North Carolina Ghosts and Legends Stories from the North Carolina Coast Storied from the North Carolina Piedmont Stories from the North Carolina Mountains
The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was completed in 1870 and is the tallest lighthouse in the world. The light was moved from its original location in 1999 to a place further from the shore to protect the structure from encroaching erosion.

Sargassum

Cape Hatteras is the point where the Gulf Stream sweeps along the Atlantic coast. Beachcombers on the northern half of the beach will find seashells from temperate waters, those o n the south will find sub-tropical ones.




The Gray Man of Hatteras is North Carolina's original hurricane early warning system. This spirit can reportedly be seen walking the shores of Cape Hatteras in the vicinity of the lighthouse whenever a hurricane threatens the Outer Banks. The legend is that it's the spirit of a man who drowned in a hurricane in the early 1900s.

Unfortunately, since his appearance is so keyed to meteorology your chances of spotting this spirit are pretty slim - just try getting on to Cape Hatteras with a hurricane coming in.

Your best bet for seeing the Gray man is to wait for a hurricane to approach and watch the Weather Channel. Keep an eye peeled for one of those segments where they send some poor reporter out to stand on on the beach while the rain is pouring down, look at the camera, and say "As you can see, I'm standing on the beach and the rain is pouring down..." Who knows? The Gray Man might just show up in the background.