Haunted Jaunts
Celebrate Halloween with a walk on the weird side.

By Bruce McCabe
GLOBE STAFF

And on the North Shore at Old Burial Hill, Jim McCabe of New England Ghost Tours speaks in hushed tones of the legend of Edward Diamond, whose commands – “Hard Starboard!” “Hard right!” shouted from the top of the hill – were said to have miraculously guided ships hundreds of miles away in the Atlantic’s storm tossed waters.

"I think these tours appeal to a lot of people," says Jim McCabe, who started offering tours this year. "They appeal to people interested in the history of New England, people with a little adventure in their hearts, people who appreciate scenery and historic buildings and -perhaps most important - people who have experienced supernatural phenomena in their lives. That covers men and women and children of all ages."

If it's the spectacle of specters that appeals, McCabe (no relation to the writer) has places to take you. McCabe's tour features such highlights as the Screeching Lady of Marblehead (at "Screeching Lady Beach"), Aunt Creese's Haunted Lane in Marblehead, and the opportunity to look out over to Baker's Island in Salem Harbor for a possible glimpse of a 10-foot-tall demon, a former sea captain who sold his soul to the devil for the chance to escape from his hazardous life at sea and return to his wife on the island that was their home.

The legend of Edward Diamond may be McCabe's happiest story. Diamond, or "The Wizard," yelled his commands around the late 1600s and was said to have worn an indigo cape. To this day, some say he can be heard barking his commands during big storms. He also has been seen darting among the gravestones on Burial Hill in his indigo cape.

McCabe's most horrifying story is that of the Screeching Lady. Standing on the sidewalk overlooking a small cove in Marblehead, McCabe recounts how pirates killed 150 passengers on a ship, then stripped them of their jewels and finery. The sole survivor, a beautiful Englishwoman, had a ring that the pirates were unable to get off her finger. The woman jumped ship and swam onto the Marblehead beach, where pirates followed and captured her. They tried to slip her ring off again, but couldn't. "Lord Jesus, save me!" she cried, but the people living in the area, afraid of getting involved, hid in their houses.

"Finally,” says McCabe, "the pirates strangled her and cut off her finger to get at the ring. Her body was found on the beach the next morning. There are those who say there are nights when you can still hear her cries in the wind. A waitress who works nights in a restaurant nearby said she's seen the black shadow of a woman - maybe the woman - some nights."

McCabe isn't an actor, but a natural storyteller who inherited the gift from his grandfather, who told tales back in his native western Ireland.