Post by Joanna on Aug 1, 2015 20:49:04 GMT -5
Lydia Carver: Ghost Bride of Cape Elizabeth
In a recent broadcast, Gregg Lagerquist of CBS 13 (WGME-TV) told the tale of a 200-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Maine and the ghost of a young woman who still walks the shore near the shingle-clad Inn by the Sea Hotel in Cape Elizabeth.
Monday (July 13) was a sunny, gentle day on Kettle Cove, but 208 years ago, it was a different story. When the schooner Charles set sail from Boston, “the weather was fairly good,” Herb Adams, local historian, began, “but by midnight, July 12, 1807, the weather was foul and dark and it was a heavy sea and the fog closed in. And in the dark, storm and fog, the Charles got too close to Richmond Island off Kettle Cove and struck what’s known as Watts Ledge on its eastern edge. And upon striking, every mariner’s worst nightmare had come true, it turned broadside to the waves. It was pushed against the rocks and pounded like a fist by the sea for the rest of the night. And even though it was within sight of shore, the storm and tide kept rescue efforts at bay for an agonizing 12 hours. To that date, the wreck of the Charles was the worst maritime disaster the local area had ever suffered. Sixteen died, six survived, just barely. And the accident happened on a Sunday to make it all the worse, a Sabbath day death, heavy, heavy with symbolism for the people of that era.”
But today, according to Adams, the story of the doomed schooner is best remembered for just one of those passengers: “Young Lydia Carver, 24-years-old, who had traveled to Boston from Freeport to buy her wedding trousseau. Her body washed ashore on Crescent Beach the next day, right next to her new wedding dress. Her dress, her possessions, the things that would have symbolized her brand new life that she never had and they found her that way and carried her up from the shore to the nearest graveyard,” he explained.
The slate gravestone of Lydia Carver (above) is still there, right next to the Inn by the Sea. Her epitaph reads:
Sacred to the memory of
MISS LYDIA CARTER
daut’r of Mr Amos Carter of Freeport
AE 21 who with 15 other unfortunate
passengers male and female perished
in the merciless waves by the shipwreck
of the schooner Charles Capt. Jacob Adams
bound from Boston to Portland
Richmond’s Island on Sunday night
July 12, 1807
MISS LYDIA CARTER
daut’r of Mr Amos Carter of Freeport
AE 21 who with 15 other unfortunate
passengers male and female perished
in the merciless waves by the shipwreck
of the schooner Charles Capt. Jacob Adams
bound from Boston to Portland
Richmond’s Island on Sunday night
July 12, 1807
Some people in the area and employees and guests at the inn claim the ghost of Lydia Carver haunts the shore, still searching for the wedding dress she will never wear. Her wraith is seen most often around July 12, the anniversary of her death.
“But ah! What bitter tears are shed for fathers, mothers, babes who sleep in the dark mansions of the deep,” Adams recited.
Sources: WGME, July 14, 2015; and Find-a-Grave.
See also “The Ghost of Benton, Maine, Resurrected”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/467/ghost-benton-falls-resurrected
“Haunts of Maine’s Haynesville Road”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/2622/haunts-maines-haynesville-road
“The Ice-Shrouded Ghosts of Maine”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/3235/ice-shrouded-ghosts-maine
“Maine’s Ship from the Fleet of the Dead”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/2296/maines-ship-fleet-dead
“Maine Murders, Gallows and Ghosts”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/6190/maine-murders-gallows-ghosts
