Ghost Ship On The Hudson, Strange Sights On The Muskoka River

THE GIFT OF IMAGINATION - TO SEE MORE CLEARLY THE INTRICACIES OF NATURE

WHAT THE UNIMAGINATIVE MISS OVER A LIFETIME

     POSSIBLY YOU WILL HAVE TO PLACE YOURSELF BACK IN CHILDHOOD, JUST A TAD, REMEMBERING THOSE LINGERING, SENSORY STIMULATING, PRECIOUS MOMENTS AT LAKESIDE; OR IN THE MAPLE GROVE OF A FAVORITE PARK; STROLLING ON AN AUGUST AFTERNOON, DOWN A POPULAR TREE-LINED PATH, AFTER SCHOOL WITH NO HOMEWORK AHEAD. A TIME WHEN IMAGINATION WAS UNFETTERED…..ONLY RESTRICTED BY THE NON-SLUMBER HOURS OF EACH DAY. THERE WERE NO MORAL TITHES, NO POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ATTACHED, AND FEW PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS. A TIME WHEN FREEDOM WAS FULFILLED FIRST, BY AN ACTIVE, VIBRANT IMAGINATION. IF YOU HAPPENED TO SEE AN APPARITION, A HOBGOBLIN OR MYSTERIOUS VAPOR ALONG THE PATH, YOU DIDN'T RUN AWAY. RATHER, YOU STUDIED IT, AS IF IT WAS OF NATURAL IMPORTANCE FIRST…..A HOLLYWOOD-LIKE THRILLER, SECOND. YOU WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE PARANORMAL CAREFUL SCRUTINY, TO SEE IF THERE WAS A LOGICAL EXPLANATION TO WHAT DRIFTED ACROSS YOUR PATH, OR CALLED OUT YOUR NAME, AS IF A FRIEND COMING BEHIND. WE HAVE ALL EXPERIENCED THESE STRANGE MOMENTS, LOST IN THOUGHT, SUDDENLY REMINDED THAT LIFE IS JUST LIKE THAT……AND WELCOMED UNCEREMONIOUSLY TO THE SUPERNATURAL. SOMETHING OCCURRING BEYOND THE NATURAL OR NORMAL, ATTACHED TO SIMILAR HIKES AND EVENTS. WHAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE HAPPENED, IS UP TO MORTAL EXAMINATION AND SPECULATION. IMAGINATION IS THE TOOL OF CHOICE, TO WEIGH OVER ALL THE POSSIBILITIES, INCLUDING THAT THE SIGHTING MAY HAVE JUST BEEN A PLAY OF NATURAL LIGHT, OR A DRIFT OF MIST FROM AN ADJACENT LOWLAND; THE VOICE, A TRICK OF THE WIND, WASHSING THROUGH THE OVERHEAD EVERGREEN BOUGHS, OR THE CROAKING OF AN OLD FROG NEARBY. OF COURSE, IMAGINATION MIGHT ALSO FUEL THE FEAR, THAT A DEVILISH CREATURE MIGHT BE FOLLOWING BEHIND. BUT ALAS, WE EXERCISE OUR CREATIVE RESOURCES TO ANALYZE, AND OCCASIONALLY, EMBELLISH. WHAT LURKS IN THE SHADOW? 

