Henneberry became gravely ill and soon died. When family and neighbours returned from the graveyard, they found the infant daughter, Henrietta, who was a happy and healthy child, also dead!
The island folk gave the Henneberry house wide berth when they passed by. It remained empty for a long time. There were several reports of people seeing the ghosts of Henry and David Henneberry in their oilskins moving about the old homestead.
Some islanders thought they had the solution in ridding the island of the haunted Henneberry homesteadâthey decided to tear it down board by board. That was a mistake, of course. The island families that used the wood from the Henneberry home lived to regret it. Their homes became new homes for the Henneberry ghosts!
To this very day, the granddaughters of Henry Henneberry have never set foot on Devilâs Island and because of what has happened there, never will!
The Sea-going Coffin
O ne of the strangest Maritime Mysteries I know is the story of a coffin that washed up on the shores of Prince Edward Island. The waters that wash against these shores hold forever the secrets of this strange tale.
The person that was inside that coffin was Charles Coughlan, an actor of the late 1800s. He was tall, handsome and had a magnetic personality; the John Barrymore of his day. There are no available records of exactly where he was born. Some say Dublin, others, Paris. Some loyal Islanders claim him as a native son.
He and other American actors of the Broadway stage often vacationed at Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Islandâa popular summer retreat for artists. Charles was the centre of that famous colony of creative types and the darling of everyone, especially the ladies. A rapscallion of the first order, some would have said.
While appearing on a Galveston, Texas, stage in 1899, Charles Coughlin was suddenly stricken by a fatal illness. Against his wishes, to be buried at Fortune Bay, Coughlin was buried in a Galveston cemetery. The following year, 1900, a violent hurricane swept in from the Gulf of Mexico, destroying everything in its wake. The flood waters that followed not only washed away homes, but also the cemetery, sending hundreds of coffins into the gulf, including Coughlinâs.
The currents of the gulf carried Coughlanâs coffin up the Florida coast and eventually into the waters of the Northumberland Strait, where the currents, or some unexplained power, carried it into Fortune Harbour, a distance of two thousand miles! Coughlan was homeâeight years after having been swept into the gulf!
Two fishermen hauled the coffin onboard, and saw the nameplate: Charles James Coughlan 1841â1899. In the end, Charles Coughlan got his wish and was buried on his beloved Prince Edward Island.
The Phantom Ship
of Northumberland Strait
T here are many unexplained mysteries that, I expect, will remain so. And there are, on record, several accounts of these mysteries, including that of the phantom ship that was, and is, seen from the Bay of Chaleur to the Northumberland Strait and many waters in between. Numerous witnesses have testified that they have seen this nautical phenomenon.
Of all the accounts of phantom or ghost ships, the burning ship seen plowing the waters of the Northumberland Strait seems to be the one most frequently reported. With that in mind, hereâs one version of the tale of the phantom ship that sails ever eastward.
Some time during the year 1880, a local fisherman, for no apparent reason, lifted his eyes from the shore and looked out over the strait. There, riding high on the water, was a three-masted schooner. Pufflike flames climbed the rigging until the whole ship was eventually engulfed in fire. The fisherman watched the burning vessel as it sailed at a high speed in an easterly direction. Suddenly it was goneâit vanished as if into thin air. Actually, as would later be reported, it had plunged beneath the frigid water.
Ernie Rankin, a life-long
The island folk gave the Henneberry house wide berth when they passed by. It remained empty for a long time. There were several reports of people seeing the ghosts of Henry and David Henneberry in their oilskins moving about the old homestead.
Some islanders thought they had the solution in ridding the island of the haunted Henneberry homesteadâthey decided to tear it down board by board. That was a mistake, of course. The island families that used the wood from the Henneberry home lived to regret it. Their homes became new homes for the Henneberry ghosts!
To this very day, the granddaughters of Henry Henneberry have never set foot on Devilâs Island and because of what has happened there, never will!
The Sea-going Coffin
O ne of the strangest Maritime Mysteries I know is the story of a coffin that washed up on the shores of Prince Edward Island. The waters that wash against these shores hold forever the secrets of this strange tale.
The person that was inside that coffin was Charles Coughlan, an actor of the late 1800s. He was tall, handsome and had a magnetic personality; the John Barrymore of his day. There are no available records of exactly where he was born. Some say Dublin, others, Paris. Some loyal Islanders claim him as a native son.
He and other American actors of the Broadway stage often vacationed at Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Islandâa popular summer retreat for artists. Charles was the centre of that famous colony of creative types and the darling of everyone, especially the ladies. A rapscallion of the first order, some would have said.
While appearing on a Galveston, Texas, stage in 1899, Charles Coughlin was suddenly stricken by a fatal illness. Against his wishes, to be buried at Fortune Bay, Coughlin was buried in a Galveston cemetery. The following year, 1900, a violent hurricane swept in from the Gulf of Mexico, destroying everything in its wake. The flood waters that followed not only washed away homes, but also the cemetery, sending hundreds of coffins into the gulf, including Coughlinâs.
The currents of the gulf carried Coughlanâs coffin up the Florida coast and eventually into the waters of the Northumberland Strait, where the currents, or some unexplained power, carried it into Fortune Harbour, a distance of two thousand miles! Coughlan was homeâeight years after having been swept into the gulf!
Two fishermen hauled the coffin onboard, and saw the nameplate: Charles James Coughlan 1841â1899. In the end, Charles Coughlan got his wish and was buried on his beloved Prince Edward Island.
The Phantom Ship
of Northumberland Strait
T here are many unexplained mysteries that, I expect, will remain so. And there are, on record, several accounts of these mysteries, including that of the phantom ship that was, and is, seen from the Bay of Chaleur to the Northumberland Strait and many waters in between. Numerous witnesses have testified that they have seen this nautical phenomenon.
Of all the accounts of phantom or ghost ships, the burning ship seen plowing the waters of the Northumberland Strait seems to be the one most frequently reported. With that in mind, hereâs one version of the tale of the phantom ship that sails ever eastward.
Some time during the year 1880, a local fisherman, for no apparent reason, lifted his eyes from the shore and looked out over the strait. There, riding high on the water, was a three-masted schooner. Pufflike flames climbed the rigging until the whole ship was eventually engulfed in fire. The fisherman watched the burning vessel as it sailed at a high speed in an easterly direction. Suddenly it was goneâit vanished as if into thin air. Actually, as would later be reported, it had plunged beneath the frigid water.
Ernie Rankin, a life-long
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