was revolution, after all it was from human suffering that she made her fortune. Regardless, within minutes Azurholm was consumed, leaving Lady Pinckney and her party-goers standing under the oaks, helplessly watching.
Some witnesses say that Lady Pinckney wandered off under the canopy of moss and oaks by herself. Others claim a tall grey figure walked beside her, hand upon her dropped shoulders. It was the last time any would see her alive. The next day, her body was found upon the shore, crab nibbled, sodden, and blue as a fresh bruise. Her estate and lands were auctioned off, and it wasn’t long before Azurholm was being rebuilt for a new master. Only, it seemed to have other plans. Materials would go missing, accidents would occur with increasing frequency and severity. Azurholm would change hands again and again, and each time it would refuse to be completed. Every time it would nearly reach the end, a mysterious fire would consume it, leaving only the stone front stairs.
Eventually Azurholm was left to go to seed. The estate was consumed by the wilderness once more and the grounds of the mansion left to rot. But this does not mean Azurholm was abandoned.
Ever since her death, Lady Pinckney, or as the locals have started calling her, The Indigo Lady, would be spotted wandering the estates and even as far as the coastal settlements. Blank white eyes, a sodden gown, and ethereal skin the deep blue almost purple of indigo, her specter roams the island at will, bringing fear and confusion in her wake. On nights where the sea-fog and the tides are high and the moon shines through it all, witnesses claim to have seen Azurholm itself sitting in its rubble, the solid stone steps leading to an open doorway. Some claim that some foolhardy folks have walked up those steps and simply vanished, though others think that there are any number of mundane dangers that could result in a disappearance on The Lady’s Island.
![]() |
Hop-Frog, Artist Unknown |
Gauche the Dwarf
Two hundred years later, a wealthy doctor built his home upon those lands, a mansion based upon the castles across the ocean in the old country. He and his family were not long in the house before his young daughter obtained a new imaginary friend, a short man with bells on his shoes that dressed in motley. Thinking their child merely saw depictions of jesters in one of their history books, the child’s parents wrote it off. Soon, however, various inconveniences and issues began to arise. Roasts would vanish entirely from ovens, chandeliers would be set to swinging, plates would crash off shelves, small footsteps would run up and down stairs in the middle of the night, and always just at the edge of hearing there would be the tinkle-tinkle of small bells.
At first the doctor and his wife thought that their daughter had begun a series of youthful mischief, but as she always blamed the “small man” they became increasingly concerned. When they finally demanded to see this “small man” who has been up to mischief, a series of loud knocks came from the basement. This happened several times over before they realized it was some sort of coded message. The doctor consulted his library and decoded the message, “I am Gauche from across the sea. The basement reminds me of my home that I will never again see. Though I be now a ghoul, I am not cruel but I shall suffer no fools.”
Since then, the Castle, as it came to be called, has been through many hands. Oft time Gauche would make his presence known as pranks or befriending young children, but never anything more dangerous than a few thefts and a little mischief.
![]() |
The Actual Chapel of Ease |
The Chapel of Ease
Another curious spirit that haunts the area is more strongly documented. In the picture above you can see a small square brick out-building. First off, the fact that it is red brick is a sign of opulence because in the 18th and 19th centuries, clay had to be imported at great cost to make brick. This mausoleum was build by and for the Fripp family, one of the wealthiest land-owning families in the region. A number of Fripps were buried there and there is at least one rumor of a child who was sealed alive inside of it who had been in a tuberculosis induced coma. During the Civil War, the door to the mausoleum was forcibly removed in search for treasure but was abandoned after an unsuccessful looting. The entrance was later bricked up, but the following day the bricks were found to have been removed and piled neatly beside the building. After several more rounds of this, the bricks were found to be scattered in front of the mausoleum and covered in raking scratch marks. Since then the mausoleum has been left alone.
Some claim to have heard quiet but fervent prayers when standing in the Chapel. Others claim to have seen a woman in white with a limp child in her arms, walking among the old tombstones. Many other minor hauntings are reported and attributed to the area, but many of them are bleed over from other local hauntings.
![]() |
Is he even trying any longer? |
Random Haunt Generator
Roll
|
Spirit
|
of
|
Personality
|
1
|
Spirit
|
Coffin Point
|
Argute
|
2
|
Ghost
|
Devil’s Bend
|
Bellicose
|
3
|
Ghoul
|
The Praise House
|
Boorish
|
4
|
Specter
|
Beguiler’s Bluff
|
Contumacious
|
5
|
Wraith
|
Land’s End
|
Didactic
|
6
|
Apparition
|
Frog Thicket
|
Effulgent
|
7
|
Phantom
|
Briar Hill
|
Feckless
|
8
|
Poltergeist
|
Greymoss Manor
|
Garrulous
|
9
|
Shade
|
Sweetgrass Swamp
|
Histrionic
|
10
|
Shadow
|
The Tabby Chapel
|
Invidious
|
11
|
Revenant
|
Shale Cape Lighthouse
|
Jocular
|
12
|
Boggart
|
Lake Hartwell
|
Lachrymose
|
13
|
Spook
|
The HMS Goldfinch
|
Mordant
|
14
|
Haunt
|
Deepning Fen
|
Propitious
|
15
|
Fetch
|
The Standing Stones
|
Quiescent
|
16
|
Wight
|
Whitemoor
|
Rhadamanthine
|
17
|
Geist
|
St. Abhai Marsh
|
Strident
|
18
|
Hag
|
Bass Creek Bridge
|
Tremulous
|
19
|
Lost Soul
|
Woodland Cemetery
|
Voracious
|
20
|
Wisp
|
The Old Well
|
Zealous
|