From the Vineyard Gazette edition of Oct. 30, 1987:

On the eve of Halloween, it is fitting that Vineyard residents should recall the ghost stories native to this land.

On a cool evening after sunset, when the sharpness of daylight vision becomes blurred — Islanders, watch out for what lurks in the woods.

In Chilmark and at Lambert’s Cove a woman dressed in white drifts in the air. Up-Island, a headless horseman and an Indian wizard roam through the woods. A few believe that the woods of Windy Gates are haunted. Henry E. Scott Jr. of Chilmark has heard of a visitor who lurks at the edge of a meadow. “It is said you can see a lady in white walking,” Mr. Scott said. The lady was seen beyond the tennis courts near the little pond.

Lambert’s Cove has a similar lady, called the Winged Angel. As the Winged Angel story goes, a highly regarded woman was working in her kitchen one bright and sunny day sometime at the start of this century.

According to an article in the Vineyard Gazette, she “chanced to look through her kitchen window and there, floating over the hills of Lambert’s Cove was a vision. A beautiful woman in diaphanous robes and with a dazzling pair of gauze-like wings was hovering, settling gently through the clear air.”

As the woman watches, the vision began to drift upwards. It was “infinitely beautiful and gentle in motion. Then the apparition disappeared beyond the hills.

“Although she saw it for a few brief moments, Mrs. X was sure her sense did not deceive her. She had time to rub her eyes, to make sure she was awake, and to notice a great many details about the apparition. Why should it come to her, and to her alone, she could not say.”

We suspect that Joseph Chase Allen, a reporter for the Gazette, wrote this version of the often-told story of the headless horseman.

“I once heard my mother tell of a man who was driving a yoke of oxen home through the woods behind Ram’s Hill. He had been at work all day and was in a great hurry to reach home.”

Suddenly the oxen stopped. They seemed startled. “They bellowed and kicked, making a dreadful furor in the dark woods.

“The teamster was beside himself. He tried to calm the oxen and as he looked ahead he saw a man across the road. The woods were high and thick, and the shadows of dusk had fallen, but the teamster saw unmistakably that the figure before him was headless.

“Frightened as he was, he spoke. As the headless spectre vanished into the woods, he called after him repeatedly but the ghost vanished or was lost in the gloom.

“The teamster doubted his senses, but his oxen stood trembling and shivering and they were as hot and as covered with sweat as if they had driven miles at a mad pace.

“And that, my mother said, I guess was a ghost.”

Mr. and Mrs. Scott of South Road believe their house, built in 1845, is haunted but not in a scary way. This ghost has caused no one harm. But actions taken in the house have had consequence.

“Using a Ouija board, we learned that a fisherman who lived here was named Bart. He made himself known when I cut a hole in the ceiling,” Mr. Scott said. Mr. Scott said that the hole in the ceiling was to improve ventilation from the first floor to the second floor, to get the heat from a wood stove upstairs.

“It was Christmas time, right after World War II,” Mr. Scott said. “He [the ghost] was annoyed that he had cut a hole in the ceiling. I was skeptical. Everyone didn’t believe it. So one night, we tried the Ouija board again. We sat there and nothing happened. And finally, I said: ‘Bart if I promise never to cut another hole will that be all right. Then the Ouija board went to ‘Okay.’”

Eventually the hole in the ceiling was blocked.

In 1921, the Vineyard Gazette received the following in a letter to the editor:

“Once upon a time there were two Indian wizards, who were rivals, each claiming to be more powerful than his fellow. One lived at Gay Head, the other near Menemsha. One day the wizard from the Head went to visit him of Menemsha and, as it drew toward night, said he must go home. His host urged him to remain longer but he declined, saying that he had no horse and a long way to go. Then, said the Menemsha wizard, I’ll give you a horse. Taking a piece of wood and standing it up beside the entrance to the wigwam, he added, there is your horse, get up and ride. The visitor mounted the stick, which at once turned into a noble steed and bore him swiftly home.

“Shortly afterwards, the magician of Menemsha returned the other’s visit and when he was ready to leave the latter said, I am not so powerful as you, I cannot give you a horse, but I will give you a cane to help you on your way. A moonbeam was shining through a crevice, onto the side of the wigwam, and as he spoke, he walked up and measured a suitable length, which he cut off and handed to his rival, who exclaimed, You are greater than I to have power over moonbeams.”

Compiled by Hilary Wall
library@mvgazette.com