Blackbeard’s Ghost

Edward Teach * better known as Blackbeard is considered the fiercest pirate that ever lived. This is credited more to his appearance than his actions.

A Scary Pirate

Teach was taller than most men of his time. He had long dark hair and a bushy black beard.

He loved to intimidate his enemies when he captured their ships in battle. He would board their ships with “slow-burning’ fuses in his hair and around his shoulders.

The sight of him smoldering, holding several pistols, and knives strapped to his waist was enough for many of his enemies to surrender without a shot being fired.

Reality

Some sources state Teach was an educated Englishman, but his background is still hotly debated today. What is known is the fact that Edward Teach was no better or worse than any other pirate.

History reflects his main goal was to gain loot or money not to gain vengeance or bloodshed. This does not mean he was not a violent man he was, but historians note he treated people fairly who cooperated with him.

Teach plied his trade for two years--1717 to 1718 along the route from the West Indies to the waters along the southeastern coastline that later would become a part of the United States.

He commandeered a British ship called Concorde in 1717. Blackbeard rigged her with 40 cannons--the usual 26 were not enough for him. He renamed this ship, “The Queen Anne’s Revenge.”

One well-known adventure Teach was involved in reflects his real character. He blockaded Charleston’s harbor when his men desperately needed medicine.

He kept a councilman and his young son hostage until a fully equipped medicine chest was delivered.

Teach, like many pirates attacked slave ships with human cargo. His trusted second in command, Black Caesar was a former black slave whose ship Blackbeard boarded and then freed all the slaves.

Most pirate ships at the time freed African slaves. Many of these men then became a part of their crews.

Blackbeard, despite being a fierce opponent in battle, was said to be a “lover” at heart. He supposedly took a dozen wives. He treated each dotingly until another caught his eye.

In 1718 he briefly retired from piracy and married his latest “love.” But his friends lured him back to the sea.

Blackbeard’s Death

Blackbeard often sheltered his ship in a cove by Ocracoke Island--a barrier island in the Outer Banks--off the coast of North Carolina. This area is called Teach’s Hole. **

Lured back into piracy Teach attended a party in this cove with several other captains. They made such a loud uproar that nearby Virginia residents complained.

The governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood hired Lieutenant Robert Maynard in command of the sloop Jane to capture Blackbeard. In November of 1718, Maynard caught up with the pirate in Teach’s Hole.

A fierce battle ensued and Maynard decided to trick Teach. He sent most of his men below decks and then enticed the pirate to board his ship.

As Blackbeard and his men boarded the Jane, Maynard’s British crew swarmed out of the ship’s hole. Maynard personally fought Blackbeard who suffered 30 stab wounds and 5 gunshots.

Teach collapsed on the deck and died of blood loss. The Jane crew cut off his head and displayed it on the ship’s bowsprit. *** They then threw his headless body overboard.

Haunted Teach’s Hole

According to legend Blackbeard’s headless body was then seen swimming around the Jane before it disappeared beneath the waves. At the same time, it was noted his separated head shrieked.

It is said Blackbeard’s ghost haunts the area where he died. Witnesses claim to have seen his body swimming in circles in Teach’s Hole. It is also reported that where he is seen swimming a bright light glows beneath the water.

This light is known as Teach’s Light.

Others state they have seen his ghost rise out of the water holding a lantern--he then walks ashore. It is said his boots leave no footprints. It is believed he is looking for his head.

Eerily on stormy nights along this beach witnesses state they have heard a deep voice that crosses the wind. It is heard bellowing, “Where is my head?”

* Edward Teach’s last name is sometimes listed as Thatch or Tash.

** Teach’s Hole is located in Pamlico Sound just off Springer’s Point.

*** A bowsprit is a type of spar--pole--that extends from the front of a sailing vessel. It is here jibs, and forestays are fastened.

Jean Lafitte: Pirate Ghost

In the early 19^th century Jean Lafitte was known for his piracy in the Gulf of Mexico, he was also known for his heroism during the Battle of New Orleans. 

But did his good traits cancel out his bad characteristics? 

On three separate occasions, U.S. presidents condemned and then exonerated and again condemned his actions. Some considered him a hero; others considered him a rogue. Either way, he was one of the most colorful characters in history.

Lafitte hated being called a pirate.

“I am not a pirate—I am a Corsair (owner of) a privateer.”

                                                                                Jean Lafitte

Louisiana became a United States territory in 1804 with the Louisiana Purchase. In 1805 Jean and his elder brother Pierre operated a warehouse in New Orleans—they used it to dispense the goods Pierre smuggled. 

