Normsel
Bronze Member
- Sep 10, 2012
- 1,191
- 813
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- E-Trac
Equinox 800
Equinox 600
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
I have made no less than 10 trips to the MS gulf coast in the last five years. I am now moving there in Oct 2014.
I have always been one to find the local mom and pop restaurants and coffee shops to learn about local customs and tidbits of local history. I have frequented about 5 different restaurants every time i go there and have gotten to know some locals and some proprietors.
One afternoon I stopped in a restaurant in the Gulfport/Biloxi area to have lunch and being about 2:30 in the afternoon I happened to be the only customer. I talked with the waitress and owner and we started to share stories of where I am from and local stories of the area. Many families in the area are descendants of the 1st people to settle the area.
As the story goes and the waitress backed it up with what she had heard from her family back in 1850 or so there was a local man that burglarized a steamer that was in port. He dressed as a deckhand and boarded the ship. Because there was so much activity with people boarding and leaving no one noticed. He went to the cabin area and kept his eye on passengers as they left their rooms to go to the deck and wave goodbye to friends and family. As soon as they would leave he would enter the room go through their belongings and steal anything worthwhile he could easily hide in his pouch he carried. He is said to have burglarized at least 15 cabins before he left.
Being a poor man he never flaunted his new found wealth instead spent it little by little. The rings and jewelry he had stolen he would sell at the port to passengers of incoming ships. He also a pretty accomplished pick pocket and would often come back from the port with a pretty handsome amount of cash he pickpocket from wealthy passengers.
Over the years the man became known and wheeler dealer and would buy and sell most anything for a profit. Locals suspected he had become wealthy doing this. This mans house had been broken into several times by burglars hoping to find his gold coins and jewelry. No one ever seemed to find a thing even though they would thoroughly ransack his home. He had boasted to some of his closest friends that his pet cottonmouth protected his gold coins and jewelry. He said he kept his coins and jewelry in the cottonmouth den.
As the man got in in years be bought a home that appeared to be well beyond his means but he paid cash for it. As the story goes he kept his previous home and that is where his cache was stored. Within a cpl of years his new home to burned to the ground. Not long after that his other home burned and he died in the fire. Many people searched the ruins of both homes but never found anything. His brother reported that there was no less than $25000 in gold coins lost. The man's son backed up the story and said his father was going to tell the family where the cottonmouth den was and how to retrieve the gold coins safely before his death.
I asked where the location of the two homes and both the waitress and the owner of the restaurant said I wouldn't go there if I was you the property is haunted. I asked what area it was in and they said north of highway 90 and south of I-10. I said what's the secret. They said no secret it always been understood that if anyone told where they thought the cottonmouth den might be they would suffer bad luck for years to come and they weren't willing to risk it. I said so you know where it may be but won't say for fear of bad luck. They said not really only a general area but they wouldn't risk bad luck even saying that.
I left that afternoon feeling it was all a bunch of baloney and the two of them seemed to feed off from each other while telling the story. On the other hand it seemed somewhat plausible.
Since the area was settled so long ago i am sure there are many myths and legends about the area.
I have always been one to find the local mom and pop restaurants and coffee shops to learn about local customs and tidbits of local history. I have frequented about 5 different restaurants every time i go there and have gotten to know some locals and some proprietors.
One afternoon I stopped in a restaurant in the Gulfport/Biloxi area to have lunch and being about 2:30 in the afternoon I happened to be the only customer. I talked with the waitress and owner and we started to share stories of where I am from and local stories of the area. Many families in the area are descendants of the 1st people to settle the area.
As the story goes and the waitress backed it up with what she had heard from her family back in 1850 or so there was a local man that burglarized a steamer that was in port. He dressed as a deckhand and boarded the ship. Because there was so much activity with people boarding and leaving no one noticed. He went to the cabin area and kept his eye on passengers as they left their rooms to go to the deck and wave goodbye to friends and family. As soon as they would leave he would enter the room go through their belongings and steal anything worthwhile he could easily hide in his pouch he carried. He is said to have burglarized at least 15 cabins before he left.
Being a poor man he never flaunted his new found wealth instead spent it little by little. The rings and jewelry he had stolen he would sell at the port to passengers of incoming ships. He also a pretty accomplished pick pocket and would often come back from the port with a pretty handsome amount of cash he pickpocket from wealthy passengers.
Over the years the man became known and wheeler dealer and would buy and sell most anything for a profit. Locals suspected he had become wealthy doing this. This mans house had been broken into several times by burglars hoping to find his gold coins and jewelry. No one ever seemed to find a thing even though they would thoroughly ransack his home. He had boasted to some of his closest friends that his pet cottonmouth protected his gold coins and jewelry. He said he kept his coins and jewelry in the cottonmouth den.
As the man got in in years be bought a home that appeared to be well beyond his means but he paid cash for it. As the story goes he kept his previous home and that is where his cache was stored. Within a cpl of years his new home to burned to the ground. Not long after that his other home burned and he died in the fire. Many people searched the ruins of both homes but never found anything. His brother reported that there was no less than $25000 in gold coins lost. The man's son backed up the story and said his father was going to tell the family where the cottonmouth den was and how to retrieve the gold coins safely before his death.
I asked where the location of the two homes and both the waitress and the owner of the restaurant said I wouldn't go there if I was you the property is haunted. I asked what area it was in and they said north of highway 90 and south of I-10. I said what's the secret. They said no secret it always been understood that if anyone told where they thought the cottonmouth den might be they would suffer bad luck for years to come and they weren't willing to risk it. I said so you know where it may be but won't say for fear of bad luck. They said not really only a general area but they wouldn't risk bad luck even saying that.
I left that afternoon feeling it was all a bunch of baloney and the two of them seemed to feed off from each other while telling the story. On the other hand it seemed somewhat plausible.
Since the area was settled so long ago i am sure there are many myths and legends about the area.