     I CAN'T REMEMBER HOW MANY THOUSAND TIMES, I FELT THE SUPERNATURAL QUALITIES OF NATURE, NEVER ONCE THINKING IT TO BE A PARANORMAL ENCOUNTER. IT WAS NORMAL FOR ME TO THINK OF THE MUSKOKA RIVER AS A LIVING, WRITHING SERPENT, AS IT SNAKED THROUGH THE URBAN AREA OF BRACEBRIDGE. ON MY WAY TO AND FROM SCHOOL, I CROSSED THAT EXPANSE OF PULSATING RIVER, OFTEN FOUR TIMES EACH DAY. I USED TO STAND OUT, ON THE HUNT'S HILL BRIDGE, ON THE WAY TO AND FROM SCHOOL, BELIEVING THIS RIVER WANTED TO SNATCH ME FROM MY SAFE PLACE OF OBSERVATION. THE FACT THAT IT HAD LED TO THE DROWNING DEATHS OF HUNDREDS OF CITIZENS, FROM THE PIONEER DAYS OF THE 1850'S, MADE THIS BLACK RIBBON OF WATER SO ENCHANTING. IF YOU WATCHED ITS MOVEMENT LONG ENOUGH, IT SEEMED TO HAVE A HYPNOTIZING AFFECT; ALMOST COMPELLING THE VOYEUR TO WALK DOWN TO THE SHORE, AND TOUCH ITS SILKEN SURFACE, DEEPLY REFLECTING THE NUANCES OF EACH DAY AND NIGHT. I ASSUMED IT WAS THE REASON SO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE WERE SWALLOWED BY ITS UNDERTOW, AND PULLED OVER THE RAPIDS, AND THEN TUMBLING THEIR LOST SOULS OVER THE MAIN FALLS, CRUMPLED, BROKEN AND DUTIFULLY DROWNED IN THE MIST OF THE POWER DECLINE.  I HAD FRIENDS TAKEN BY THIS RIVER. THEY GOT TOO CLOSE. THEY FORGOT WHAT THEIR MOTHERS HAD TOLD THEM, ABOUT THE DANGEROUS UNDERTOW. IT NEARLY CLAIMED ME. I HAD BEEN SWIMMING AT BASS ROCK, JUST BELOW THE RAPIDS, AND GOT CAUGHT IN THE CURRENT. MY GUARDIAN ANGEL ONCE AGAIN INFORMED ME, I COULD NOT LEAVE THIS MORTAL COIL JUST YET. I WAS THEN IN EQUAL PERIL, WITH SUZANNE, WHEN OUR CANOE CAPSIZED DURING A RACE ON THE SOUTH BRANCH. WE HAD TO BE RESCUED. THE RIVER SEEMED ANGRY TO HAVE LOST ME ON TWO OCCASIONS OF IMMINENT DEATH.

     I REMAIN TO THIS DAY, REVERENT OF THE BRANCHES OF THE MUSKOKA RIVER, NORTH AND SOUTH. I STILL SEE IT AS AN ENTITY UNTO ITSELF, AND OVER THE DECADES OF OUR RELATIONSHIP, I HAVE SEEN ITS MANY MOODS….AND THIS SPRING, ITS OVERFLOWING REACH FURTHER INTO THE COMMUNITY, DAMAGING MANY PROPERTIES IN ITS RAGE OVER THE RIVE BANKS. I HAVE SEEN, IN THE EARLY MORNING, PHANTOM CANOEISTS, HIKERS ALONG ITS SHORE, AS I HAVE IN WINTER, SEEN SKATERS EMERGING FROM THE FRIGID, SPIRALING JANUARY MIST…..WHO DISAPPEARED AS SUDDENLY, AND SILENTLY AS THEY HAD EMERGED. WERE THEY THE GHOSTS OF THOSE PEOPLE CLAIMED IN THE PAST, BY THIS UNRELENTING, UNFORGIVING WATERWAY?  WHAT CHILD HASN'T IMAGINED A GHOST OR PHANTOM OF SOME CHARACTER, AFTER A STORM, OR JUST AFTER SUNSET…..OR IN THE MILKY GLOW OF A HARVEST MOON, ON THIS MIRRORING, WAVERING, DEEP RUNNING ARTERY. THEY MIGHT TELL THEIR MOTHERS AND FATHERS ABOUT HEARING THEIR NAMES BEING CALLED OUT, AS THEY PASSED OVER THE BRIDGE……LOOKING OUT ON THE WATER, EXPECTING TO SEE SOMEONE THEY KNOW, IN A BOAT FLOATING BELOW. PARENTS WOULD ADMONISH THEIR YOUNGSTERS FOR LINGERING IN A DANGEROUS PLACE, AND SUGGEST IT WAS JUST LIKELY THE SOUND OF WATER HITTING AGAINST THE BRIDGE ABUTMENTS. SUCH IS THE FOLLY OF AN UNENCUMBERED IMAGINATION. MY MOTHER MERLE WARMED ME ABOUT THE RIVER, ON EVERY MORNING I LEFT FOR SCHOOL. IT WAS PART OF MY DAY, TO BE WARNED OF THE POTENTIAL OF DROWNING, IF I GOT TOO CLOSE. I DID, AND IT NEARLY COST ME MY LIFE. AND MY WIFE'S.

