The Best Spine Tingling Legends and Laughable Myths of the Carolinas
The days are growing shorter. The nights are growing longer. Which means it is that time of year again! Umhm, the time of year where you long to pop some corn, build a blanket fort in your living room with your kids (or on one of their beds works, too), and break out those stories that make your children shiver in delight.
This year, as you take one of your dream North Carolina vacations in one of our beautiful Topsail Island rentals, bring out a new ghost story for your kids! Don’t worry. We did the research for you. Read on, and be delightedly thrilled.
The Myth: The Ghost of Nell Cropsey 
On a dark, dark night in November of 1901, a beautiful young woman disappeared without a trace from her family home in Elizabeth City, NC. She had been living in the South with her family for three years, having moved from Brooklyn. A fascinating, as well as beautiful, girl, she had many suitors but just one man she wished to have propose to her. He, however, had been dragging his feet for three years. The night before her disappearance, Nell had been arguing with her suitor, Jim Wilcox. So, of course, he was arrested as soon as her disappearance was made known. And he was held until tried, and acquitted, of Nell’s murder.
Nell’s body was found over a month after she disappeared, after a mysterious letter explaining her disappearance arrived from New York. In this detailed account, the writer explained that Nell had interrupted a vagrant stealing a pig from the family farm. Grabbing a heavy stick, the man knocked Nell unconscious, dragged her to a boat below in the river, rowed to the middle, and dumped her body over board. The letter included a map that marked the exact location where Nell’s body was later found. Could the letter have been from Nell beyond the grave?
Jim Wilcox always maintained his innocence, though the court of popular opinion didn’t always agree with him. However, no one ever found out what really happened.
For the past 100 years, the residents of the Cropsey house have reported strange happenings. Gusts of cold air, doors closing by themselves, lights flickering on and off by themselves. And sometimes, the shadowy figure of a pale young woman is seen by the inhabitants. Is Nell back, after having been torn away from her family home far to early and far to young? You can read more about the strange and fascinating story of Nell’s sad disappearance here.
Truth or Fiction?
Nell Cropsey definitely disappeared and was found a month later in the middle of the river, dead. And there was evidence of a pig thief breaking into the Cropsey homestead. But did the thief kill Nell? Was it a jealous suitor? Jim? That mystery lingers. However, the fact remains that she died. And that there have been reports of strange happenings in her old home ever since. But is the ghost of Nell a resident in her home? Did she write the letter that described what happened to her? Now, of that no one will ever know.
What might you discover during your next vacation in Topsail with us? What strange happenings will happen to you? You will never know until you book your vacation here with us!
