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| This old Patchogue
cemetery is full of history, and also holds a very sad
story. The month of February 1895 was a brutal one with
record cold temperatures and winter storms. A schooner
called the Louis V. Place set sail from Baltimore to New
York. Their journey took place during an unusual spurt
of extreme cold and stormy weather. It snowed from the
Carolinas all the way to Canada and winds were as high
as 72mph. |
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On the trip, the
schooner's sails kept freezing up. This made the ship
less and less maneuverable. The crew had been in the cold
and extreme weather with little sleep for the past few
days. Disaster seemed imminent. Finally the captain, unable
to do much else, ordered the men to dress in all their
clothes and he gave them whisky to try to hold out from
the cold. The ship at this point was little more than
a moving block of ice. The captain believed he was near
Sandy Hook. |
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Depiction of the frozen
Louis V. Place Schooner from the Brooklyn Eagle February
1895 edition
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| Here is where the
story gets strange. The stranded ship was beset by scavengers
who looted the contents. While looting, if they came across
a body, they would bring it ashore. They brought 8 sailors
ashore that day, 7 white sailors and 1 black sailor in
all. Now back in those days people had strange and prejudiced
opinions of African Americans, especially sailors. They
believed the 7 white men to be Christians and gave them
a normal burial in the Lakeview cemetery located in Patchogue.
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Graves of Louis V. Place sailors
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| The scavengers
buried the black man in the sand believing him to be a
non-Christian. They later found out that he was a devout
Christian and was the ship cook. He was affectionately
named "Whistling Sam". Remorseful, they went
to the mark to dig his body back up and give it a proper
burial, however no body was ever found. This was on Fire
Island and it said to be a possible reason for a haunting
that takes place. People have reported a black man in
a pea coat walking along the beach whistling. He then
suddenly disappears. A pea coat was very common amongst
sailors of the time. The disturbances seemed to stop around
1953. Some say that may be the year when the last surviving
scavenger of the ship would have died, thus allowing Whistling
Sam's spirit to rest. |
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There is another legend concerning
this wreck. This one was even written about in an issue
of the Brooklyn Eagle (Feb 1895). Few paranormal events
have the prestige of being covered by regular media. Shortly
after the sailors were buried at the cemetery, rumors
started flying. The workers at the now demolished Patchogue
Lace Mill were afraid to walk home in the evening, and
residents were afraid to go out at night. Starting on
February 5th 1895 a strange nightly phenomena began to
occur. |
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| An eerie
moaning would begin at sunset. A white figure would
rise from one of the sailor's graves and would begin
to wander about the cemetery, finally settling down
near a tree. It would then wave and flail its amidst
all the moaning. Finally the figure would disappear
but not without causing a serious fright. Could
it be one of the sailors still trying to signal
for help from the riggings? We will never know or
sure but PSLI
is currently conduction investigations. If you know
something about this legend or have had an experience
please e-mail them here.
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