- Oyster Rapper of Ft
Eustis, Va
by Traci Poole
June 23, 2000 ©
Before Ft Eustis became an army base, it used to
attract oyster harvesters from the local area.
One particular area was called Nell's Creek.
Nell's Creek was considered a gold mine by the
local fishermen.
As the men readied themselves for bed, there
would always be the need to talk about Nell. As
the wind wrestled amongst the leaves of the trees
and softly causing the water to slap the sides of
the boat, they began their tales of Nell. It
started out something like this.
Nell, a beautiful young woman who fell in love
with a fisherman who her father flatly refused.
She would often sneak out at night to see her
forbidden love. Nell ran away with her lover and
married the fisherman. True to his words , Nell's
father literally hunted Nell down. Words were
passed and in the end, Nell lost her life. Her
father buried her somewhere in the
waterways--along with all of his money.
It is said that she surfaced in the area around
the late 1800's and continued to haunt the local
oystermen until the 50's. No one knows for sure
how it started but the local oystermen have sworn
that Nell will contact them through a series of
rappings. They would ask her questions and Nell,
in turn, answer them in a series of knocks.
Sometimes they would ask Nell about her life and
other times Nell would tell them how to find the
best catch of the day. The oystermen of Nell's
Creek looked at Nell as their friend. Slowly, her
presence was no longer felt and she would slowly
fade back into memories of the oystermen.
Nell's body had never been found nor the money to
which she was buried with. But the oystermen of
Nell's Creek swear that Nell did visit them in
the lonely nights of shellfishing and it was her
who helped them get a good days catch.
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