Challenge Entry - 
One Witch to Another – Keeper of Knowledge
One of the stories that I grew up with from my family was about the Grey Man Ghost. We used to vacation many summers at Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. It was a long standing family tradition and as such every time we’d go my mother or grandmother would treat us to tales of the Grey Man Ghost.
It’s been many a year since I’ve heard the story and neither my grandmother (who passed a decade ago) nor my mother (who has Lewy Body Dementia) can tell the tale any longer. So I opted to do what one does, and look online.
I had forgotten that he is said to appear before hurricanes or storms as a possible warning.
Although there are many variations of the legend, most say the Gray Man was first seen in 1822
(Wiki)
I’m not sure I ever heard this version of who he was but I’ll share
The Gray Man of Pawleys Island is said to have been the fiancé of a woman who lived in the Pawleys Island area.
According to legend, he was killed in a freak accident on his way to reunite with his fiancé. Struck by grief, the woman was inconsolable. She would walk the beach in her sadness, with seemingly no direction to go. One late afternoon on one of these walks, she saw a man dressed in gray, a man she recognized as her long-dead lover.
Upon approaching him though, he vanished.
Distraught after seemingly losing the love of her life a second time, she took to her room in tears. Her family could do nothing to comfort her.
That night, in her dreams, the Man in Gray again appeared to her. However, this time, he brought a warning of a violent and dangerous storm.
Upon waking, she quickly told her family that they needed to leave the area. Her family, concerned for her mental health, opted to instead take her to see a doctor in Charleston.
That day, the Great Storm of 1822 struck the area.
Thankfully for the widow, she and her family were gone by the time the hurricane arrived. Once they returned, they found the region incredibly damaged.
She eventually made her way to her house, which was left in perfect condition, as if a storm had never been in the area.
And thus, the story of the Gray Man of Pawleys Island was born.
Since then he has been sighted by residents in 2018 before Hurricane Florence and in 2022 with Hurricane Ian.
I always wanted to see him, not because I wanted a storm or hurricane to approach but I suppose I wanted to be connected to the local lore. Thankfully it never happened on any of our trips.
A lovely article about the Grey Man ghost.