TAR HEEL PROFILE
k .
BvAdcIc Grier
The Man Who Drank
From Blackboard’s Skull
( Charles Whcdbec was a respected judge and a lifelong
preserver of Outer Banks folklore.
II is said that anyone who drinks from
i lie skull ol the pirate Blarkbeard will
be fxissesscd of a sudden vitality and
strength.
( Charles I larrv Whedbce never re|>orled
such results, hut ( h eenville’s late chief div
trie! court judge did alleged!) drink
from the skull on one ol his many trips
to the coast. He preserved that and
other stories for postetitv through his
book Klaekbratd's Cup and Stunt's of thr
Outer Hanks, his lilth about Outei Ikuiks
folklore.
Whedbce died unexpectedly of
pneumonia in September, at age 79.
just months after I < onducted 'dial like-
lv was his last interview. At the lime, he
still was looking for the skull, which he
hadn't seen in more than 50vears. He
offered SI.(HK) to anyone who could
present it to him so that lie could verily
whether it was the real thing.
"I never had anything in my life
intpt ess me as much as that did at that
time." Ire said. “Myage (made me) very
impressionable.... I just want to know
il it is that skull or if it was a big hoax.”
Through his Ixniks. radio and tele¬
vision appearances. Whedbce became
one of the state’s foremost experts on
(1951-1967), and Pitt County district court
judge from HHiS until his retirement in 1980.
1 le maintained an active gener.il law practice
until several weeks liefore his death.
Even after his childhood. Whcdbec was
wooed back to Nags I lead each summer. Of
V
У
Ф
Judge Charles Harry I Vhedbee
beach in front of a big bonfire. Anyone
unable to provide a talc, true or made up.
was dipped in the ocean. “I always had
enough stories,' Wliedbee said. “I lowever,
I had to cat ry some of the others into the
ocean."
Whcdbec started writing to preserve those
stories, which were an integral |>art of the
( >utcr Banks heritage. As more of the older
people died, the legends passed down for
generations started disappearing.
"Вас к
in
those davs. most people could neither read
nor write." Wliedbee explained. "Nobody
was putting the stories down. They weren’t
available anywhere. I wanted to put them
down."
Whedbce published his first book of short
stories, lairs of theDis mal Swamp. while a stu¬
dent at I NC. Radio and television exposure
helped him perfect his storytelling
skills.
During the '30s. he worked lor a year
lisa disc j»x kev on Greenville radio sta¬
tion YVWED. From the '60s through last
spring, he appeared on the television
show C/mrlina /"day. ( loinpressing sto¬
ries into two-, three- and four-minute
segments taught him how to get his
idea across in as few words as possible.
"1
!«•
had a way of telling a story that
really captured me." recalled Slim
Short, co-host of Carolina Today.
ЛУЪе-
thei he was talking about a sunset, a
ghost or a shipwreck, I was there, living
every minute of it because he was so
descriptive."
John F. Blair, the Winston-Salem
publisher, heard Wliedbee on TV
and approached him about writing
a book about the Outer Banks. Blair
accepted the first draft and published
it in 1966 under the title Legends of
the Outer Hanks. It still is the com-
Eastern North Carolina history and folk
tales. Born in Greenville on May IS, 191 1,
he attended Greenville schools but vaca¬
tioned with his family in Nags I lead evet v
summer. With the help of a football schol-
atship. three part-time jobs and an uncle's
financial aid. he completed
«
ollege and then
law school in 1932 at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel I fill.
Returning to Greenville, he Ik-< ante law
clerk under Judge Frank Wooten Sr. I le latei
served as Pitt County solic itor ( 1936-1947).
Greenville municipal recorder's court judge
coin se, traveling there in later life was much
easiet titan in the early days. In the old davs.
families came In boat and brought their own
staples. Thev also brought chickens, dogs,
pigs and cows.
The native people furnished fish and
fresh vegetables. There was no electricity,
roads or plumbing," Whcdliec said. “My first
recollection of Nags I lead is of wonderful
people, a private beach. 13 cottages on the
ocean side, with all the miles of beach you
wanted to play in."
At night, storytellers shared tales on the
pany's all-time best seller, with more than
75,000 copies sold.
Four other books followed: Thr Flaming
Ship of
Остатке
and Other Tales of the Outer
Hanks, Outer Hanks Tales to Hrmnnbn. Outer
Hanks
Л
lystenes and Seaside Stones and Blade-
trend's (up and Stones of the Outer Hanks, pub¬
lished in 1989.
Two of those books are dedicated to his
wife of 55 years. Rachel. “She is my dearest
friend and severest critic.” Whedbce said.
"She will tell me in no uncertain terms when
she- thinks I’m wrong. Usually she is right.
И.
,it R.hct lUv.IV,-
The Slate/Maich 1991
18
