You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart radio and Grimm and Mild

from Aaron Manky.

The rugged New England coastline has seen its fair share of tragedy.

The Isle of Sholes, a collection of nine rocky, treeless islands off the coasts of New Hampshire

and Maine, has been cast in the starring role of the human dramas that have played out across

the centuries.

The name of islands comes from two possible places, from the shallow sholes long used for

fishing in these waters, or the schools of fish that swam heartily when Europeans began

showing up.

And with these colonizers, as it often happens, came new monarchers.

Each jet of an island became re-Christianed with names such as Star, White, Cedar, Apple

Door, and the one where our stories take place today.

Smuddy knows.

The islands proved to be a lucrative fishing hub in the early 1600s, and by 1645, as many

as 600 people were braiding their harsh windsweb landscapes.

It was a place that required a certain sturdiness of character and temperament, and attracted

folks who could play that part.

It also attracted pirates.

It was said that the lawless islanders were happy to host these seafaring bandits, and

legend tells us that not only did their treasures still exist there, but so do their ghosts.

Author and resident Celia Thaxter was among the people who wrote of these legends, telling

the story of Philip Bab, the island's butcher, and a rumored pirate associate, who purportedly

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