Scary Stories Treasury – A Weird Blue Light – Silent Photoplay: A Place for Stories of All Types

Read Time:6 Minute, 54 Second

Kitty: ⭐⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐

A Weird Blue Light

Late one night in October, 1864, a Confederate blockade runner slipped by some Union gunboats at the entrance to Galveston Bay in Texas and made it safely to port with its cargo of food and other necessities.
Lewis Billings, the master of the small vessel, was getting ready to weigh anchor when he was startled by a shriek from one of the crew.
“A strange, old-fashioned schooner with a big black flag was rushing down at us,” Billings said later. “She was a-fire with a sort of weird, pale-blue light that lighted up every nook and cranny of her.
“The crew was pulling at the ropes and doing other work, and they paid us no attention, didn’t even glance our way. They all had ghastly bleeding wounds, but their faces and eyes were those of dead men.
“The man who had shrieked had fallen to his knees, his teeth chattering as he gasped out a prayer. Overcoming my own terror, that was chilling the very marrow of my bones, I rushed forward, shouting to the others as I ran. Suddenly the schooner vanished before my eyes.”
Some say that it was the ghost of Jean Lafitte’s pirate ship Pride that sank off Galveston Island in 1821 or 1822. She was seen again in 1892 in the same waters with the same crew.

*****

Schwartz cites Splitter p209 for this one. It was originally told as a true story. It was printed in a newspaper report in the Downey, California Champion, dated December 17, 1892, which was taken from the Galveston, Texas True Flag (no date). Here we see the version that was printed in Western Folklore Vol. 9, No. 3 (1950) (1) under New Tales of American Phantom Ships by Henry Winfred Splitter.

“Finally, the reporter interviewed an old sea captain, Louis Billings, who had been master of a Southern blockade runner during the Civil War. He recalled how the ghost of Lafitte’s Pride had helped him escape the Federal gunboats at Galveston in 1864. Says Captain Billings:

I never told it before for fear of being laughed at, but that vessel helped me to run the blockade in ’64, though she scared me so bad in doing it I did not thank her for it. It was late one October evening that I cited the Federal boats lying off the harbor here, and I was wondering what they meant by taking no notice of me, when I saw that they were firing at a foretopsail schooner about a half mile distant, which was flying a big black flag, and taking no more notice of the peppering she was getting than a duck of a shower, but was apparently lying motionless, though she was carrying a full head of canvas and the wind was blowing something that wasn’t very unlike a gale, and a stiff one.
Pretty soon one of the gunboats—and I heard afterwards that it was the Niagara, but I may have been misinformed—evidently made up its mind to see what the schooner meant by such extraordinary behavior, and went for it like a battering ram. I watched it with a good deal of interest through my glass, for I was puzzled too. The gunboat, keeping up its fire as it went, seemed rather disconcerted as it drew near the Black flag, which serenely waited for it without furling a sail or manning a gun, and she had fourteen of the latter as I counted—old-fashioned ones too. I noticed all at once the gunboat threw itself bodily upon her, and I said to myself, “Look out, now!” When to my amazement the Federal vessel seemed to shoot clean through the other as through a mirage, and the schooner faded in a blood-red mist.
The other blockaders must have been absorbed in watching the affair too, for I am persuaded they never even saw me, though I was in full view of them. It was dark by the time the gunboat resumed its former position, and unmolested I crept into Port under the friendly wing of the night. But just before I anchored, I was startled by a shriek from one of the men, and running to him so that we were jammed against the strange vessel, which seemed afire with a sort of cold, weird light which lighted up the figures of a crowd of picturesquely dressed men, unmistakenly buccaneers, who pulled at the ropes and performed their duties with countenances set in death and glassy eyes that glared upon us hideously, while each bore in head or breast or body a bleeding wound.
The man beside me had fallen on his knees, his teeth chattering while he gasped out a prayer. But overcoming the terror that was chilling the very marrow of my bones I rushed forward, shouting as I ran, only to find all dark and quiet over the side of my own vessel, with the water lapping quietly against the hull. The schooner had actually vanished before my very eyes, and in the twinkling of an eye, as completely as a lightning flash.

Kitty

In what environment did you read the story? In a hot air balloon over Oz.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Yes. The title always reminded me of a story in the book Mysteries of the Unexplained that was published by Encyclopedia Brittanica. Maybe I’ll do a series on the stories in that at some point.
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? You know what? There really isn’t much that was done in this one. It is kind of an story of an observation rather than something that happened to someone.
Which were your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My favorite character was the captain who cared enough to run to his man’s aid when he shrieked. My least favorite character is the crew on the dead boat, because you could at least have waved.
What did you think of the storytelling style? It was a good one, and taken right from a supposed true story out of a million year old newspaper.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? I like it, only because I love boats and ships, especially ghost ships.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐⭐ I like this story, but it’s obviously told by a sea captain who was exhausted at the time of the happening, and why would you wait almost 30 years to tell something like that? You’d think it would at least have been a story that he’d tell his grandchildren or other kids in the neighborhood to scare them. But somehow he just kept quiet, and none of the other crew told anyone, either? I smell something fishy. And it’s not because they’re on the ocean.

Winterjoy

In what environment did you read the story? In my room, next to my suitcase packed for a trip that will be travelled to via airplane and not schooner.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Not exactly but there’s definitely other variants that I’ve come across in my almost 41 years.
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? If I was a dead crew member of a ghost ship, I would certainly not be working. I would probably fly over to Disney World and scare riders on the Pirates of the Caribbean and then tell my friend Kitty about it.
Which was your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My favorite characters were the dead pirates because they were just working away. My least favorite character was Louis Billings because all he did was shriek and run.
What did you think of the storytelling style? It contains a more mature style than previous stories in the book so far but other than that, boring.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? It’s boring
Your overall rating and why: ⭐. It was boring.