The Gray Man of Pawleys Island
On a South Carolina island, people say a man in grey appears on the beach before a hurricane to warn them. Those who see him find their houses spared.
What was reported
Pawleys Island is a small resort island on the South Carolina coast, often in the path of Atlantic hurricanes. For more than a century, people there have told of a figure in grey clothes seen walking on the beach or the dunes before a big storm, who vanishes when approached.
Those who see him, the story goes, leave the island and come back to find their homes unharmed while houses around them are damaged. Sightings have been reported before hurricanes in 1893, 1954 and 1989.
Explanations offered
Several origin stories exist, from a drowned young man to a sailor returning to his sweetheart. Sceptics point to the fact that people tell the story after a storm, when they know whose houses survived.
- When
- Reported since the 1800s
- Where
- Pawleys Island, South Carolina, USA
- Witnesses
- Residents of the island
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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