WASHINGTON IRVING'S "STORM SHIP"

     "IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW NETHERLANDS, WHEN IT WAS UNDER THE SWAY OF WOUTER VAN TWILLER, OTHERWISE CALLED 'THE DOUBTER,' THE PEOPLE OF THE MANHATTOES WERE ALARMED ONE SULTRY AFTERNOON, JUST ABOUT THE TIME OF THE SUMMER SOLSTICE, BY A TREMENDOUS STORM OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. THE RAIN DESCENDED IN SUCH TORRENTS AS ABSOLUTELY TO SPATTER UP AND SMOKE ALONG THE GROUND. IT SEEMED AS IF THE THUNDER RATTLED AND ROLLED OVER THE VERY ROOFS OF THE HOUSES; THE LIGHTNING WAS SEEN TO PLAY ABOUT THE CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS, AND TO STRIVE THREE TIMES, IN VAIN, TO STRIKE ITS WEATHERCOCK. GARRET VAN HORNE'S NEW CHIMNEY WAS SPLIT ALMOST FROM THE TOP TO BOTTOM; AND DOFFUE MILDEBERGER WAS STRUCK SPEECHLESS FROM HIS BALD-FACED MARE, JUST AS HE WAS RIDING INTO TOWN. IN A WORD, IT WAS ONE OF THOSE UNPARALLELED STORMS, THAT ONLY HAPPEN ONCE WITH THE MEMORY OF THAT VENERABLE PERSONAGE, KNOWN TO ALL TOWNS BY THE APPELLATION OF 'THE OLDEST INHABITANT.'

     GREAT WAS THE TERROR OF THE GOOD OLD WOMEN OF THE MANHATTOES. THE GATHERED THEIR CHILDREN TOGETHER, AND TOOK REFUGE IN THE CELLARS; AFTER HAVING HUNG A SHOE ON THE IRON POINT OF EVERY BED POST, LEST IT SHOULD ATTRACT THE LIGHTNING. AT LENGTH, THE STORM ABATED; THE THUNDER SUNK INTO A GROWL, AND THE SETTING SUN, BREAKING FROM UNDER THE FRINGED BORDERS OF THE CLOUDS, MADE THE BROAD BOSOM OF THE BAY TO GLEAM LIKE A SEA OF MOLTEN GOLD," WROTE WASHINGTON IRVING, IN THE CHARACTER OF GEOFFREY CRAYON ESQ., IN THE CONTINUATION OF THE SKETCH BOOKS, CIRCA 1862. HE WAS WRITING, OF COURSE, ABOUT THE PRESENT STATE OF NEW YORK, AND THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY.

     "THE WORD WAS GIVEN FROM THE FORT THAT A SHIP WAS STANDING UP THE BAY. IT PASSED FROM MOUTH TO MOUTH, AND STREET TO STREET, AND SOON PUT THE LITTLE CAPITAL IN A BUSTLE. THE ARRIVAL OF A SHIP, IN THOSE EARLY TIMES OF THE SETTLEMENT, WAS AN EVENT OF VAST IMPORTANCE TO THE INHABITANTS. IT BROUGHT THEM NEWS FROM THE OLD WORLD, FROM THE LAND OF THEIR BIRTH, FROM WHIHC THEY WERE SO COMPLETELY SEVERED. TO THE YEARLY SHIP, TOO, THEY LOOKED FOR THEIR SUPPLY OF LUXURIES, OF FINERY, OF COMFORTS AND ALMOST OF NECESSARIES. THE GOOD VROUW COULD NOT HAVE HER NEW CAP NOR GOWN UNTIL THE ARRIVAL OF THE SHIP; THE ARTIST WAITED FOR IT FOR HIS TOOLS, THE BURGOMASTER FOR HIS PIPE AND HIS SUPPLY OF HOLLANDS, THE SCHOOLBOY FOR HIS TOP AND MARBLES, AND THE LORDLY LANDHOLDER, FOR THE BRICK WITH WHICH HE WAS TO BUILD HIS NEW MANSION. THUS EVERYONE, RICH AND POOR, GREAT AND SMALL, LOOKED OUT FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE SHIP. IT WAS THE GREAT YEARLY EVENT OF THE TOWN OF NEW AMSTERDAM; AND FROM ONE END OF THE YEAR TO THE OTHER, THE SHIP - THE SHIP - THE SHIP, WAS THE CONTINUAL TOPIC OF CONVERSATION."

