In some way it’s November. Now we have had an unusually balmy fall that makes it arduous to imagine that this weekend we are going to set our clocks again an hour and undergo it being darkish at 5 p.m. It’s at all times troublesome to regulate to the late-day darkness, however I do respect the extra early morning gentle. The colours of the early morning are significantly hanging within the fall with the intense leaves and neon dawn — besides when they’re hidden by fog.
One of many outcomes of this current heat climate, and in addition the numerous quantity of rainfall, is a few very thick fog. With Halloween final week, I checked out “Haunted Maine: Ghosts and Unusual Phenomena of the Pine Tree State” to study extra about a number of the odd happenings in quite a lot of places all through Maine. One story, particularly, struck me after a morning of fog so thick that I got here again soaking moist from a motorcycle journey as if I had been in a thunderstorm — the story of “The Useless Ship of Harpswell.”
As with many tales of the ocean, this one was apparently an outdated fishermen’s story. You probably have been out on the water within the fog and even regarded out from shore, unusual issues begin to take form. This story is concerning the bone-like stays of a ship that poked by way of the thick fog trying very similar to a skeleton. There was nobody aboard and nobody to steer across the jagged rocks that had been so arduous to see in these circumstances, however the ship someway glided deftly round any obstacles.
The ship was often called a lifeless ship not as a result of it carried lifeless our bodies on board however as a result of the ship itself had given up its life and bore no mark of a house port or a reputation. Whereas it carried no lifeless aboard, the legend was that it usually appeared simply earlier than there was a demise on shore, making sailors and fishermen who noticed it fear about what was coming for them or their crew. There may be an anecdote of a fishing boat that crossed the lifeless ship’s path after which was sucked down by a whirlpool and disappeared.
This story is only one of many hauntings documented on this e book in addition to in myriad different locations and within the passed-on tales of these residing alongside the Maine coast. Whereas I’m not an awesome believer in ghosts, this story struck me as a reminder of the ability and thriller of the ocean. Whereas seemingly stunning and calm, the fog that we get alongside the coast that’s widespread within the transitional seasons of spring and fall can be harmful. It’s why subtle navigation tools exists now and why lighthouses and fog horns have signaled to mariners for ages. It’s additionally why it appeared so eerie that this ship was in a position to maneuver alongside the complicated rocky coast so simply — one thing that’s removed from easy.
Maybe with trendy security and navigation tools, it’s much less dangerous to be out amidst this fog, however these circumstances can nonetheless make it harmful and disorienting for these understanding on the water. Heading out on the water right now of yr requires an unimaginable diploma of native information of the shoreline that doesn’t embody simply these outdated tales but in addition a complicated understanding concerning the nooks and crannies that comprise the Maine coast.
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