For more than 15 years, the region's most popular resident didn't live in a historic home in the heart of Wilmington but in a tight concrete bunker in the marsh of Fort Fisher. Robert E. Harrill is now known widely as The Hermit of Fort Fisher, who lived off the land, entertained tourists and died mysteriously -- all of which have created one of the region's most circulated legends.
On this week's episode, local filmmaker Rob Hill, who directed a 2006 documentary on the Hermit, joins the conversation to talk about his research and the growing myth surrounding Robert's death.
Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram.
Additional editing by Adam Fish. Recorded at WHQR in downtown Wilmington.
A StarNews Media Production, sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry.
Sources:
"The Hermit of Fort Fisher" documentary, directed by Rob Hill
"The Story of Robert E. Harrill, the Fort Fisher Hermit," by Michael F. Edwards
"The Last Battle for Independence: The Story of the Fort Fisher Hermit," by Michael F. Edwards
"The Reluctant Hermit of Fort Fisher," by Fred Pickler
Adverse Possessions: The True Story of Robert E. Harrill," by Michael F. Edwards
"Memoirs of Robert E. Harrill," by Michael F. Edwards
Revolution Comes to the Cape Fear
Althea: Queen of the Court
The House Built on Wilmington's First Jail
WASPs, Warships and Wartime Wilmington
Burial Grounds of the Cape Fear
Panic and Plague: The 1918 Spanish Influenza
Wilmington's Trailblazing Women
Highland Charge: Scots in the Cape Fear
BONUS EPISODE: The Fort Anderson Flag
The Bombardment of Fort Anderson
Wrightsville Beach and the Dread God of Fire
The Fateful Fall of Fort Fisher
The Cape Fear Indians
If Ghosts Should Walk in Thalian Hall
The Ghost of General Whiting
Season of the Witch
Ghost on the Water
The Spirits of Poplar Grove
Moonshiners, Bootleggers and the Devil's Brew
The Life and Liberty of Cornelius Harnett
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