 In celebration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day 2024—which will take place on Wednesday, November 20, 2024—Dare County GIS, in collaboration with the Dare County Library, has created “OBX Folklore,” an interactive map that offers a unique opportunity for users to virtually explore a wide array of spooky places along the Outer Banks—and to delve deeper into the many eerie and mysterious occurrences that have taken place over the years and have ultimately become legends that are passed down from generation to generation.
Discover the rich history behind these mysterious locations and spooky tales—many of which date back several centuries—as the map takes you on a journey that explores the folklore made famous by residents and visitors of the barrier island community.
“We chose stories for the map based on ones we knew growing up or ones that we hadn’t heard that spoke to us,” said Dare County GIS Specialist Kristen Stilson. “The Outer Banks has a long history full of lore to choose from, from Native American tales to modern day frights. This made for a really diverse set of stories to educate and entertain both the readers and us.”
 Screenshot of the interactive map, featuring the story of "The Black Pelican."
Among the many chilling and mysterious stories that are featured in the OBX Folklore Map are the 1880s murder and subsequent haunting at the former Kitty Hawk Lifesaving Station, the mysterious disappearance of the entire 11-man crew of the Carroll A. Deering schooner in 1921 and the 16th century vanishing of the 100-plus colonists at the first English settlement on Roanoke Island—as well as the legends of several larger-than-life characters that range from the suspected witch behind the tale of the Cora Tree in Frisco to the Gray Man who wanders the beaches of Cape Hatteras before a hurricane approaches and the infamous Goat Man that is said to roam the wilderness of Nags Head Woods.
 A 24” x 36” framed poster of the OBX Folklore Map will be raffled off on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at each of the Dare County Library’s three branches:
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Kill Devil Hills Library, 400 Mustian Street, Kill Devil Hills, NC
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Manteo Library, 700 Highway 64/264, Manteo, NC
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Hatteras Library, 57689 N.C. Highway 12, Hatteras, NC
Those who would like to enter for a chance to win one of the framed OBX Folklore Map posters can visit their local Dare County Library branch and fill out a free raffle ticket slip from Thursday, October 31, 2024 through Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Names will be drawn at each library location on GIS Day (Wednesday, November 20, 2024), and the three winners will be notified shortly thereafter.
In addition to displaying an OBX Folklore Map poster and raffle box, all three Dare County Library branches will also provide a display featuring the publications that were used by Dare County GIS Specialist Kristen Stilson, who created the OBX Folklore Map, as well as Dare County Library staff members to conduct research and develop the writeups that accompany each of the items that appear on the interactive resource for all things spooky.
“Working with Kristen Stilson and Dare County GIS on this map was a natural fit for the Dare County Library staff,” says Dare County Librarian Meaghan Leenaarts Beasley. “Not only do we have physical collections of celebrated folklorists, most notably Charles Harry Whedbee, but we also have little-known Outer Banks authors and locally written pamphlets of eerie tales and legends that often go overlooked. While some of these items reside in our reference collections due to their age or rarity and can only be viewed in our libraries, many are available for checkout by the public.”
For more information about the OBX Folklore Map and the raffles to win a framed 24” x 36” inch poster, please contact Dare County GIS Specialist Kristen Stilson at Kristen.Stilson@DareNC.gov or 252-475-5598.
For more information about the array of books and other publications that were used to create the OBX Folklore Map for GIS Day 2024, please contact Dare County Librarian Meaghan Leenaarts Beasely at Meaghan.Beasley@DareNC.gov or Dare County Adult Services Librarian at Theresa.Cozart@DareNC.gov or 252-441-4331.
 Screenshot of the interactive map featuring the story of "The Goat Man."
About Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a system that allows users to create, manage, analyze, map and visualize the world around us by connecting the “what” with the “where.” GIS also allows people to more easily identify patterns, relationships and geographic context in order to better influence decision-making, increase efficiency and improve communication. For additional Dare County mapping resources, including GIS Day maps from past years, please visit DareNC.gov/GIS.
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