Outer Banks Tales to Remember by Charles Harry Whedbee

The coast of North Carolina is steeped in legend and folklore. Romance and excitement breed as naturally as mosquitoes in this enchanting but sometimes harsh land. The people on the Outer Banks have been telling and retelling the region's stories—often embellishing them along the way—for generations.

Whedbee's lifelong love and admiration for the coastal people have moved him three times to record this priceless oral heritage. But three collections of coastal legends have not exhausted the rich supply. Nearly every time he visits the Outer Banks, the author hears a new tale or another version of an old one and gets "that itch" to write it down for everyone to enjoy.

That itch produced the seventeen stories in this fourth volume. There are tales of Indians and trappers, ghosts and firebirds, sea horses and sand dollars, romance and heartache. Some of the stories tell of eerie and frightening events. Some chronicle the history of the coast and its early inhabitants. Others tease us with the promise of love and happiness, only to end in tragedy and despair. Still others explain the strange habits and appearances of local flora and fauna in ways far more intriguing than the scientists do.

Some Outer Bankers accept many of these stories as gospel. Others tell them for the sheer joy of it. But as Whedbee says, "Whether you believe any or all of them, a tale should be, like beauty, its own excuse for being." So here you will find neither fact nor fiction but a spicy assortment of entertainments that will be enjoyed for generations to come.