     IRVING WRITES, "THE APPEARANCE OF THIS SHIP THREW THE GOVERNOR INTO ONE OF THE DEEPEST DOUBTS THAT EVER BESET HIM IN THE WHOLE COURSE OF HIS ADMINISTRATION. FEARS WERE ENTERTAINED FOR THE SECURITY OF THE INFANT SETTLEMENT ON THE RIVER, LEST THIS MIGHT BE AN ENEMY'S SHIP IN DISGUISE, SENT TO TAKE POSSESSION. THE GOVERNOR CALLED TOGETHER HIS COUNCIL REPEATEDLY, TO ASSIST HIM WITH THEIR CONJECTURES. HE SAT IN HIS CHAIR OF STATE, BUILT OF TIMBER FROM THE SACRED FOREST OF THE HAGUE, AND SMOKED HIS LONG JASMIN PIPE, AND LISTENED TO ALL THAT HIS COUNSELLORS HAD TO SAY ON A SUBJECT WHICH THEY KNEW NOTHING; BUT IN SPITE OF ALL THE CONJECTURING OF THE SAGEST AND OLDEST HEADS, THE GOVERNOR STILL CONTINUED TO DOUBT.

     MESSENGERS WERE DESPATCHED TO DIFFERENT PLACES ON THE RIVER; BUT THEY RETURNED WITHOUT ANY TIDINGS - THE SHIP HAD MADE NO PORT. DAY AFTER DAY, AND WEEK AFTER WEEK, ELAPSED, BUT SHE NEVER RETURNED DOWN THE HUDSON. AS, HOWEVER, THE COUNCIL SEEMED SOLICITOUS FOR INTELLIGENCE, THEY HAD IT IN ABUNDANCE. THE CAPTAINS OF SLOOPS SELDOM ARRIVED WITHOUT BRINGING SOME REPORT OF HAVING SEEN THE STRANGE SHIP AT DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE RIVER; SOMETIMES NEAR THE PALLISADES, SOMETIMES OFF CROTON POINT, AND SOMETIMES IN THE HIGHLANDS, BUT SHE NEVER WAS REPORTED AS HAVING BEEN SEEN ABOVE THE HIGHLANDS. THE CREWS OF THE SLOOPS, IT IS TRUE, GENERALLY DIFFERED AMONG THEMSELVES IN THEIR ACCOUNTS OF THESE APPARITIONS, BUT THAT MAY HAVE ARISEN FROM THE UNCERTAIN SITUATIONS IN WHICH THEY SAW HER. SOMETIMES IT WAS BY THE FLASHES OF THE THUNDERSTORM LIGHTNING, UP A PITCHY NIGHT, AND GIVING GLIMPSES OF HER CAREERING ACROSS TAPPAAN ZEE, OR THE WIDE WASTE OF HAVERSTRAW BAY. AT ONE MOMENT SHE WOULD APPEAR CLOSE UPON THEM, AS IF LIKELY TO RUN THEM DOWN, AND WOULD THROW UPON THEM, AS IF LIKELY TO RUN THEM DOWN, AND WOULD THROW THEM INTO GREAT BUSTLE AND ALARM; BUT THE NEXT FLASH WOULD SHOW HER FAR OFF, ALWAYS SAILING AGAINST THE WIND. SOMETIMES IN QUIET MOONLIGHT NIGHTS, SHE WOULD BE SEEN UNDER SOME HIGH BLUFF OF THE HIGHLANDS, ALL IN DEEP SHADOW, EXCEPTING HER TOP-SAILS GLITTERING IN THE MOONBEAMS; BY THE TIME, HOWEVER, THAT THE VOYAGERS WOULD REACH THE PLACE, THERE WOULD BE NO SHIP TO BE SEEN; AND WHEN THEY HAD PAST ON FOR SOME DISTANCE, AND LOOKED BACK, BEHOLD, THERE SHE WAS AGAIN, WITH HERS TOP SAILS IN THE MOONSHINE.! HER APPEARANCE WAS ALWAYS JUST AFTER, OR JUST BEFORE, OR JUST IN THE MIDST OF UNRULY WEATHER; AND SHE WAS KNOWN BY ALL THE SKIPPERS AND VOYAGERS OF THE HUDSON, BY THE NAME OF 'THE STORM SHIP'."

