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An ammo can filled with trading items. Although it is not hidden at the cemetary or plantation site described below, it is still close enough that you may get a glimpse of Henry Gatling's ghost on a moonlit night.
To see the gatling fmily cemetery, go north on route 258 another mile past the cache, Gatling Road will be on your left, after you turn down Gatling road, if you go about 0.3 miles, you will see a white obelisk in the middle of a farmer's field on your right - the Gatling Family cemetery. It's on private land, so do not explore it without permission!!
The Following is reprinted from Daniel W. Barefoot's book, "Seaside Spectres" (2002, John F. Blair, publisher):
Located on US 258 approximately a mile and a half north of historic Murfreesboro, the Gatling family cemetary is all that remains of the homestead that produced two brothers who were among the greatest inventors in North Carolina history. Buried within the iron fence here is James Henry Gatling (1816-1879), the older of the two imaginative and creative brothers. His more famous younger brother, Richard Jordan Gatling, was two years his junior.
In 1849, Richard was working as a store owner in his native county when he developed his first invention: the screw propellor for steam vessels. In 1844, Richard moved to the midwest, where he matured into one of the most talented inventors in American history. His most famous invention, a machine gun with a revolving cluster of barrels, revolutionized wafare after it was introduced in the 1860s. Unfortunately, the Gatling gun never achieved the purpose for which it was intended by its inventor. Richard once told friends back home in Murfreesboro, "It occurred to me if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hndred, that it would, to a great extent, supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease be greatly diminished."
While Richard was achieving international notoriety as an inventor, older brother Henry was busy back in Hertford County managing the family plantation. Using his own creativ genius, Henry invented several machines - a cotton thinner and a cotton stalk cutter among them - to mahe the plantation more profitable. He also spent time and money on developing human flight several decades before the Wright Brothers would successfully do it a bit farther east in North Carolina. According to a story in the Raleigh Register of March 19, 1872, Henry was "at the old homestead, busy at work on a machine, that is destined someday to eclipse the famous gun, and fly triumphant over time, space, and water."
Tragically, before Henry could realize his dream, he was savagely murdered by a deranged local man on the morning of September 2, 1879. Reports indicate that he was wounded in the face by a shotgun blast and that his head was clubbed with a blunt object. When questioned about ehy he killed Henry Gatling, the murderer indicated that he was angry because the victim had refused to give him a ride the day before the assault.
Following Henry's burial, the Gatling plantation was the site of three more grisley deaths within a fairly short span. First, a worker was killed when he was caught in the saws of a cotton gin. A few years later, the sonof the plantation's new owner died when he fell into a peanut picker. Finally, an intoxicated black servant froze to death on the grounds.
In the aftermath of Henry's murder and the other deaths, reports of strange goings-on around the old homeplace began to circulate. Farm workers reported being followed by a ghost that sometimes touched their shoulders. Local residents became convinced that the ghost was that of Richard Gatling, who had come home to avenge his brother's death.
Others have encountered the spirit of Henry Himself. They believe that the restless soul walks the old plantation grounds to ensure that no furthr violence occurs there. Night after night, the ghost patrols the lane that led to the house. On one cold winter morning, Henry's ghost is said to have smashed a glass jar over the head of a plantation worker in the barn. Still another time, an opossum hunter heard Henry's voice coming from the cemetary. Other folks have seen Henry, as a headless horseman, ride up and down the road near the spot where he was slain.
Even though the Gatling homestead no longer stands, there are those who beleive that Henry cannot rest in his grave. Should you venture up to the old plantation site on a dark night, don't be surprised to encounter the ghost of an inventor who was robbed of his dream on a fateful September morning in 1879.
(Local cacher (sort of - she's from Halifax) NCSupermom has kindly agreed to help me with this cache should there be any problems.)
FYI:
This cache would count for Page 24 on the North Carolina Delorme Challenge (GCTYE6), and for Hertford County on the North Carolina County Challenge (GC19YRC)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
qbpx, qbpx, tbbfr!