Hardcover

One August night, two young law students knocked three times on the huge door to Blackbeard's castle, spoke the secret password, and gained admission to a ceremony steeped in local legend. Judge Charles Harry Whedbee was one of those students, and he has waited over fifty years to tell the story of the night he drank from Blackbeard's cup - the legendary silver-plated skull of Blackbeard the pirate.

For centuries, the people of eastern North Carolina have spun tales to explain local phenomena and bizarre happenings. For decades, Judge Whedbee has collected and preserved that lore. Once again, he has gone to the source and returned with sixteen tales that attest to the rich oral tradition of the coastal area.

Why does the stone arch over the entrance to Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Bern drip blood on passing mourners? Who carved the name CORA in the gigantic live oak tree on Hatteras Island? What causes the sound of cannons firing off the coast of Vandemere in the summer? How did the rare creature known as the sea angel come to be? Why did an Edenton doctor spend a fortune searching for buried treasure? These are only a few of the mysteries contained in the fifth collection from North Carolina's beloved raconteur.