Haunting Hurricanes: Meet The Gray Man & The Hundred-Handed Monster

From Native American devils and ancient Greek gods to the Gray Man of Pawleys Island, hurricanes haunt our lives, lore and literature.

(Hurricane Florence shortly after making landfall near Wrightsville Beach, N.C., on Sept. 14, 2018. Provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Here in the South, when the hurricane winds blow and the waters rise, somewhere deep inside us we may remember ancient legends of killer storms long gone by.

Names like Hurricanes Hugo, Gracie, and Katrina haunt us with recent memories and harsh headlines, but there may be something else beneath the surface, older, more deeply rooted in mankind’s shared, ancient psyche that continues to haunt us when the skies turn gray, the waves break, and the winds begin to howl.

Since prehistoric times monster hurricanes have not only wrecked havoc on our lives and communities, but influenced our history, culture, literature, legend and lore.

Meet the Hundred-Handed Monster, the Taino “huracan” devil, and the Gray Man of Pawleys Island, S.C., and then take a stormy tour of hurricane-infested American literature.