Myths and Legends of Our Own Land

America's own folklore, collected county by county: the treasure and the cats at Harry Main's, the headless skeleton of Swamptown, the storm ship of New Haven, and several hundred more.

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Kidd's Treasure: Gibbs

A flat rock on the north shore of Liberty Island, in New York harbor, was also thought to mark the place of this pervasive wealth of the pirates. As late as 1830, Sergeant Gibbs, one of the garrison at the island, tried to unearth it, with the aid of a fortune-teller and a recruit, but they had no sooner reached a box about four feet in length than a being with wings, horns, tail, and a breath, the latter palpable in blue flames, burst from the coffer. Gibbs fell unconscious into the water and narrowly escaped drowning, while his companions ran away, and the treasure may still be there for aught we know.

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