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The
Legend of the Cora Tree,
as reported in Charles Harry Whedbee’s book
“Blackbeard’s Cup and Stories of the Outer Banks,”
gave me goose bumps and had me shining my flashlight
into the trees and bushes as I walked the dogs late
at night. This large tree is located in
Brigands’ Bay on Snug Harbor Drive. According
to the legend, in the early 1700s, a strange woman
named Cora showed up and began living in a crude hut
in the forest not far from the Cora Tree. Cora
lived alone with no one for company but a baby whom
she carried with her everywhere. Folks were
suspicious of strangers, but left Cora to her own.
At some time, they noticed that Cora was usually in
the neighborhood just before misfortune struck.
A cow she touched went dry, a little boy who mocked
her baby got sick and nearly died and fishermen
stopped catching fish, but Cora always seemed to
have an abundance of fresh fish.
At the same time, the
brig Susan G., captained by Eli Blood, who
was a longtime resident of Salem, MA, floundered in
local waters and Captain Blood and his crew of
former slaves from Barbados set up housekeeping and
settled in to await word from the owner of the
ship. During this period of idleness, Captain Eli
determined to find out if the strange woman the
islanders described to him was really a witch.
There was no tangible proof that Cora was a witch,
but then a dead body washed up on a local beach.
The body belonged to a local young man and was said
to have an expression of “utmost horror” on his face
and “his hands were clasped in an attitude of
supplication.” The digits 666 were burned into his
forehead. Small footprints, like those of a woman,
were found leading away from the body and into the
local woods.
This event is reported to have “set Captain
Blood’s resolution on fire” and he captured Cora and
her child and tested her to determine if she was a
witch. Cora was bound and thrown into the sound
where she floated in the shallows, face down. After
removing Cora from the water, Captain Blood tried to
cut her hair, but said he failed to do so because
her hair “was tougher than wire rope.” The facts
that Cora floated rather than sank and that her hair
could not be cut were characteristics of a witch.
As a final test, he and his crew members pricked
their fingers and put droplets of blood into a bowl
of water which was stirred until it frothed.
Captain Eli then proceeded to read the liquid in the
bowl and pronounced that Cora was, indeed, a witch.
Cora was then tied to a large, live oak tree
with her baby in her arms and a large pile of dry
branches were spread about her feet. At this time,
a Captain Tom Smith told Captain Blood that he would
not allow the execution of Cora and her child. He
would see that civil courts on the mainland handle
Cora. Before Captain Blood could reply, the Cora
child turned into a huge tawny cat with green eyes
and a red mouth and fled into the woods. Too
stunned to speak, Captain Blood approached the tree
to light fire to the wood when the sky, previously
clear and sunny, was covered by a great cloud. A
loud clap of thunder sounded and “there flashed a
blinding bolt of lightning.” The lightning struck
the tree to which Cora was tied and a great amount
of smoke was created.
“When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of
Cora. The ropes were still there around the tree
and the dry kindling was still piled, untouched,
about its base, but of Cora, no sign. No sign, that
is except the split tree and four distinct letters,
CORA,
freshly burned deep into the heart of the tree.”
Even today, if you visit the tree, you can still
clearly see those four letters, CORA |
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