When the U.S. government passed the Embargo Act of 1807, the brothers moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay. 

By 1810 this new port was a success, and the bothers continued smuggling and started to engage in piracy. Through this activity, Jean Lafitte gained a fleet of ships.

President Madison put the Embargo Act in place to stop American ships from docking at foreign ports—it was hoped this act would ensure Americans would not trade with either Britain or France who was engaged in a war. 

Madison wanted to prevent the appearance that the Americans were favoring one country over the other. This put a great hardship upon American merchants and the economy, especially in the south. 

The embargo didn’t work, and in fact, it was the reason we became involved in the War of 1812 with Britain.

Jean Lafitte being an entrepreneur and astute diplomat was able to take an island in Barataria full of shiftless seafarers, and fisherman and turn them into an organized group of buccaneers, smugglers, and wholesalers. 

From the ships, they plundered off the Caribbean Coast, and the Atlantic he and his crews kept a constant flow of black-market provisions—including negro slaves who were an essential commodity to the south-- moving through the Mississippi Delta to help feed and clothe Louisiana. 

As a result, he won the praise of the local rich and poor alike, and for a time the authorities even turned a blind eye.

Boldly Lafitte advertised his market days on billboards and posters throughout New Orleans:

COME ONE! COME ALL!

TO JEAN LAFITTE'S

BAZAAR & SLAVE AUCTION

TOMORROW

AT THE TEMPLE

***FOR YOUR DELIGHT***

CLOTHING GEMS & KNICK-KNACKS

FROM THE SEVEN SEAS

“The Temple” was named after an ancient Indian sacrificial altar. Lafitte and his brother chose this spot because it was accessible and halfway between New Orleans and Barataria Bay.

Barataria Bay

Jean Lafitte was considered a gentleman pirate. He never attacked an American ship; in fact, he respected the American Constitution and American ideals. 

He was a man without a country, and he hoped that one day his Barataria island kingdom would become a part of these same ideals. 

Despite Lafitte’s shifty methods his steady supply of clothes, spices and, furniture, etc.—all sold at discount prices—while avoiding high tariffs--helped New Orlean residents survive and thrive.

In 1814 a new territorial governor, W.C.C. Claiborne decided Lafitte should not be accepted into polite society anymore. Claiborne made sure Lafitte was harassed, and that his island home at Barataria was destroyed. 

He then imprisoned Lafitte. But Lafitte proved that America meant more to him than his own personal wealth. With the War of 1812 underway, Americans needed ships and men. Lafitte and his men back at sea in 1815 helped Andrew Jackson protect New Orleans and the entire Mississippi River from the British.

Lafitte National Historical Park and Reserve

His contemporaries described Lafitte as a man of grace and elegant manners—accomplished in conversation. 

Yet this was the man who was often described as the “ferocious head of desperadoes.” Unfortunately, the nation that he trusted did not trust him. 

When he sailed away from American shores for the last time, he felt betrayed by a country that didn’t understand him. Whether he was pirate, thief, businessman, or savior—Jean Lafitte lives on as a hero.

Many witnesses in the Gulf of Mexico report ghostly sightings of Jean Lafitte and his fleet of ships. 

Workers on oil platforms throughout the Gulf state they have seen a billow of sails on the horizon before sunset, always heading east. 

Crews of offshore supply vessels describe hearing the flapping of sail riggings and the cry of phantom voices, calling out commands to their ghostly crews in the Creole patois once spoken in Barataria. 

Small boats have felt the passage of an entire ghostly fleet that is unseen but produces visible white foam where their bows break the waves—finished passing they leave a tremendous wake in the dark waters.

One three-man crew on a charter fishing boat, anchored off the Grand Isle near Barataria Bay in the dead of night reported that they all saw an apparition of a pale man, clad in black and wearing a wide-brim hat such as the one Lafitte wore, standing on the aft deck of their sport fisherman. 

They stated the apparition looked at them forlornly then turned his head in the direction of Louisiana and disappeared before their eyes.

Many believe that when Lafitte’s ghostly fleet is seen it is a protective harbinger that warns something bad or evil is about to befall the Louisiana coast. The apparition of Jean Lafitte and his fleet were spotted just before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

On dry land, the ghost of Lafitte is seen at the Blacksmith shop his brother owned in the French Quarter in New Orleans. 

While alive, Lafitte and his brother were said to plan their raids in this shop. 

Today this structure is a bar. Several witnesses have seen Lafitte sitting in the dark at a table in the rear. He holds a brandy in one hand, and the smell of cigar smoke surrounds him. When they look again, his figure is gone.

 Others state that they have encountered him in the bar’s ladies room.