Ghosts
The Ghost of Phillip Babb

An artist’s depiction of a ghostly butcher with a large knife. Photo credit: wikiart.
The Isles of Shoals are filled with stories of pirates, shipwrecks, murders and ghosts. One of the most well-known of these is the ghost of the infamous Phillip Bab.
The Isles of Shoals
A map of the Isles of Shoals. Image credit: Wikipedia.
The Isles of Shoals are a small group of islands off the East Coast of the United States near Maine and New Hampshire. They have been occupied for more than 400 years, initially by fishing communities and have more recently become a home to a small community as well as a large seasonal hotel and a marine research facility.
Who was Phillip Babb?
Phillip Babb was born around 1634 in England. He married a woman named Mary and had several children. Babb lived on Appledore Island in The Isles of Shoals and worked as an innkeeper, butcher and a police constable. Legend has it that he was a pirate in his younger days and chose to retire to a more peaceful life on the Isles.
Babb was not particularly well liked on the island of Appledore. He was known as being a rude, evil and loathsome man, always wearing a bloodstained butcher’s frock with a large knife sheathed on his belt.
He lived on the southern side of Appledore Island in a small cottage near the cove. It is documented that he forced another islander to dig a large hole near the cove for some unknown reason. It is speculated that Babb had either acquired some gold is his pirate days or happened to find some on the island and used this hole to bury it for safekeeping.
Phillip Babb died in the 3rd of March 1671 but his spirit is not at rest. It is said he is still roaming the island causing havoc to this day.
Sightings of the Ghost of Phillip Babb
Phillip Babb’s body was buried in his family plot on Appledore Island, but his ghost still roams the island, especially near the cove, watching over where his precious treasure once hid.
A local man was working late in his workshop one evening when he a wild looking man running towards him. At first he thought it was one of his friends playing a prank on him. As the figure grew closer he realised it had the grey, hideous face of a corpse and terrifying sunken eyes.
The angry apparition then drew a giant butcher’s knife from its belt and held it up to the frightened local’s face. The man immediately ran home without looking back.
Another island dweller saw a mysterious figure wandering around aimlessly in the night at Babb’s Cove. The man knew everyone who lived on the island but could not identify this person walking the cove in the night. The dark figure began to approach the witness, making no sound as it moved.
As it got closer the man recognized the figure as Phillip Babb with his giant form, black eye sockets and slightly reflective butcher’s frock. The man shouted at the specter who quickly moved away down the path before vanishing.
Many other locals have stories of run-ins with the terribly unpleasant ghost of Phillip Babb, always seeing him with his giant knife and butcher’s frock.
A huge storm in 1851 filled in the hole where Babb’s treasure was supposedly buried and it is now covered with a coast guard house. No one knows for sure what happened to Phillip Bab’s treasure but his spirit will forever roam the land protecting where it once lay.
If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy reading about a ghostly Old Coot or the Dungarvon Whooper.
Ghosts
Walking Sam: The Suicide Spirit of Pine Ridge

