Field Notes From The Unknown: Hello, I'm Casey. And I'm Mackenzie. And this is Field Notes from the Unknown, a podcast about your favorite local cryptid. Mackenzie Hrubey: So kind of funny that this is the story given our current events of this time. Do you wanna get into a story? Okay. Casey: I do. What is this what is the story you have for me today? Mackenzie Hrubey: So I will be sharing with you the legend of the gray man of Polly's Island. so a little bit of a cryptid, but also kind of more of a ghost story. So We're going on the edge of cryptid today. Casey: Look at us venturing outside of the cryptids. I love it. Mackenzie Hrubey: I know of our comfort zones. Also, this w we'll take this out too, but do you see my rash patches are getting better from the poison ivy rash? Casey: yeah, that's right. You decided to roll in poison Ivy. Mackenzie Hrubey: I didn't intentionally roll on the poison ivy. The poison Ivy rolled in me. Casey: I think you're just doing exposure therapy at this point. Mackenzie Hrubey: And maybe it would help, honestly, 'cause it was I I worry about the next time I think I'm gonna have like wrap my body in plastic wrap for the next time I go on poison ivy 'cause it's just it's intense. It's on every name a body part. Casey: All of it, I know, you've told me. Mackenzie Hrubey: It's literally every bot it was in my hair. It was in my scalp. Yeah. Yes. Casey: Ew That's no good. Mackenzie Hrubey: It's horrible. It's not in my eyeballs, so I'm glad. Casey: That's good at least. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, let's talk about the gray man of Polly's Island. This was actually recommended to us by by our our our future cryptid in law. Huh. Casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. This is one of the early recommendations from our future cryptid in law. Casey: Wow. Mackenzie Hrubey: Why do you clutch yourself like that? Are you frightened? Casey: I don't I don't know. I just I think it's a safety thing. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, yeah, you're clutching. You're clutching. Casey: All right. Mackenzie Hrubey: So I'm gonna take you to Polly's Island today. So Polly's Island is south of Myrtle Beach. It's off the coast of South Carolina. And Polly's Island is made up of a really beautiful beach front, big old windy, dusty beaches, salt marshes, trees full of Spanish moss, and a lot of Gola Geechee history, as well as absolutely scars of colonialism and you know the forced enslavement of African Americans. but this is a place where there have been people living there for over 250 years. So among those parts, there is a legend of a harbinger of storms, that if you're favored by the harbinger of storms, sometimes you'll get the warning and your home will be spared. So let me tell you a little bit about it. So The Legend of the Grey Man of Polly's Island was first published in a book in 1946. The book was called The Wacama Plantations by Julian Stevenson Bullock. and the book talked about probably the earliest manifestation and like the thoughts of the origins of the ghost. but the gray man got really popular when it was featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Casey: Ooh, I fing love that show. Mackenzie Hrubey: Me too. Me too. It's a show that sometimes I listen to and I'm falling asleep at night. It's like a comfort show. Casey: I literally it's that right now I'm torn between Tales We Tell in the Dark, Goosebumps, and Monster Quest. But Unsolved Mysteries was right up there at one point. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, those that's a good series. Yeah. Unsolved Mysteries, Ghost Adventures, sometimes ancient aliens, when I'm, you know, can get past the the crazy Yeah. Casey: Yeah, I I get I try with that one. But yeah, no. The new season of Ghost Adventures also has been out and I haven't watched any of it yet. Which, shame on me for calling myself a fan. But I don't know, Goosebumps Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, especially because Casey: Goosebumps has me in a chokehold right now and I just can't break it. There's Mackenzie Hrubey: I love goosebumps. We also, now that we're besties with Jay and Aaron from Ghost Adventures, we really have to catch up on watching. Casey: We really we really do. Well, I'm all caught up. I just have to watch this new season. Also Mackenzie Hrubey: Good, good. Yeah. I think we're basically on a first name basis, right? Kinda, sort of. Casey: Yeah, yeah. No, I I think Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Jaden Casey: I I think we made some progress there, you know? Mackenzie Hrubey: So back to Unsolved Mysteries, the show interviewed Jim and Clara more about their experience. What happened was they were out on Polly's Island on the seashore having a nice, wonderful, peaceful day, when they suddenly saw a man who they watched him for a little bit walking along the beach towards them, and then he turned and waved at them and then disappeared. And this was right before Hurricane Hugo hit, and so they took it as you know, a warning of the impending storm and they left he was waving at Casey: But he was waving he was waving at them. Mackenzie Hrubey: them. He was waving and then pointing inland. Waving at them and then pointing inland. And so they left and then their whole neighborhood was razed by Hurricane Hugo, but their house stayed. Casey: Well what did they do? Mackenzie Hrubey: They just left. They heeded the warning and they left. Casey: But they the thing is really take that much as a warning. Like I feel like they should do something for the gray man. Mackenzie Hrubey: No, it's it's not at all it's not at all like you have to do this and then. So let me give you the earliest legend of where the gray man came from. So there are a couple of possibilities, but this is the legend that we'll call the lovers. So the first time anybody ever saw the grayman was in 1822, and that was allegedly the fiance of a