Damariscove Headless Wonder

Thanks to Tracy on the Haunted Maine mailing list for catching this neat item! The Boothbay Register recently printed an article about the "Damariscove Remembered" event. Around 150 people met to tell their stories about Damariscove Island the other weekend. The island was home to one of the earliest American colonies (1605).

One of the stories shared was about the island's legendary headless ghost.

Nobody in Saturday's audience said they had actually seen the headless ghost, but plenty of people referred to the "spookiness" felt at night when overnight camping was still allowed.

June Peabody Elderkin, who grew up on the island while her father served in the Coast Guard, said her dad always called Damariscove "the spookiest place."

According to legend, the ghost is that of Richard Pattishall, owner of the island in the late 1600s, who was beheaded by Indians and thrown, with his dog, into the water, their bodies washing up on Damariscove. Through the years some have said they could hear the dog barking.

There is a beautiful reproduction of an original article about Damariscove from The New England Magazine's September 1874 issue on Cornell University's site. Be sure to look at the illustrations!