Her fiance heard the news and rode to town for medicine or a doctor, since nothing seemed to help.
However, when he returned, it was too late. Her fever had spiked and she had died quickly.
The young man could not believe she had died. He would not go to her funeral and he would not visit her grave. Grief had stolen his wits.
He spent long hours sitting in a chair, staring out a window. He became obsessed with the notion that her family had hidden her away in the swamp to prevent the marriage. Her brother had never liked him--that was the reason. He was sure of it.
In vain, did his worried family attempt to rid him of this absurd idea. Nothing would dissuade him. "She's waiting for me to rescue her. She's out there," he insisted. "She wouldn't leave me. We're supposed to be together forever."
His father answered,"Son, she died. No one lives forever. Death always comes."
He didn't answer, but later he told his brother, "I will find her and hide her from Death. We will be together forever."
His family tried to stop him, but her ran off to the swamp to look for his sweetheart.
He heard his father and brother calling his name and searching for him. He traveled further into the swamp.
He wandered about for days, living on roots and berries. His clothes became muddy and tattered. He had bug bites, scratches, and stings.
One late evening, he came to a place some folks call, "Drummonds Pond." Others call it the "Lake of Dismal Swamp" and it is about five miles across.
Looking across the dark expanse of water, he saw a ghostly light bobbing and flickering.
"There she is!" he exclaimed. "I see her. She's signalling me with a lantern."
As he couldn't swim, he frantically started gathering fallen branches from cypress trees. Using creepers, he began making a hastily constructed raft so he could paddle out to her.
"I'm coming," he called as he shoved the flimsy raft out. He used a long tree limb to pole his way out to the center of the lake. The light bobbed and dipped and flickered, always ahead.
He called, "We'll be together forever."
About that time, a wind sprung up and the raft shifted under him. He fell into the dark, murky water and drowned.
Was he really mad with grief? Or did he truly see his own true love floating, holding a lantern over the water, beckoning him to join her?
The old folks in Virginia say that if you go to Drummonds Pond in the middle of Dismal Swamp and wait until night, you might see a flickering and bobbing light. The old folks explain it's the pair of ghostly lovers. The young woman holds a lamp for her and her fiance forever.
Comments:
The Great Dismal Swamp is a marshy area on the coastal plain region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginai and Elizabeth City, North Carolina in the USA. This sorrowful folktale of the ghostly lovers is another explanation of spook lights, also known as the Will 'o the Wisp or Ignis fatuus, visible out in marshy areas at night.
Another version of this Virginia folktale was retold by S. E. Schlosser. Phantom Lovers of Dismal Swamp. Schlosser attributes the light to fireflies rather than ignis fatuus.
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