The Ghosts of Cape Cod

by Bill Russo

  Though the daughter of a Congregationalist man, she had the colorful first name “Maria” It was given to her at birth by her Mother who came to New England by way of sunny Sicily, off the Italian coast.

  “Call her Maria, Ernest,” were her Mother’s wishes as she lay dying, shortly after giving birth. Promise me you will give her my name so that you both will remember me,”

  Ernest Hallett made the promise and kept his word. He had fallen in love with Maria’s Mother at first sight and even after her passing, his love for her remained so strong, that he never thought of a second marriage.

  The industrious young man threw himself into his work. His efforts produced good and measurable results. Hallett’s tavern came to be known as the finest on Cape Cod. Much of the trade came from the multitude of sailors and fishermen in Eastham.

  Although many people do not realize it, consumption of beer, whiskey, and rum was permitted by the Puritans and Pilgrims. It was not uncommon to see even town officials gathering at the inn, for some brew and lively chat with the seafarers.

  The sailors and fishermen were valued as entertainment and sources of news in colonial days. They carried to the new world, the current events and happenings of the far larger and more sophisticated, old world.

  One evening in summer, Selectman Jedidiah Cosgrove was seated with a few friends at a table near the front door. An animated young man from the West Country of England was trying to convince the local men to invest in his fledgling salvage company.

  “Gentlemen, I have it on the highest authority that there is treasure buried along with the hulk of a ship that went down in an easily reached area of the West Indies. I have a map showing her wreckage spread over an area just two and three fathoms deep.”

  “Son,” said Elder Cosgrove, “ you seem like a fine young man and I wish you well but you’re not going to get any investors here. Why within 15 miles of us, there are probably at least 20 sunken ships. If we want to go salvaging, we don’t have to go all the way to the West Indies, we can do it right here.”

  The rest of the good men of Eastham agreed, sending the crestfallen youth slowly out the door where he dejectedly flopped down at the edge of the dusty street.

  “Don’t be so sad. I believe that you will find treasure near your sunken boat,” said a voice more beautiful than the song of a nightingale.

  The would-be salvage man looked up and saw that the glorious sounds came from the gorgeous young woman who had been serving food and drink in the pub.

  Cheered by her encouragement, he stood up and spoke…

  “Thank you for the kind words, miss. I am Sam. Sam Bellamy. I do believe that I can find valuable salvage but those men just won’t listen.”

  “I am Maria, Sam, and I will listen.”

  Before either one could utter another sentence, both Maria and Sam knew, that they had instantly fallen deeply and eternally in love.

  Each felt like they wanted to spend the rest of their life with the other, have children, build a home; and go to sleep and wake up every day in a shared embrace.

  They were like piano keys. She the cool blonde with the light eyes; and he the hot, swarthy man with curly black hair and eyes the color of midnight.

  Arm in arm, they walked to the barn behind the Inn and went inside. Sam barred the door and followed the aroma of good hay to the stack where Maria had lain down on the mat of sweet straw to wait for him.

  In the darkness they peered hard at each other for a long moment, without moving. As tentatively as a turtle crossing a stagecoach path, their trembling hands finally touched……..

  Sam awoke first, as a ray of early morning sun knifed its way through a crack in the barn-board wall. It bathed Maria’s elegant, gold-shrouded visage in its warm glow.

  In the morning her face was even more angelic and sweet than it had seemed in the evening when she was serving food and drink. Her hair, the color of fire, was as soft as corn silk and smelled of lavender.

  The busy brain under Sam Bellamy’s curly black locks, was filled with opposing thoughts. One part of his intellect informed him that he had found that rare and precious thing: eternal love at first sight. He instructed himself to marry the girl as soon as possible and never leave her.

  A second segment of his mind - more cautious and wiser in the ways of the world, told him that he was just a salvage boy and not good enough for this most beautiful woman. He must first pledge his troth and then leave her to go forth to make a fortune. After he had become wealthy and important, he could return to Eastham to wed his true love.