Walking Sam: The Suicide Spirit. Photo: Ranker.
In 2015 a spree of suicides took place in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Some believe these were caused by an evil spirit called Walking Sam.
Who is Walking Sam?
An artist’s depiction of Walking Sam. Photo: Ranker
Walking Sam is known by various names, including “Tall Man” and “Stovepipe Hat Bigfoot.” He is a towering figure standing at seven feet tall and has eyes but no mouth, sometimes wearing a stove-pipe hat.
When he raises his arms, people can see the bodies of his past victims hanging beneath him. Walking Sam is said to call out to teenagers and try to convince them that they are worthless, urging them to take their own lives. Some believe that he targets young people because they are more vulnerable to his manipulations.
According to Native American legends, Walking Sam is an ancient being closely linked to “Stick Indians,” who are dark and shadowy spirit entities.
Kids grow up hearing spooky stories about these evil forces that haunt reservations and try to lure unsuspecting victims to their doom. They’re always followed by a creepy cloud of death that just hangs around them.
If you hear whistling, it might be one of these Stick Indians nearby. But if you follow the sound, you could get paralyzed, hypnotized, or even lose your mind completely.
If you disrespect them, they’ll hold a grudge and seek revenge no matter what. Some tribes are so scared of them that they won’t even talk about them, so we don’t know everything about these beings. But Walking Sam is supposed to be one of the most powerful ones.
There are those who believe that Walking Sam represents the pain and trauma that the Lakota Indians endure on a daily basis. Given the deep spiritual connection that the Lakota people have with their land and heritage, some see Walking Sam as a physical embodiment of this suffering.
The Pine Ridge Suicides
A video telling the story of Walking Sam
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is located near the Black Hills of South Dakota and is home to the Oglala Lakota tribe. It’s one of the largest Indian reservations in the US. Sadly, Pine Ridge has a sad past as hundreds of Lakota Indians were killed during the Wounded Knee Massacre.
It’s one of the poorest counties in the US. In 2015, a number of young people committed suicide on the reservation, and some people thought that supernatural forces like the legendary Walking Sam were to blame.
From December 2014 to March 2015, there were a staggering 103 suicide attempts, with nine of them being successful, and tragically, none of the victims were older than twenty-five.
The majority of those who died had used hanging as the method of suicide. Although there had been other clusters of suicides in previous years, this was the largest. As the community struggled to understand and deal with the crisis, some looked to traditional Native American beliefs for answers.
Lakota children are raised hearing stories about “suicide spirits,” “stick people,” and shadow people who try to lure young people away from their homes at night. These stories may have evolved over time, influenced by the popularity of Slender Man, into the figure now known as Walking Sam.
Walking Sam Sightings
During meetings of reservation officials, one of the topics that often comes up is Walking Sam. These officials advise reservation members to avoid walking on the streets at night as it would be an ideal time for Walking Sam to approach his victims.
Several residents have expressed concern and requested the police to keep a lookout for Walking Sam. Many residents have reported seeing his shadow and have shared their encounters with the police. Some residents have even reported hearing whistling sounds coming from nowhere.
Have you ever seen Walking Sam? Let us know in the comments.
If you enjoyed learning about Walking Sam you might also be interested in Diao Si Gui: Chinese Hanged Ghosts or La Ciguapa: The Woman with Backwards Feet.
Ghosts
Diao Si Gui: Chinese Hanged Ghosts

A Diao Si Gui or Hanged Ghost. Photo: Cryptid Wiki
According to Chinese legend, Diao Si Gui are the souls of those who took their own lives or were executed. These spirits may manifest as a body with a protruding, lengthy red tongue and attempt to persuade those who cross their path to join them in the world beyond.
The Legend of the Diao Si Gui
Diao Si Gui, or Hanged Ghosts can be created in two ways: when a person takes their own life by hanging or when they are executed by hanging as a punishment for their crimes.
The more prolonged and painful the death, such as by slow suffocation instead of a quick snap of the neck, the greater the likelihood of them becoming a Diao Si Gui.
These ghosts are said to haunt the vicinity of the location where they committed suicide and are often depicted with a noose around their neck, dangling feet, and long red tongues hanging from their mouths.
It is believed that one should avoid making eye contact with a Dio Si Gui as they may lure you into a hypnotic state and persuade you to hang yourself.
In some versions of the legend, if the ghost successfully persuades someone to hang themselves, that person becomes a Hanged Ghost while the original ghost goes free.
Other versions suggest that a Hanged Ghost is not limited to a specific location and can torment a person for days, gradually convincing them to take their own life. When the time is right, the ghost will appear to the person in a high place and lower a noose to them.
Stories About Diao Si Gui
In the Chinese Fairy Book by Dr. R. Wilhelm (1921), there is a story known as The Hanged Ghost, which tells the tale of a soldier seeking refuge for the night in an old, run-down temple.
While there, he witnesses a female ghost descending from the rafters, unaware of his presence in the shadows. Intrigued, he follows her to a farmhouse where he discovers the ghost urging a young mother and her child to hang themselves. The soldier intervenes, saving the woman’s life and causing the ghost to flee.
On his way back to the temple, the soldier takes the rope left behind by the ghost, but she appears on the road and demands that he give it back.
He refuses and wraps the rope around his arm, causing the ghost to transform and attack him. The soldier defends himself by flinging his own blood at the ghost, causing her to retreat. He continues his journey with the rope now part of his arm, unfazed by the encounter.
A video telling the tale of Diao Si Gui or hanged ghosts
Possible Explanations for the Diao Si Gui
It is possible that the legend of the hanged ghost came about as a way to help families come to terms with the unexpected suicides of their loved ones. It’s easier to believe that a loved one may have been manipulated in to killing them self by a spirit than it is to believe that they wanted to die.
Have you ever seen a Diao Sui Gui or Hanged Ghost? Let us know in the comments.
If you enjoyed learning about the Diao Sui Gui you might also be interested in the mysterious stain left behind by the body of Margaret Schilling or how the ghost of Teresita Basa solved her own murder.
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