The Gray Man
There is a famous story of a man who dresses in a rain slicker, and walks the beach prior to hurricanes, carrying a lantern. Those who see him are safe and so are their homes. Without fail, the man warns lonely beachcombers of the incoming storm, even prior to any TV broadcast. The man has supposedly walked the beach since being thrown from his horse to his death many years ago.
see this is proof all you people who think all ghosts are bad this one is proof that they are not
Comment by philicia | 11.22.2005 | 7:28 pm
If you dont belive in ghosts,just ask all of the people who have had their lives saved by this ghost and you might change your mind!
Comment by Victoria | 01.23.2006 | 5:10 pm
Yeah! I saw this on yesterday’s re-run of Rbt. Stack’s “Unsolved Mysteries” Lifetime TV Ch. 33 @ from 1-1:15 o’clock p.m. (1Feb.06,Wed.) available on their Ghost video for purchase from their website.
Suggestion: that the Weather Channel send somebody out there with a camera to camp-out and record this on film before the next storm! (;-)
Yours truly, JosephSHaas at hotmail dot com
Comment by Joe Haas | 02.2.2006 | 11:56 am
This is definitely a true story, my boy friends family has owned the house of the Grey Man for over 120 years.It is directly on the beach and is quite the historical home. This story originated in 1822. If you ever see the house you’ll know right away that this house has withstood many storms. All the other homes around it are new .Even the trees and landscapes on the property are unweathered.Altho at first I was a little weary of staying in the house I must admit I soon realized that the Grey Man is of good spirit. Thank goodness he once owned this house and has protected it for all these years because I really enjoy tanning on the beach.Oh and by the way i’ve never seen him because the weather has always been good.
Comment by brittany | 02.4.2006 | 3:34 am
This is one of the first ghost encounters I read years ago when I began researching the paranormal. It is a true story and has not been debunked
Comment by jill | 02.7.2006 | 11:42 pm
I do beleive in whitches and this story. I have seen the ghost.
Comment by Jessica | 03.2.2006 | 11:09 am
I run a paranormal investigations group here in SC. I have been sent an e-mail concerning a family who have recently rented the home of the Grey man. They have had alot of things happen while they were staying there. This is a very interesting story.
Comment by Heather | 03.13.2006 | 11:14 pm
I live In Pawleys Island & the story is true but there is a lot more to it than that!!!
Comment by Kaye | 03.29.2006 | 1:55 pm
From what i understand he went out to sea got caught i a storm and died but it is true ive seen him and left the beach. he has been seen before horrible storms if you are there and see him leave quickly…..
Comment by candee | 06.3.2006 | 10:00 pm
I also believe this story. I wonder what the rest of the story is though.
Comment by Destiny | 06.11.2006 | 12:27 am
Thats where my Nahe always tells me scarry storys and she told me that one before one time we were in the car and she ove past some one like that.
Comment by Lexi | 06.26.2006 | 1:02 pm
This is the first story I’ve heard about a friendly ghost (Casper doesn’t count) who actually helps you rather than scaring the piss out of you!
Comment by Snake | 06.27.2006 | 10:55 am
Thats nice
Comment by b-dog | 08.22.2006 | 7:38 pm
I lived in the Georgetown area when I was a child. I had the complete story of the gray man. They ran a bunch of ghost stories in the Sunday edition of the paper that year. I believe this story along with several other ghost stories that were published that year. Can anyone help me find that paper? I now live in Illinois and my resources are very limited.
Comment by Shannon | 10.3.2006 | 4:02 pm
That’s a very nice thing for him to do, but if he was thrown off his horse, then why does he warn people of stoms at the beach?
Comment by Brittanie Rowland | 10.20.2006 | 11:43 am
He was thrown from his horse trying to warn people of an approaching storm. At least, that’s how I have heard the story told. I live in the area and know the former owner of the Gray Man restaurant in Pawleys Island.
Comment by Miller | 10.22.2006 | 6:21 pm
I is not doubtin this story or wat my peeps but y in da world would a dude who had been thrown from his horse be walki round a beach? i mean dis may just be a flaw in da story but uh fix it man, thxxxxx
J*zzle
Comment by J*zzle | 10.25.2006 | 7:40 pm
Really cool!! I am the South Atlantic Regional Logistical Case Manager/Lead Investigation Analyst for Orion paranormal investigations and my team covers GA, FL, NC, SC, AL, VA, WV, DE, and MD. Our founder was one of the original members of TAPS with Jason and Grant. Please check out our website and our forum.
I live in Sumter SC and I am seeking new members to help cover the SC, NC, VA, WV, DE, and MD areas!!
Please let me know if you are interested!!
sepssc@yahoo.com
Thanks!!
Comment by OrionGibby | 10.26.2006 | 11:21 am
I live in Myrtle Beach and have heard this story a few times. What i heard happen was the Grey Man got caught in a storm while trying to get home to his fiancee. Then a few months later his fiancee was walking, its ethier in the woods or on a beach it depends who you hear it from, but he appeared to her on a horse and told her that there was going to be a horrible storm and to get her family out of town.