  When Maria crept out of her deep, satisfying slumber; much to her sadness, Sam told her that he had chosen the second course of action – to build a fortune and then to come back to her with a golden ring.

  One fortnight more did Bellamy stay in Eastham and during that time, Sam and Maria were never apart.

  Sam had arrived on Cape in a tight old sloop with a good crew of four able seamen. His sailors had spent their days on board the ship readying her for the return trip to the Indies. The evenings were devoted to ale, songs, and stories at Hallett’s Inn.

  The vessel was ready to go at a moment’s notice and the sad day for Maria came on the morning of August 5th, 1715, when Sam gave the order to weigh anchor and make for the island of Cuba.

  “Goodbye Maria. I shall return with silver and gold in great chests but the biggest prize shall be that tiny ring of gold which the Reverend Mr. Treat of the Congregational Church will use to band us together for all time,” Sam shouted as he prepared to leave the Eastham dock.

  Maria stayed on shore waving goodbye until the ship became a dot on the horizon. Then she returned to the barn where she and Sam had first expressed their love. She cried mournful tears until she fell from exhaustion, into sleep.

  Sam’s little sloop was fast afoot and quickly raced the 1500 miles to its Caribbean destination. The anchor was set at a spot just off the coast at a depth of three fathoms (18 feet).

  With native people helping; Sam and the crew took turns diving between 10 and 20 feet to the ocean bottom where they raked the sand in search for buried treasure. Months went by with not a single doubloon or piece of eight discovered.

  Things were not going well for Sam, but back on the Cape, they were even worse for Maria. She soon discovered that she was with child. She took one man only, in her confidence – her kindly and wise father.

  He outfitted the barn as a house for her, where she could stay during her pregnancy, unobserved by the townspeople. To the tavern patrons he explained that Maria had begun touring Europe to visit the homelands of her Mother.

  Maria was happy to be having the baby of Sam Bellamy and was certain in the knowledge that Sam would return as soon as he could. She had no doubts.

  Sam had left Cape Cod in August to seek his fortune and in April, the product of his union with Maria arrived with little warning in the pre dawn hours of a chilly spring morning.

  Maria was awakened by a pressure in her belly. She was surprised that there was little pain. The young woman had been in constant fear during her pregnancy. Her Mother died giving birth to her; and yet as her baby began making its entry into the world, her contractions felt like they were no more than mild muscle spasms.

  Maria started her morning chores. She pitched forkfuls of nutritious hay to the horses. After watering and rubbing down her father’s favorite horses, she laid down on a hay pile, to have her child.

  The baby came quickly. Maria who had studied birthing from one of her books, took as good care of herself as any trained nurse would have done.

  The cord cut, she wrapped the child in white cotton and placed him on the hay mound. Maria was happy and not the least bit sore or tired. To the contrary, she wanted to sing and dance.

  “Hello my baby,” Maria smiled, “You are a boy. You are Sam’s boy and so you shall be named. You are Samuel Bellamy Hallett. With your curly little hair and your black eyes, you look just like your Daddy. Maria drew the child to her chest a
nd he fed eagerly.

  “You’ve got a good appetite too. Just like your Daddy. I’m going up to the Inn for just a little while to let my Father know that you are here. I will come back soon Little Sam.”

  When she got halfway to the Inn she changed her mind. The brave young girl, now 16 years old, decided that even though she was not married. She would show the whole village her child.

  Everyone knew that Sam was coming back with her wedding ring. She was reasonably certain that her punishment would only be 20 or 30 lashes and maybe a day and a night in the stocks. She could handle that if it meant that she could openly be with her baby.

  So the beautiful Maria Hallett ran back to the barn to get her baby. In the lamplight she saw that he had a slip of straw in his hand.

  The baby started to fuss. Before Maria could get to him, he began crying while kicking his feet and waving his arms. The fragment of straw somehow got transferred to his mouth and the baby quickly choked to death on it, in full sight of its mama.

