In Episode 400 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger sail off the coast of Great Wass Island, Maine, searching for a ghostly dog who barks and howls warnings at passing ships. This dog was said to be the lone survivor of a tragic shipwreck in the mid-1800s. But this was not the first, nor the last ship to founder in these dangerous waters.
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Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger
Edited by: Ray Auger
Theme Music by: John Judd
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
*A note on the text: Please forgive punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Like us, the transcripts ain’t perfect.
[OCEAN WAVES CRASHING]
RAY: The seas are a little rough today. I’m not loving his boat ride off the coast of Maine, Jeff.
JEFF: Ray, I’m with you. The way those waves are smashing into the rocks of Great Wass Island, looks ominous. If we get too close with our boat, that would be bad.
RAY: Very bad.
JEFF: We’re sailing a piece of water off the southern tip of Great Wass Island near Pond Point. And Crumple Island is just about a quarter of a mile to our southwest. This area has been called the most dismal place on the whole ocean.
RAY: I can see why. And I don’t like the name “Crumple Island,” either. If we smash into it, that’s pretty much what will happen to our boat.
JEFF: That’s exactly what will happen to our boat. And if we did smash up either against Crumple or Great Wass Island, we’d be far from the first to do so. These waters are part graveyard. Ships and lives have been lost right where we’re sailing.
RAY: You’re not making me feel any better.
[DOG HOWLING IN THE DISTANCE OVER THE WAVES]
JEFF: Well, I’m about to make you feel worse. Did you hear that?
RAY: That howl? I sure did.
JEFF: That’s the reason we’re sailing out here off the coast of Maine. We’re searching for the Ghost Dog of Great Wass Island.
[INTRO]
JEFF: Hey, I’m Jeff Belanger.
RAY: And I’m Ray Auger. Welcome to episode 400….
JEFF: We’ve done 400 of these?
RAY: 400! We’re always on the lookout for wicked strange tales of ghosts, monsters, UFOs, roadside oddities, and anything else that bumps in the night. Please hit the subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts because it’s free. If you’d post a review for us, that also helps others find us in this crowded sea of podcasts.
JEFF: We’ll go searching for the ghost dog of Great Wass Island right after this quick word from our sponsor.
SPONSOR
[OCEAN WAVES CRASHING]
RAY: Given the rough seas and rocky shores of the islands all around us, I have no doubt ships have wrecked here, and people have perished. It’s broad daylight right now and it feels dangerous. I can’t imagine being on these waters at night in a storm. Especially back before there was GPS and radar.
JEFF: There’s no question, these are dangerous and haunted waters. Which leads us to our quest for a ghostly hound said to bark and howl a warning at ships from the shore.
RAY: Yeah, if I see a ghost dog right now, I’m swimming for shore.
JEFF: I get it.
RAY: Here’s a little more background on Great Wass Island. It’s about five miles long and a mile-and-a-half wide and is the largest of 43 islands that extend off the coast of Jonesport, Maine. Great Wass is connected to Beals Island—Hey! we were there back in March of this year looking for the Beals Island Giant.
JEFF: That’s right!
RAY: So Great Wass Island is connected to Beals Island by a bridge, Beals Island is connected to the mainland by another bridge, so you CAN get there from here.
JEFF: Got it. But there was a time not that long ago when these were truly islands. Dangerous islands. Pond Point on Big Wass is called that because of the natural harbor behind it that almost looks like a pond. A great harbor if you can get to it in rough seas. But if you can’t get to it, there are those ledges right over there.
RAY: I don’t like the looks of those.
JEFF: You’ll like the sound of them even less. They used to be called Drowning Bay Ledge.
RAY: Yup. Crumbled Island, Drowning Bay Ledge, shipwrecks, and death. Why are we here again?
JEFF: Because we’re searching for a ghostly dog on these ancient rocks.
RAY: Right. While we try our best not to become the next ghosts who haunt these shores.
JEFF: Now you get it. To find out how this ghostly dog came to haunt this region, let’s head back to the year 1838.
[TRANSITION]
[OCEAN / SAILING SOUNDS (NO SEAGULLS)]
RAY: It’s February of 1838 and we’re sailing aboard a British brig called the Markland. The ship hails from Liverpool and is bound for Jonesport, Maine. It’s cold. The dead of winter. The seas are choppy, and low, dark clouds hang above our heads. Our ship is approaching the coast of Maine.
JEFF: Sailing a brig isn’t easy—especially when the waters start to churn and you approach land. Open seas are one thing, but we’re coming up on dangerous waters.
RAY: The crew is uneasy. It’s cold, sure, but there’s an unusual bite in the air today.
[FAINT VIOLIN MUSIC BEHIND THE WAVES]
JEFF: Do you hear that?
RAY: I do! It sounds like music playing. Does someone on board have a violin?
JEFF: I don’t think so. All the crew on the Markland seem pretty occupied with their jobs right now.
RAY: The music seems to be coming from somewhere nearby… on the water. But I don’t see any other ships.
