Dead Pirate Legacy!



It seems as if pirates kept many secrets while alive, but when dead, all bets are off. Pirate ghosts, pirate treasures and even a mass pirate graveyard have been discovered long after they were gone. 

Blackbeard's Ghost

Source: In November of 1718, Blackbeard retreated to his favorite hideaway -- called Teach's Hole -- off Ocracoke Island. There, he hosted a wild pirate party with drinking, dancing and large bonfires. The party lasted for days, and several North Carolina citizens sent word to Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia. Governor Spotswood immediately ordered two sloops, commanded by Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy, to go to Ocracoke and capture the pirate.

On November 21, 1718, Maynard engaged Blackbeard in a terrible battle. One of Maynard's ships were between Blackbeard and freedom. Blackbeard sailed his ship - the Adventure - in towards shore. It looked like the pirate was going to crash his ship, but at the last second the ship eased through a narrow channel. One of the pursuing Navy ships went aground on a sand bar when they tried to pursue the Adventure. Blackbeard fired his cannons at the remaining ship and many of Maynard's men were killed. The rest he ordered below the deck under cover of the gun smoke, hoping to fool the pirates into thinking they had won. When the pirates boarded the ship, Maynard and his men attacked the pirates.


Outnumbered, the pirates put up a bloody fight. Blackbeard and Maynard came face to face. They both shot at each other. Blackbeard's shot missed Maynard, but Maynard's bullet hit the pirate. Blackbeard swung his cutlass and managed to snap off Maynard's sword blade near the hilt. As Blackbeard prepared to deliver the death-blow, one of Maynard's men cut Blackbeard's throat from behind. Blackbeard's blow missed its mark, barely skinning Maynard's knuckles. Infuriated, Blackbeard fought on as the blood spouted from his neck. Maynard and his men rushed the pirate. It took a total of five gunshots and about twenty cuts before Blackbeard fell down dead.


Maynard seemed to think that the only way to ensure that Blackbeard was dead was to remove his head. They hung the head from the bowsprit and threw the pirate's body overboard. As the body hit the water, the head hanging from the bowsprit shouted: "Come on Edward" and the headless body swam three times around the ship before sinking to the bottom.

From that day to this, Blackbeard's ghost has haunted Teach's Hole, forever searching for his missing head. Sometimes, the headless ghost floats on the surface of the water, or swims around and around and around Teach's Hole, glowing just underneath the water. Sometimes, folks see a strange light coming from the shore on the Pamlico Sound side of Ocracoke Island and know that it is "Teach's light". On night's that the ghost light appears, if the wind is blowing inland, you can still hear Blackbeard's ghost tramping up and down and roaring: 'Where's my head?



Pirate Ghosts in Old House Woods


The legend said a band of pirates buried treasure in the woods near the water in Virginia and then took to their ship in the 1600s and died when it sank. 

Their ghosts and a lantern are seen in the woods and the sounds of digging according to local reports.

There is also a report there of a pirate ship at full sail with organs playing as it cruises by and up the shoreline and into the woods!

 

Pirate Mass Grave




LINK: The largest mass pirate grave in America has just been unearthed on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Researchers believe they’ve finally found the resting place of Captain “Black Sam” Bellamy, thought to be the richest pirate ever. The burial site is estimated to be at least 300 years old and the likely result of the sinking of the Whydah Gally in 1717.

This astounding find was made by archaeologists in late March. Though the research team can’t reveal the exact location of the burial site, they have confirmed that more than 100 bodies have been found so far.



Pirates are cloaked in a romantic light for a brutal living, but even in their death, they seem to haunt us. 

Comments

  1. What does a pirate think happens at the end of time? Arrrrmageddon.

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