  Maria howled louder than a wolfpack screaming at the moon. Her whole body shook and shuddered as tears surged from her eyes.

  As bad fortune would have it, Constable Constant Hearthstone was using the privy behind the Inn when Maria’s screams shattered the silence of the village.

  Hearthstone followed the noise and discovered Maria and her lifeless baby. Dragging her off to the gaol (jail), he accused her of a litany of crimes ranging from having a child out of wedlock to murder.

  Too distraught to even listen to Hearthstone, Maria left all charges unanswered, which the Constable took as an admission of guilt.

  Hearthstone warned Maria that he was going to visit the Selectmen and tell them of her crimes. He advised her that he would be back within the hour to administer the first of many thrashings that she was due, from his bloody whip.

  Upon returning, he was astonished to find the cell still locked - but empty! Somehow, in full daylight, with two of his deputies in the building, Maria Hallett had escaped unnoticed.

  It is written in the official town records that no bars could hold Maria. Six times was she jailed and six times did she escape within six hours, leaving no clues – save for one written message saying:

  “Six times you barred me.

  Six times you were bettered.

  Six times more, If need be,

  I’ll escape and flee unfettered.

  For this jailing, a pox you are due.

  The curse of ‘6-6-6’ I put upon you.”

  It fell to the Reverend Mr. Treat to explain to the elders how Maria was able to escape.

  “666 is the number after 665 and the number before 667,” said the Minister. “It is also the sum of the first 36 natural numbers. That is to say, 1 plus 2, plus 3, plus 4………..plus 34, plus 35, plus 36, equals 666.”

  “By itself, this is merely an odd fact, but what makes the number unholy is what is written in the Good Book. In Revelation 13:16, the Bible warns us that 666 is the number that represents the Beast: the Devil,” he continued.

  ”It means that Maria Hallett has given herself carnally and in spirit to the Devil. She must be cast from the village forever. To consort with her is to mingle with Satan himself.”

  James Stanton, one of the town’s jailers came shyly forth with a story.

  “I didn’t tell this before because I thought it was my imagination; or that I had been dozing and dreamed it. Here’s what I saw, or I think I saw.

  “When I was on duty watching her jail cell, she had a visitor. I didn’t let him in. He just appeared. It was late afternoon and the girl was carrying on as usual, weeping wildly and beating her hands against the bars of her cell.

  “An expensively suited gentleman sauntered up to the bars and just stood there looking at the bewildered girl. He wore the finest clothes I have ever seen and he was slashing the air with a gold tipped cane, using it like a sword.

  “One of the iron bars of the cell, was between their faces. He just touched it and it flew out of its anchoring and fell to the floor. Then he flicked away another bar from the cell door and he talked in a whispery voice to Maria.

  “He said…… ‘You are young Maria but you have showed that you are old enough for the employment I can give you. And you can forget all this’……

  “As he said that, continued the young jailer,“ he reached out and grasped another bar between his thumb and forefinger and just flicked it away as if it were no more than a fly after a speck of mince pie.”

  “Then he spoke again. He said…..

  ‘You know who I am, don’t you Maria?’

  “She said she did and he flicked away all the rest of the bars.

  “From his coat he produced a document that had lots of writing on it. She read it and nodded her head yes. Under his coat was a shiny red vest the color of a roaring fire. From it, he withdrew a quill that had a feather on one end and a point on the other end. The nub was as hot and red as a horse-shoe in a blacksmith’s fire.

  ‘Sign this, ‘the gentleman said, ‘and no cell will ever be able to hold you Maria. You may come and go where ever you wish, as you please.’

  “She took the pen and signed her name on the document with the blazing hot tip of the pen, burning the letters into the parchment. A vast quantity of smoke roiled from the paper, filling the room with gasping, choking soot. When the air cleared, the man was gone. Maria Hallett was gone, and the cell bars were all back in place!