Comment by kelsey | 10.29.2006 | 3:36 pm
Oh yes the story of the gray man is very true. I in fact have had an incounter with him befor hurricane Floyed. I did not speak with him but i did in fact see him walking the beach about two football fields away. You dont have to run away. Just go warn your family to leave the area
Comment by Bill | 10.29.2006 | 3:52 pm
I’ve heard the story about the gray man so many times, but I want to find out if he is real. But another ghost story that they didn’t put here was the Lucas Bay Light, in horry county SC. It is about a black women during the civil war who hid her baby under a bridge so the soldiers wouldn’t take it. She came back later to get her child and it was swept away by the water and she never found it again. Now if you go down in the backwoods in Lucas Bay you will see an old lantern float around looking for her lost child. Even though the bridge has been torn down. It is true, and you may hear a baby cry if you listen. And don’t throw anything at the lantern because it will appear in your car and scare the piss out of you. I will be going on halloween.
Comment by Kevin1992 | 10.30.2006 | 5:50 pm
While I have never visited SC, I did see the Unsolved Mysteries story on TV and I do remember the details of the story. Apparently in legend, the man who became the Gray Man was engaged to marry a young woman. He was riding his horse hard along the beach to go meet up with her and he fell and died. Weeks or months later, a hurricane was approaching and he appeared to the girl that would have been his wife to tell her and her family to flee the island because “the winds are coming.” She and the family left and sure enough, the hurricane hit the island destroying many of the homes. However the fiance’s home was spared. Thus starting the cycle of the ghost’s appearance to someone on the island who’s home is later spared a hurricane.
Comment by Kevin | 10.31.2006 | 11:49 am
hi I go to westwood elm. in Abbeville sc i have heared this story many times. it is unbelieveable to had heared the whole story of what happen.you would think that you where reading a childrens book
Comment by sydney | 11.1.2006 | 8:17 pm
How do you know that it is not an angel appearing as a gray man in order to warn those who will listen about a pending disaster?
When many people have seen the same thing, it lends more credibility.
I agree about spelling, grammar, etc. Our country as a whole has really gone downhill in the English language department.
Comment by Kendra | 11.25.2006 | 10:13 pm
I grew up in South Carolina all my life and I have heard of the Grey Ghost. My grandparents use to tell me of the story and yes the story is true. However there are alot of other ghost stories of South Carolina that are not on here. There is suppose to be a ghost wondering the woods of Bingom if I spelled that little town right. It is suppose to be a man looking for his head that he lost on a train track and this story is also true I have seen it myself and if you do go to see it do not shoot at the light or it will chase you all the way out.
Comment by Nancy | 11.29.2006 | 3:42 pm
I have heard this story many times over the years and as a resident of South Carolina would really like to see it for myself. As for the story behind it the only stories that I have ever heard about the grey man is that he was killed after falling from his horse. He was on the way to his fiance’s house on Pawleys Island to warn her and her family of an upcoming storm. As for someone owning “his” house I find that a little hard to believe considering there has never been an actually name for this ghost besides “the grey man”. From what I have heard he did not even live ON the island.
Comment by April | 12.19.2006 | 4:54 pm
Hi, I live in sc and heard these stories and I say they are true
Comment by sarah caldwell | 12.27.2006 | 7:09 pm
your not allowed to say bad words on this site
Comment by sarah | 12.27.2006 | 7:12 pm
THIS STORY IS TRUE! I know people who live in that area and they have reported seeing the Gray man
Comment by Shareka | 02.15.2007 | 10:55 am
…no…thats just my grandpa…
Comment by Sunny | 03.26.2007 | 12:24 pm
well, if i could walk the beach for eternity instead of going to hell, I would try to spend it relping people at the beach, maybe that is his job in heaven, and when there are no storms, he lives a heavenly life enjoying the beaches in heaven. Believe what you want.
Comment by Jodie N | 06.16.2007 | 1:37 am
oops; scooby doo wrote that.
Comment by Jodie N | 06.16.2007 | 1:38 am
Omg i totally belive
Comment by marisa | 09.8.2007 | 10:03 pm
I believe the story is true. I have lived in South Carolina all my life as well. During elementary school I had a sixth grade library teacher who’s father wrote a book call Ghost of the Gray Man. I also have a forum related to ghosts if anyoen would like to dicuss this further at
Spirit Talk @http://blackmetalrose.com/blackmet
Comment by Phillip | 12.28.2007 | 8:45 pm
ghosts are not all bad some are very good i for one am very interested in the ghost wolrd. i think most of them are here to help, like the gray man. i would not mind to see him and say hay. :)!
Comment by taylor | 02.16.2008 | 8:35 pm
It is a true story.I had this cousin who went up there for a vacation once,waaaaaaay before I was born,a few days before hurricane Hugo hit.He was walking along the beach one morning looking for shells to make a bracelet for his girlfriend out of,and the grey man was there when he finally found enough shells.My cousin yelled at him,asking if he needed any help,since the grey man looked so weird,and the grey man disappeared.My cousin went home and told my auntie about it,she told him the story about the grey man,since he grew up in California and didn’t know the story,and they left when my uncle got back from looking around Pawley’s Island for a restraunt to get some lunch at and when they were watching the news one day back in NC where they had been living before they came down to Pawley’s Island and they heard that Hugo that struck around that area,demolishing alot of buildings.So the story of the Grey Man really is true.I’m checking out all the haunted places in my home state down here in SC I can find,so I can do a school report on it.If anyone needs a good ghost story with evidence to back it up,email me at shurikengirl@homeSC.com in a few weeks.I’ve been living in SC since I was born,and I’ve grown up hearing every ghost story from around here imaginable.I only live a few minutes away from Boone Plantation as a matter of fact.
Comment by Alaine L. | 04.9.2008 | 9:27 pm