Shandi Sturgill

It is well past midnight when the commotion wakes her. Sleep had not come easily, and she’s agitated to be reawakened. Her mind has been at war since Aaron died six months ago. If only Joseph was here, he would be able to help calm her. After eleven years of marriage, he had become adept at pulling her out of her melancholy. However, because of his work he must remain in South Carolina, and she’s forced to take this journey alone. At least it will reunite her with her beloved father, and eponym of her dear son, Aaron Burr. She hasn’t seen her father in several years. He’d been forced to seclude himself in Europe and had just recently been able to safely return to New York.So now she is alone on this dismal schooner. She’d had to stifle a laugh when she saw its name. The Patriot. It’s more than fitting for the daughter of a Revolutionary War veteran. The captain has made good on his ambition to make a quick voyage, they must be off the coast of North Carolina by now.

She lays in the darkness listening. Suddenly the sound of the restless ocean beating against the ship is overpowered by the thundering of numerous heavy footsteps running on the deck overhead. Then the ship gives a powerful jolt. The painting she has carefully stored in the corner of her cabin clammers to the floor. This is enough to fully escalate her frustration. The portrait is to be a gift for her father. It had cost a small fortune, and all she can do now is send up a feeble prayer to the universe that it hasn’t been damaged.

The cacophony on deck has grown increasingly loud. Between the ceaseless noise and her growing frustration, she’ll just have to accept that there will be no sleep tonight. She climbs out of bed and returns the portrait to its place before she slowly ascends to the deck. The crew are running about seemingly aimlessly. Then everything fades into the blackness of the night sky.

What happened to her that night has been lost to history, and reborn as folklore. Some say The Patriot was ran aground, and her crew and passengers murdered, by the “Carolina Bankers”. In this version her lifeless body washed up in Cape Charles in Virginia. A man named Foster Haley claimed he had uncovered evidence that the ship was overtaken by pirates who murdered all onboard. Others have also believed that the ship was wrecked during a storm, and she was rescued by a Karankawa warrior. As an expression of gratitude, she gave him a golden locket engraved with her name, Theodosia, before dying in his arms. 

Some have alleged to see her, even now on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A spectral young woman pacing Nags Head Beach. Eternally trying to return home to New York, and to her father