young man. Now The young man and the young bride to be lived very far apart. they wrote letters to each other, but they had gone over this summer a very long time without seeing each other. So the man decided to get on his horse and travel from far inland out to Polly's Island to go see his fiancee. He was riding along on his horse, you know Casey: He's the ghost. Mackenzie Hrubey: wait, wait, he was riding along with his horse. And then he was in such a hurry to get there that he took a shortcut through the marsh and he got trapped in quicksand, and it sucked his horse down and him down, and the young man perished. Casey: Stop. It's like Black Beauty. I might cry. I might fucking cry. Did you Mackenzie Hrubey: Don't cry. Casey: ever watch that movie? Mackenzie Hrubey: No. I'm not. Casey: I'm pretty sure that or it's one of the horse movies where the horse gets fucking stuck in the quicksand and like they show it. Mackenzie Hrubey: Didn't it happen in what's the one with the little kid with a weird dragon, you know? Casey: Hold on, I gotta go to the interweb because black beauty's also very like heart wrenching. Mackenzie Hrubey: 'Cause it's the it's the you know, with the song and the dragon and the horse gets in the quicksand and he he gets sad and he dies 'cause he's sad. Casey: If I can spell quick. Mackenzie Hrubey: Is that Neverland? What's the movie? Casey: Yeah. The never-ending story. my god. There you have the picture of it. That's fucking awful. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah there it is. The never ending story. Hey In our never ending story Da da da Casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: da da da da da da da da Yeah, so the horse dies and then the man dies. Casey: So he's the ghost. Where's his horse? How come he comes back and not the horse? Mackenzie Hrubey: So he's the ghost. So then l he doesn't come back. Don't worry about the horse. The horse rests in peace. The man does not. We're happy for the horse. We're sad for the man. Casey: Maybe. I don't know his character. Mackenzie Hrubey: So the fiance. So weeks later, the fiance had an incredibly vivid dream where the apparition of her lost love appeared before her and said, You love of my life, light of my heart, you need to take your family and you need to flee the island because a storm's a comin' and if you don't get out, you're gonna be washed away by the storm. So she woke up and she told her family what she saw and she was like, that was really, really weird. I don't know what that was about, but I feel like we should get off the island. And the family was like, Well, we think you're kind of crazy, but okay, sure, let's get off the island. So they all get off the island, and guess what happens? Casey: A storm hits. Mackenzie Hrubey: A frickin' hurricane hits. So the great hurricane of 1822 comes and hits and wipes out the entire island except for their house. Casey: That's so weird. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Yeah. And that's how the gray man became the gray man. And now the gray man appears just every kinda couple of years before all these significant like meteorological events. And I have a whole list to share with you of all the events he's appeared before at and we'll go through those. and The Lovers isn't the only presumed like background for the ghosty man. People also think maybe he was actually a colonial or revolutionary war soldier, and some people think he was actually a man named Charles Generette Weston, who was a rice planter and also the owner of the Pelican Inn on Polly's Island, but there's really no evidence to suggest that's the case. It's just I think his family thinks the ghost looks like him, but there's no there's no records or guarantee. But the legend continues Casey: And the rest of Mackenzie Hrubey: and It's happened like a lot. Do you want to hear about all the times it's happened? Casey: Yes. But if any of our listeners are from that area and has seen the Grey Man in the last couple of weeks, let us know. Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, please do. Sightings are modern, so the most recent sighting I heard of was before Hurricane Florence in 2018. he was seen before Hurricane Matthew in 2016, before Hurricane Isabel in 2003, before Hurricane Hugo in 1989, before Hurricane Camille, and Hurricane Hazel in 1969 and 1954. And then also before the Sea Islands hurricane of eighteen ninety three as well as the unnamed hurricane of nineteen eleven. So those are all documented sightings of the great man. Casey: So are like all these are the all these hurricanes like the same category? Like does he only come on certain categories? 'Cause like I feel he probably should have came like I don't know. That's wild. Mackenzie Hrubey: No one that I know of has tracked the categories. We could probably go and check and figure out all the categories of all the different ones. I thought Florence was like a three or a four. but yeah, it is kinda wild. But I I I imagine s I wonder if somebody saw it before the Nor'easter came through and washed away like all of those roads and stuff out there on the outer banks. Casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Probably. The other weird thing about the gray man is traditionally people see this like really tall gray figure dressed in like a long grey overcoat, grey pants, and then oftentimes a hat. But sometimes they see him as just like the d waist up, like the coat top and the hat and no legs. And then sometimes Yeah, Casey: Like he's almost floating. Mackenzie Hrubey: it's like a little floating apparition guy. Then sometimes he's dressed like a pirate. Casey: What if he was what if he was like a sailor who was in one of these hurricanes, like one of the first ones, and died and now this is what he does? Like this is just his niche Mackenzie Hrubey: It's possible. Casey: his niche now. Mackenzie Hrubey: And there's never been a person that's seen the gray men more than once. So I mean maybe people are seeing multiple gray men? Maybe. Yeah. Casey: Is it because they died after they saw him? Yeah. No. The people saw the gray man and then they died. Mackenzie Hrubey: Well no, if if you see the gray man you heed the warning and you leave the island and your house is bared. So if you see him, you should you should go. Casey: But you're not there, right? Mackenzie Hrubey: Me? Casey: No. I'm just there has to be something like he is he just all good? Is this all just good? Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, he's just all good. There's nothing bad I mean, the only thing about him is he's like telling you that a really bad storm's coming. But if you listen and you get off the island, it's fine. Casey: feel like there might be a catch. I I feel like there might be a catch. Have all the people have saw him are they do they now have cancer? Mackenzie Hrubey: No I mean, if listeners, if you've experienced the Grey Man now you have cancer, I'm very sorry. Then tell us your field notes. But Casey: Do you now see the ha like hat man or something? Mackenzie Hrubey: I mean he does wear a hat. You know, the other possibility is people think it's a pirate, but you know what looks kind of pirate-y? Like if you saw somebody in like revolutionally war vestments and didn't know what it was, you might think, yeah, that's a pirate hat when it's actually like a battalion hat kind of thing, you know? So maybe people are like Casey: yeah, I can see that. Mackenzie Hrubey: seeing something and interpreting it differently. Casey: Yes. I still think there's a catch. There's gotta be a catch somewhere. Mackenzie Hrubey: But y there's no catch. There it's just it's just a warning. It's just a little ghostie out there who gives a little warning. He's a warning ghostie. Casey. There's really Casey: Well that's that's really nice of them. Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: nice of him. Believability scale. Casey: This is it? This is all you have? Twenty minutes? Mackenzie, I think this is your shortest episode ever. Mackenzie Hrubey: This this is it. This is it. This is it. I think so. I think so. Casey: believability scale, I'm gonna go two, just because it just seems too good to be true. Mackenzie Hrubey: Who? Casey: He seems too nice. Too nice. There's gotta be a catch. Like firstborn something. He's he's Mackenzie Hrubey: Sometimes people are just nice. There's not always a catch. Casey: He's just saving one house? Nah. There's gotta be something. Like they secretly make a deal with the devil. Mackenzie Hrubey: Grey man, don't listen to this. Don't listen to this lady slandering your name. You're a five. And you know it. He's a five. He's a five. Casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: Listeners, what do you rank the great man? What are your personal feel note encounters encounters with this mystical grey robed pirate man? Casey: Have you seen him? Is your house still standing and are you good? Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes. We would love Casey: Do you have to Mackenzie Hrubey: modern accounts of the gray man from the Nor'easter. Yes. Casey: Yeah. Do you have to occasionally go and visit him and give him like tokens or something? Yeah. Firstborn? Mackenzie Hrubey: Offerings. Yeah. I don't know, fish. Maybe he's a big start eating guy, who knows? Casey: Right leg. Who knows? Both legs. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, maybe a little lobster with butter? Yeah. Candlelight dinner? Casey: Something. But ooh, that would be really cute on the beach. Mackenzie Hrubey: It'd be really So that's yeah, this is a really short one for me. So I hope you guys liked it. Little quick ghosty tidbit that Casey: Yeah, a little bit Mackenzie Hrubey: fits the weather that we've had recently. Casey: Real quick, actually. Makes me feel better Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Casey: because I always thought I was the short the one with the short ones. Mackenzie Hrubey: That's all right. You we all every cryptid needs its day. Yeah. Well Casey: Ghost, every story needs its time, but Mackenzie Hrubey: when I th I didn't realize it was a ghost till I got into research then I like, this is a ghost, not a cryptid, but here we are. Casey: I liked it. I liked it. I still think we gotta give something Mackenzie Hrubey: Thank you. Thank you very much. Casey: to s him. Something. Like does he live in your basement now? He ful Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, I would like to go shake his hand and then go off the island. The gray man? Casey: he probably lives in people's basements. He just like hops from house to house that Mackenzie Hrubey: I hope so. I mean, I would like a house ghost. Casey: he has saved. Mackenzie Hrubey: Well we don't live in North Carolina, but we could. Actually South Carolina. He's from South Carolina. I've been saying North Carolina or South Carolina. He's from South Carolina. Casey: I don't want to though. One of the Carolinas. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. That's it for us. Do you wanna Casey tell him where to find Casey: Alright guys, Mackenzie Hrubey: us. Casey: yeah, you know where to find us Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, all at Field Notes from the Unknown. Mackenzie Hrubey: Again, look at that beautiful shirt that I don't have. Every time. All right. Casey: Really? You have to wait. I just realized that I saw you the other week and I didn't give you any of the stickers that I got. Mackenzie Hrubey: I didn't give you your sign posters from Jay and Aaron. Casey: You didn't We'll just try better when we have the Halloween party. Yeah, we you we both do. But Mackenzie Hrubey: So it's fine. It's alright. We just we need to do better. We are better. Casey: Alright guys. yeah, let us know your field notes of the gray man. And that's it for us. See you next week. Bye! Mackenzie Hrubey: See next week. Bye.