Wanton's Folklore an excerpt from Stamp Out Murder

James and some of the other guests were gathered on the balcony listening to some guitar pickin' when this giant of a man (Aunt Linda's brother) Lionel started walking around until he had everyone's attention and then he started telling a tale that ne'er no one would believe. It went like this: 

Black Bartimore was an evil, surly buccaneer who murdered his wife and children and went to sea with a band of pirates as nasty as he. He roamed the Atlantic coast, murdering and pillaging and laying waste to the countryside as he passed. Soon Black Bartimor had a ship loaded with treasure; five hundred chests had he full of gold and jewels and goblets and mighty swords.

A thick fog lay over the bay as the ship approached, and the treacherous  tide soon took hold of the evil man's ship. He'd already kilt all his crew, so he had no help. The crashing, churning waters whirled and whirled until somehow, by magic, I suppose...by evilness, perhaps,  his ship came crashing down in the Cheat River.

Yes, the very Cheat River that runs right behind here. Just up yonder a ways. His ship, his crew and all his plunder landed. He had slit each man's throat, but he hadn't had a chance to throw them in the ocean, so when his ship got threw into West Virginia's raging waters, he had to dispose of the rotting bodies, and when he thought himself safe, he commenced to throwing bodies overboard and he didn't see the "Falls". They come up on him fast, and before he could abandon ship, he plunged headfirst and crashed on the rocks. His ship came crashing down on top of him and splintered into a thousand pieces. Some pieces big, some pieces small and the and Black Bartimore's treasures came to rest in that river, unless they hitched a ride on the ship parts and traveled on down the river.

Yet today, folks are afindin' human bones and if'n you do, you will have great luck if'n you lay that bit of the murdered pirate to rest. So as quick as you can dig a hole with whatever you can find and bury that bone, if'n you ignore it surely bad luck will follow you.

On the other hand, it's said, and I know  it's true,  every time folk hunt for his treasures, the water churns and churns and they hear a sound likin' to a raging bull. Black Bartimore rises from the river and chases them with a his cutlass. Now if you've come to Wanton to hunt for Black Bartimore's treasure, you may think twice because...sometimes he catches the folks that he's achasing.


Sources:

Black Bartimore (adapted and retold by Cher'ley Grogg from A Folklore of Black Bartelmy's Ghost)

Photo by mayakamina