JEFF: Now the crew of the Markland is really spooked. Some of the men are thinkin it, I’m just saying it…. (PAUSE) It was about 60 years ago on Christmas Eve of the year 1776 when a British war ship full of gold and silver was bound for Castine, Maine, which lies about 60 miles down the coast. The ship was en route to pay British soldiers and officers their wages. That Christmas Eve this British pay ship was sailing near Jonesport, Maine, when she fell in with two other British ships. Those other vessels had women on board, so the three ships decided to lash themselves together and hold an impromptu ball complete with music and dancing. The music and merry making lasted into the night. The seas were calm, and moods were high. By Christmas morning, the ships sailed their separate ways. Except, the British pay ship was never seen or head from again. The money never arrived to pay the soldiers. There were rumors she wrecked somewhere in these waters, but no sign of the ship, its crew, or its gold ever turned up.
RAY: With that reminder hanging over our heads, the crew of the Markland are trying to be extra vigilant so they don’t meet the same fate.
JEFF: But that faint music keeps fading in and out of the crashing waves.
RAY: Hours pass, the sun is setting, and a fierce storm is churning up the seas around the Markland. She’s being tossed and rocked in the icy waters off the coast of Maine.
[WINDS BUILDING / FIERCE STORM]
RAY: The captain of the Markland has ordered the sails to be taken in. He knows his ship is at the mercy of the storm now.
JEFF: The winds are howling. Visibility is almost nothing. There’s no sign of lights on land, just this ship being tossed in a storm. Suddenly, a crewman near the bow of the ship hears a frightening sound. (BEAT) He can hear waves crashing nearby. That can only mean one thing.
RAY: Oh no… that means we’re close too land.
JEFF: Too close. The sailor cries out!
[LAND!]
JEFF: But there’s nothing that can be done.
[CRUNCHING SOUND]
RAY: The Markland is thrust into the rocks, and driven under the waves into the shallow waters near Drowning Bay Ledge. All on board are lost in moments… (BEAT) all but one survivor.
[LARGE DOG BARKING]
RAY: Aboard the Markland a Newfoundland dog was sailing with his master. As the ship breaks up, the dog is able to swim. And only by the grace of God does he reach land safely.
[STORM FADES AWAY]
JEFF: It’s the following morning. The storm has passed, and some fisherman sailing by Great Wass Island can see a ship has wrecked near Drowning Bay Ledge.
RAY: There’s debris from the ship. Crates are floating near the rocks. But the sailors also see something else.
JEFF: Yeah, look at that.
RAY: As they get closer to investigate, it’s clear the Markland was driven into the ground beneath the waves and forced up the wreckage of another ship that must have also wrecked right here.
JEFF: They soon figure out that older wreck was the British pay ship from 60 years ago. It would seem her fate is now known for certain.
[DOG BARKS]
RAY: As for the Newfoundland dog, he’s spotted on Browney Island about half a mile from our position here off the coast of Great Wass Island. Some sailors try to befriend the dog to bring him back to a proper home, but the dog runs away whenever anyone gets close.
JEFF: The sailors are forced to give up capturing the animal and figure this dog will have to make it on his own.
RAY: As weeks turn to months, sailors who come through these waters often hear the barking and mournful howls of the Newfie dog.
[DOG HOWL]
RAY: They’ll even spot the dog by the ledge, but whenever someone investigates and tries to get close, the dog is gone. This continues for years… even decades past the lifespan of any normal dog.
JEFF: No matter what you believe or don’t believe, sailors know these waters are cursed. Sometimes they hear the faint music of the British pay ship, sometimes they hear the barking and baying of the Markland’s lone survivor dog. No matter what, sailors know these waters are haunted. And that brings us back to today.
[TRANSITION]
JEFF: So most of what we know about this story came from the October 16, 1897 Sun-Journal newspaper of Lewiston, Maine. And Ray… the article claims the sightings of this ghost dog continued at least through the year 1886—almost 50 years after the wreck of the Markland. One of the witnesses of the ghost dog of Maine will be known to our regular legendary listeners. Go ahead and read this part of the article.
RAY: Okay… it reads: The dog is seldom seen, though many have gone to where the howling was heard in a fruitless attempt to find him. But in 1886 and that was 48 years after the wreck of the Markland, J. B. Norton, Barney Beal… Hey that’s Tall Barney from Episode 388. The Beals Island Giant.
JEFF: That’s right!
RAY: Anyway, it says: J.B. Norton, Barney Beal, and Ephraim Merchant were coming in from a fishing trip at Fisherman’s Island and reported catching sight of the dog. He came up from the water—it was low tide and walked slowly up the seal wall. A magnificent Newfoundland dog with a great growth of black shaggy hair. He stopped for full three minutes on the sea wall and looked solemnly out on the sea. The boat was then 15 rods distant. He would weigh, so the men say, at least 250 pounds. He made no noise and paid no attention to the men but looked steadfastly to the northwest toward Drowning Bay Ledge. Then he seemed to slide into a crevice in the sea wall and was lost to view. That night his howls were heard again at Drowning Bay Ledge and the fiercest gale of the season was blowing before morning.
JEFF: The ghostly dog became a harbinger. A warning to sailing ships that these waters are dangerous. That lives and ships have been lost right here and to take heed… you would not be the first, nor the last to wreck off the rocky shores of Great Wass Island.
[DOG HOWLS]
[OUTTRO]
RAY: And that takes us to After the Legend where we take a deeper dive into this week’s legend and sometimes sail off course.
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