     THERE HAVE BEEN, OVER THE DECADES, FOLKS AROUND THE SHORELINE OF LAKE MUSKOKA, WHO HAVE THOUGHT THEY HAD WITNESSED GHOSTLY PASSAGE OF THE SUNKEN STEAMSHIP, WAOME, CLAIMED MANY YEARS AGO NOW BY A SUDDEN VIOLENT STORM. SOME CLAIM TO HEAR A MYSTERIOUS STEAM WHISTLE, FROM OUT OF THE FOG, AND OTHERS WHO SEE THE OUTLINE OF A SMALL STEAMSHIP, CHUGGING IN THE RAIN OF A MAJOR STORM EVENT….JUST LIKE THE ONE THAT CLAIMED IT. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN WE ARE SUDDENLY SURPRISED BY SOME EVENT, WE CAN ONLY DETERMINE AS THE CREATION OF AN OVER-ACTIVE IMAGINATION. IT DOESN'T EXPLAIN PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS, EXPERIENCED BY HAPPENSTANCE VOYEURS, WHO HAVE NO IDEA THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EVENT, OR VISION THEY MAY HAVE WITNESSED. THEY ARE LEFT PUZZLED ABOUT WHO COULD HAVE BEEN NAVIGATING THAT PHANTOM CANOE, OR PILOTING THE MYSTERIOUS GHOST SHIP, LOST MANY YEARS EARLIER. FOR AS LONG AS THERE HAVE BEEN WITNESSES, THERE HAVE BEEN UNEXPLAINED EVENTS; MYSTERIOUS SIGHTINGS; PEOPLE ENCOUNTERED, WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DECEASED, LIKE THE VICTORIAN WOMAN, INTERRUPTED IN A MILFORD BAY CEMETERY, WHO HAD APPARENTLY SNAGGED HER LONG WHITE GOWN ON SOME WIRE FENCING. WHEN THE YOUNG COUPLE, PASSING NEARBY, TRIED TO ASSIST HER, THE WOMAN DISAPPEARED INTO THE NIGHT AIR. THERE ARE STORIES TOLD, THAT EVENING STROLLERS HAVE COME UPON THE GHOST OF GEORGE CYR, THE LAST MAN HUNG IN BRACEBRIDGE, BURIED SOMEWHERE NEAR THE TOP OF CHANCERY LANE. HE DOESN'T SPEAK, BUT OBVIOUSLY, HAS SOME DOUBT ABOUT HIS ETERNAL PURPOSE. THE IMAGINATION, OF COURSE, PLAYS ITS ROLE, DOESN'T IT. I HAD FAR MORE REPORTS OF GEORGE CYR'S SIGHTINGS, AFTER I WROTE A LENGTHY FEATURE ARTICLE FOR THE HERALD-GAZETTE, BACK IN THE EARLY 1980'S…..ESPECIALLY AROUND HALLOWE'EN. CYR WAS ACTUALLY IMPRISONED IN THE BASEMENT OF THE HERALD-GAZETTE, AWAITING HIS EXECUTION; IT IS KNOWN THAT HE COULD HEAR THE GALLOWS BEING BUILT NEAR BY. CYR BURIED HIS GUN, ACCORDING TO HIS LAWYER, REDMOND THOMAS, AND IT IS WONDERED ALOUD, AMONGST BELIEVERS, WHETHER HE IS JUST LOOKING TO FIND WHERE HE HAD DUG THE HOLE. REDMOND THOMAS KNEW WHERE IT WAS, BUT TODAY? WHO KNOWS?

     I WILL REJOIN WASHINGTON IRVING'S TALE OF "THE STORM SHIP," IN TOMORROW'S BLOG. PLEASE JOIN ME FOR A TALE OF THE FANTASTIC. BRING YOUR INVIGORATED, LIBERATED IMAGINATION.