Young hoggees (mule drivers) often played tricks on new boys when they tied up near the Rome Swamp. A group would build a fire and sit around it telling ghost stories. Then, someone would speak about the terrible ghost that haunted the swamp, a ghost so horrible that if anyone saw it his hair would turn white as new fallen snow and he never again would be able to speak, and so on. Then gradually they would leave, leaving the new boy along by the dying fire. As he sat there, nervously looking over his shoulder, a moan would be heard and a white shape would rise out of the swamp. With a yell, the boy would run for the boat, convinced that he had seen the dread ghost of the swamp.