Legends abound about the Banker Ponies and how they got to Ocracoke Island.
One story credits Spanish explorers De Soto or Cortez as having brought them as they searched for gold on their way eastward to the Mississippi and Mexico.
Another tale indicates that a ship, the "Black Squall", was carrying a circus troupe and animals when it went down during a storm. All hands aboard and all but two horses perished.
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