GOOD MONDAY MORNING POU!
This week’s series will be devoted to African-American Ghost Stories.
“THE LEGEND OF BIG LIZ”
From Mongoose of Mystery:
There are several different versions of this story: sometimes it’s said to have happened during the Revolutionary War, but more often it’s the Civil War. In all versions, the tale is set in Dorchester county, near Bucktown. Bucktown is a centuries-old town between the Blackwater and Transquaking Rivers. These rivers are surrounded by immense tidal marshes – the nearest is known as Green Brier Swamp.
At the outset of the Civil War, there was a plantation owner on the outskirts of the Green Brier swamp who harbored passionate Confederate sympathies (as did probably every other plantation owner on the Eastern Shore). Although there is very little historical basis for this story, some versions name the planter “John Ruskin”….
The Eastern Shore was viewed as a threat to the Union from very early on in the war, since the farms there produced so much food, which could easily be sent south to support the Confederates. And that’s just what John Ruskin was doing. But what he wasn’t counting on was the cleverness of his slaves, who (like other well-known proactive individuals in the neighborhood*) had taken it upon themselves to assist the Union in any way possible.
One of the slaves, known as Big Liz, was extremely effective as a Union spy. Soon, all of Ruskin’s supply lines were being attacked, and the food and other sundries were handily intercepted by Yankees. Ruskin was deeply frustrated, but of course, he was not without resources. The Shore is a very small place when it comes to rumors and gossip, and soon he was able to determine that Big Liz was the cause of his problem.
Of course, as a slave holder, he was essentially permitted to kill or sell a slave at his discretion, but in the climate of hostility and unrest surrounding the war, he knew that selling the woman would be difficult, and attempting to kill her would be risky – she wasn’t called “Big Liz” for nothing, and perhaps he feared that his other slaves might rebel, or at least try to stop him. So he stewed in his fury for a little while.
At about this time, Jefferson Davis entrusted Ruskin with a substantial war chest. Ruskin needed to hide the chest, which was filled with Confederate gold. He hatched a diabolical plan: he called upon Liz to carry the chest out into the swamp, knowing she would cooperate so she could pass on the secret location to her Union contacts. Under cover of darkness, Ruskin and Liz made their way to a secret location in Green Brier Swamp, where Ruskin then told Liz to dig a hole.
As she finally lowered the chest into the prepared hole, Ruskin seized his chance and attacked her with a yard-long tobacco knife, completely severing her head from her body!
Ruskin buried her body with the chest, but could not locate her head. Briefly, he considered finding her head and burying it in the pit with her body, but it was too dark to go wandering in the dangerous marshland, and he knew that scavengers would make short work of the head when they found it.
As Ruskin walked toward home through the dark swamp, he became aware of a prickling sensation at the back of his neck, as if someone were watching him. Ruskin walked faster as clouds obscured the light of the moon. Panic gripped him, and he could hear the sound of footsteps on the path behind him. He broke and ran toward the lights of home, but to no avail.
The following day, he was found dead on the verge of the marsh, his neck broken, a look of horror frozen on his face.
Several of Ruskin’s Confederate associates later tried to locate the chest, but no one who has ever entered Green Brier Swamp in search of the treasure has ever come out again.
Legend has it that, to this day, Big Liz roams Green Brier swamp at night, glowing with blue fire, her head tucked under one arm. It is also said that you can summon Liz from the DeCoursey Bridge over the Transquaking River…if you dare.