Gray spent most of his youth in Georgetown, South Carolina, just south of the beach community of Pawley's Island—and when he learned about the "Gray Man," the legendary ghost of Pawley's Island, he knew he had found his alter ego.
The Gray Man first appeared on Pawley's Island, South Carolina, in 1822, to a young woman vacationing in the then-resort town of North Inlet. She was convinced he was the ghost of her suitor, who had died in a marshy area near Middleton Pond. The next day her father took her and the whole family to Charleston, and a hurricane struck the coast. The storm lasted two days, and killed almost everyone in North Inlet.
The Gray Man appeared again in 1893, just before a tidal wave struck Pawley's Island. He appeared twice in 1954: once in April, just before a tornado-laden storm struck the island, and again in October, before Hurricane Hazel destroyed most of the island.
According to the legend, those who see the Gray Man and heed his warnings will not be harmed when the storms come.
A segment of Unsolved Mysteries was produced about the Gray Man, but is not available at this time because of a copyright dispute