  “Constable, surely you can understand why I failed to report this. I was unable to believe my eyes at the time. But now after what the Reverend said, I believe that I did see the Devil and his new servant.”

  “Brother Stanton, “said the Reverend and the Constable at once, “you are forgiven for not reporting what you saw, for at the time we would probably have accused you of falling victim to Maria Hallett’s charms and releasing her for carnal reasons. We see now that ‘Witch Hallett’ must be stoned away from this town forever.”

  The stoning was soon arranged by the eager Reverend Treat and Constable Constant Hearthstone. The following morning, more than 100 villagers - men, women, and children, filled their pockets with pebbles and rocks. Some were sharp edged and some were almost jewel-like, having been rounded and smoothed by the action of the sea.

  With the Reverend and the Constable in the lead, the grim aggregation marched along in double file. They were in search of the beautiful young woman that they would call ‘Maria’ no more. From then on she would be known as ‘Goody’ Hallett, the Witch of Eastham.

  The Grim Weepers

  They had not far to go, nor long to look. The golden haired lady always made her way to the town dock. She would walk to the last planks of the pier and watch the horizon for the return of dashing Sam Bellamy, the salvage man.

  On they marched, at a steady pace - a column of more than fifty pairs of armed, rock throwers. The Constable raised his hand to halt the band when his moccasins touched the first boards of the pier. A tiny feminine figure was balanced precariously at the very edge of the far end.

  In the middle, a man stood between the grim stone throwers and the young woman.

  “Please, my friends. Do not do this. She is betrothed. She is not a sinner. Sam Bellamy will marry her!”

  The pleadings came from the gentle, good hearted Innkeeper, Ernest Hallett – Maria’s father. “Brothers and sisters, I implore you to wait one month more, until Sam……………….”

  Mr. Hallett’s words were cut off, when a boy of not more than eleven years ran up to him and with all his youthful might hurled a fist sized rock directly into the father’s nose.

  Twenty more of the citizens advanced on Mr. Hallett and likewise jetted their holy stones at him. Bleeding from a hundred painful welts, Mr. Hallett slipped into the ocean and drowned.

  Many of the citizens wept openly, for they had known and loved Hallett. But their duty was clear. The grim weepers advanced next on the tiny form of Maria Hallett.

  Maria saw what had happened and sto
od up to her full five feet and one inch of height and looked directly at her foes. Later, each would claim that she had looked directly into their eyes alone – but as Maria had only one set of eyes, how could she have looked into 100 other pairs all at the same time?

  The grim weepers were now only 20 paces from Maria. Many of the rock throwers were still wiping away tears; yet their little dabs were but a twig compared to the massive logs falling from the soft blue eyes of the yellow haired Maria Hallett.

  “Talk of witchery, the devil, and false sin, has transformed you all into misshapen horrors,” Maria struggled to speak through her tears and grief. “You brutally killed the kindest man in the village as he stood to defend me. You say I have made a bargain with the Devil. If so, I should smite you all. In the Heavenly judgment, you are probably due that and more.”

  “Throw your pebbles, hurl your stones, and bash me with your jagged rocks. I will not lift a finger against you,” Maria concluded, falling in a sobbing heap to the rough boards of the pier.

  A little girl of no more than six years, at the urging of her parents, stood directly in front of Maria and cast the first stone. It had little force and yet increased Maria’s suffering by a thousand per cent.

  Like rain from a gale, a torrent of stones soon flew from the hands of the grim weepers. As each missile landed with a sickening thud Maria seemed to grow stronger and shake off the blood and the pain.

  The rivers of her tears became trickles and then stopped entirely. Red welts mounded like ant hills all over her face and body, yet she smiled and stood straight up. Her eyes seemed to glow and her hair commenced to sort itself out into fiery spikes that danced and twisted as if they were trees being tortured by a Northeaster.

  She grimaced and opened her mouth as the stunned villagers dropped their remaining rocks and quivered as if expecting all their stones would be cycloned back at them.