Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. The Ghosts of Fryar’s Bridge "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore Fryar’s Bridge is the crossing over Six Runs, about six miles east of Clinton, on the old Warsaw-Clinton Road, which is the oldest road in the county. It was at one time called the New Bern Road and ran from Cross Creek to New Bern by the way of White Hall (Seven Springs). For over a hundred years the stagecoaches followed this road carrying passengers and the mail. The swamp is wide at Fryar’s Bridge, and in olden days the giant cypress trees formed a canopy over the road. They were covered in Spanish moss. Many old time tales have been told about the ghosts of Fryar’s Bridge. In the early days there was no railing on the bridges crossing the main creek and the sloughs. On one occasion a young couple that had just married were traveling in the stagecoach with three other passengers. It was on a dark and cold winter night and the water was high. Just before the stage approached the bridge, the driver, as well as the horses saw what was believed to be an apparition of women dancing on the bridge but making no sound. The horses were frightened and as they lunged forward, the coach turned over into the water, which was rushing under the bridge. The young bride was drowned and her body was found the next day some distance down stream. Her body was carried to Fayetteville for burial. The young heartbroken husband joined the English Navy and was later lost at sea. Some years later, a couple of young people from the Turkey community were coming from a dance in Clinton, and as they approached Fryar’s Bridge, they saw a woman dressed in a wedding gown standing on the bridge. As they came nearer, the horse became frightened and would not budge. The young man got out and put the lap robe over the horse’s head and attempted to lead him. Instead of going forward, the horse backed up and turned around. The couple was so scared that they went back to Clinton and spent the night with friends. In fact, the next day they returned home by the way of Kirby’s Bridge because they had heard that ghosts had been seen at Fryar’s Bridge in the daytime. There was a neighborhood skeptic who heard the story and dismissed it as a figment of the imagination. Some months later, this same skeptic was traveling alone at night on his way to Clinton with horse and buggy. As he was crossing Fryar’s Bridge he felt someone breathing on his neck. For a moment, he was nearly petrified, and after he slightly revived from the shock, he turned around and saw a woman dressed in white standing on the back of the buggy. With a tap of the line, the horse began to run and did not stop until he reached the old Lemul Chesnutt Place. He jumped out of the buggy, hollering as he ran to the front door. Mr. Chesnutt opened the door and he told him of the experience. Mrs. Chesnutt knew of this particular ghost. He spent the night at the Chesnutt home, and the next day, Mr. Chesnutt, on horseback, accompanied him across Fryar’s Bridge. Thomas I. Faison lived at the Summer Hill Plantation, southeast of Fryar’s Bridge. He owned a slave woman named Belle who must have been disturbed emotionally because she had the habit of running away and often she would hide in the thickets in the low grounds south of Fryar’s Bridge. After a time, the overseer had a bell attached to her in some way so that they could find her when she ran away. Belle had been dead for many years when one of the milk cows did not come up one night. One of the slave boys named, Shadrack, went to look for her in the low grounds. He heard a bell ringing, and he followed the sound deep into the swamp. Finally, he came to a giant poplar tree, which was hollow, and it appeared that the ringing bell was inside. He peeped through a hole in the tree and there sat Belle, deliberately ringing the bell. Shadrack was so frightened that he ran like a young deer, breaking bamboo briars without stopping until he got to the quarters. He told his mammy that he had seen Belle. She replied, "I ain’t surprised, she loved the low grounds better than heaven." Shadrack grew up and became the miller at his master’s watermill. One day while operating the mill, he fell into the well where the water wheel was turning and was killed. For years and years, moaning sounds could be heard at the mill at night. In fact, one of Shadrack’s descendants told the writer recently that he was possum hunting at the mill site last winter and heard the same moaning sound, which have been heard for a hundred years. The old slaves used to say that haunts or ghosts liked to stay where they were plenty of Spanish moss and that they like to hover over cypress knees. At the end of the War Between the States, Reddick, a servant of Mrs. Maria O. Moore, was killed near Fryar’s Bridge, possibly by the Yankees. He was buried on the banks of the swamp, on the northeast side of the bridge. Many years later, he was seen by many colored people and some white people, wandering around among the tall cypress trees and oaks. A group coming from prayer meeting one night heard his voice in the swampy thickets, and he was calling the roll of the unsaved souls in the local church. All fled away in speed hoping not to hear their names. It was a common occurrence in olden days for people to hear horses trotting as they went through the swamp. The horses could not be seen. Some of the old people remembered hearing of a skirmish between the Tories and the Patriots, which was fought near this site during the American Revolution. They also remembered that the colonial governor, Arthur Dobbs, a great lover of fine horses, owned a large estate on Six Runs and Beaverdam. Long years ago, everybody had heard of the mysterious light at Fryar’s Bridge. Travelers on horseback, the stagecoach drivers, all who traveled this road, had seen it. It would shine on damp foggy nights, and as one approached, it would disappear. The Yankee calvary saw the light and turned back because they thought that the Confederate scouts had set a trap for them. The last time the light was seen was in 1927 after a freshet which washed out the bridge, and it shone so brightly that travelers could see that the bridge was gone. While writing this story the writer talked with people who live near Fryar’s Bridge and they said that since the right of way had been cut so far back from the road and the road paved, they believed that the ghosts had found another location. Ghosts are rarely seen these days at Fryar’s Bridge. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================