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In the mid-eighteenth
century a small Acadian settlement, led by Charles des Champs de Boishebert, used French Fort Cove as a battery against the
impending British forces. As if the threat of the British was not enough, the settlement was also plagued with leprosy
and many were confined to the leper colony now known as Sheldrake Island.
Sister Marie Inconnu was a well-loved
and trusted member of this community, and so she was entrusted with a great secret. A group of Acadian widows and orhans
had collected their valuables and buried them in the cove for safe keeping, and only Sister Marie and two Acadian widows knew
of its location.
Soon after the treasure was buried, the two widows died of scurvy, and it was known in the
camp that Sister Marie was the only person who knew the whereabouts of the treasure. One evening Sister Marie was returning
to the camp after helping a Mi'kmaq woman through a difficult childbirth. As she passed the bridge over Crow Brook
she was attacked by two men, mad with leprosy, who wished to find the treasure and secure themselves passage from Miramichi.
Although severely beaten, Sister Marie refused to divulge the whereabouts of the treasure and in a fit of rage one of the
men severed her head with his sword. Her head was thrown into the waters of the cove and her body was left to rot on
the bridge.
The French troops who discovered her body the next morning ensured that her body was returned
to France to be buried in the family crypt, but her head was never recovered. It is said that without her head Sister
Marie Inconnu was not able to rest in peace and still haunts the cove, horrifying all visitors who hear her plea, "Please
find my head and return it to my body and set my soul free. I will pay you a handsome sum for this service."
The treasure of French Fort Cove remains a mystery and it is said that those who go in search of it are fiercely
greeted by its guardian - "The Headless Nun"
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