Pirates' Ghosts
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SI Sept/Oct 2009 pgs 7/29/09 11:21 AM Page 18 INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL Pirates’ Ghosts: Aar-r-gh! hey embody legend: ro- queté entre poleaux construction (i.e., mantic, swashbuckling, he- bricked between posts), it was stuc- T roic figures—enchanting coed over at a later period and now rogues whose ghosts eternally guard is in “alarmingly tumbledown” con- their buried treasures, search for their dition (Cook 1999, 52). (See figure lost heads, or simply beckon to the 1.) Some sources (e.g., Nott 1928, credulous from their supposed coastal 37, 39) are skeptical of tales that haunts. I have sought their specters Lafitte actually ran a blacksmith from New Orleans to Savannah, from shop as a cover for smuggling, but, North Carolina’s Ocracoke Island to says one, “it makes a good story” Oak Island in Nova Scotia’s Mahone (Downs and Edge 2000, 197). Bay. Here is a look at some of what I Certainly, as I can attest, the found; as usual, not everything was as place is darkly atmospheric, and it seemed. both the ambiance and imbibed spirits, together with the power of Jean Lafitte suggestion, no doubt contribute to I began to think about pirates’ reported sightings of the pirate. ghosts on an investigative trip to However, even one ghost promoter Louisiana in 2000, when a night- concedes, “Such sightings may not time tour of New Orleans “haunted” withstand a sobriety test, but this spots took me to two sites associated does little to dampen the pervasive with an unlikely American hero, appeal of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Jean Lafitte. Figure 1. Jean Lafitte's ramshackle blacksmith shop and Bar” (Sillery 2001, 110). In Lafitte (ca. 1780–ca. 1825) be- in New Orleans is allegedly home to his ghost. other instances—as when a bartender Watercolor sketch by Joe Nickell. came known as “The Terror of the reported that “a short, stout man Gulf” for his exploits as a smuggler, pri- defense of his adopted homeland during walked out of the fireplace” (Belanger vateer (one licensed by a government to the Battle of New Orleans (Groom 2005, 91)—the circumstances are sug- seize its enemy’s ships), and later pirate. 2006). gestive. The bartender may well have Lafitte was transformed into a hero dur- Dead since approximately 1825, Jean been tired (it was “late one rainy night”) ing the war of 1812. Suspected of com- Lafitte still reportedly gets around, and in a daydreaming state (he was plicity with British forces, he proved his haunting, some say, a New Orleans bar, “alone” with the soothing patter of rain), loyalty to American General Andrew Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, at 941 just the conditions known to prompt Jackson in 1815, spurning a British bribe Bourbon Street. One ghost guide claims apparitional sightings in which images of £30,000 and fighting heroically in the structure was built “around 1722” from the subconscious can momentarily (Belanger 2005, 91), but other sources be superimposed on the individual’s sur- Joe Nickell, PhD, is the author of numer- place it at least half a century later—no roundings (Nickell 2001, 290–293). ous books, including Entities and Adven- earlier than 1772 (Dickinson 1997, 54). This is most likely to happen with tures in Paranormal Investigation. His (See also Herczog 2000, 255; Cook imaginative individuals, especially those Web site is at www.joenickell.com. 1999, 52; Bultman 1998, 95.) Of bri- having fantasy-prone personalities. 18 Volume 33, Issue 5 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI Sept/Oct 2009 pgs 7/29/09 11:22 AM Page 19 Psychics and mediums typically have frequently sighted in the smoky haze of ghost is a common folklore motif (or characteristics associated with fantasizers the dimly lit rooms” (emphasis added) story element) (Thompson 1955, 2: (such as encountering apparitions, that are illuminated entirely by candles 429), and reports of some residents hav- communicating with paranormal entities, (Herczog 2000, 255). Not a single ghost ing been “awakened in the middle of the and so on [Wilson and Barber 1983]). has ever been authenticated by main- night by Lafitte’s ghost, dressed in a red Consider a New Orleans ghost guide who stream science, which attributes them to coat, standing at the foot of their beds” calls herself “Bloody Mary”—a self- myriad non-supernatural causes (see are easily explained as waking dreams. described “mystic,” “psychic,” and Nickell 1994, 146–159; 2008). These occur in a state between wakeful- “medium” who believes she has had previ- Not far from Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop ness and sleep, and they are responsible ous lives (qtd. in Belanger 2005, 88–90). is a slate-paved pedestrian walkway for countless ghostly visitations (Nickell She writes: known as Pirates Alley. It is supposedly 1995, 41, 46, 55). haunted by the famous pirate, but—as The first time in this lifetime that Captain Flint I entered Lafitte’s I was compelled to stare into the dual smithy (now Some sources associate Lafitte (if turned fireplace). Staring at me not his ghost) with another from the center was a pair of place, Pirates’ House Restaurant eyes—free floating, with no face to be seen. My eyes and his were in Savannah, Georgia, where I locked in a trance for some time investigated and had a pleasant until the eyes simply poofed into lunch on March 24, 2004. A two bursts of flame and disap- more cautious source states only peared. That, of course, broke my that “famous pirates such as Jean trance, and when I bent down again to recheck the scene, noth- Lafitte came to port in ing was to be seen. I checked for Savannah,” so it is “reasonable to mirrors, candles, and such mun- suppose that many of them came dane things that might explain to the Pirates [sic] House to what I saw, but I found none. enjoy a bit of grog, a sea chanty, Shrugging my shoulders, I simply decided it was a sign of welcome. and a coarse joke or two.” This (qtd. in Belanger 2005, 91) source (“Legend” 2009) adds: Elsewhere she has felt rooms “call- There are some who believe that the spirits of pirates still inhabit ing” to her, has sensed a “time the Pirates House. Mysterious portal,” and has been lured to a lights have been seen in the old room by “astral travel,” saying, “I seamen’s quarters, and noises truly believe I had stayed there heard, apparitions that cannot be before.” She has spirits who travel pegged to any human activity. There are those who have sensed with her, sees a spectral resident in presences and scenes of ancient her hallways, and will “occasion- violence. Yet others have passed ally invite inside and outside spir- years without noticing anything its to parties” (qtd. in Belanger unusual in the building suggest- 2005, 88–91). Over the years I ing that the only piratical activity Figure 2. Pirate's Alley is another supposedly haunted site in still in the house is the imbibing have observed a correlation New Orleans' French Quarter. Photo by Joe Nickell of generous quantities of ale by between fantasy proneness and the witnesses to these events. intensity of ghostly experiences (Nickell one source acknowledges—“every historic A popular ghost guide—Haunted 2001, 299). “Bloody Mary” provides fur- site in New Orleans claims the ghost of ther evidence of the link. Places: The National Directory (Hauck Jean Lafitte” (“Pirates” 2009). The claim 1996, 141)—alleges that the restaurant “Ghost” photos taken by patrons at for Pirates Alley is that Lafitte met the Lafitte Blacksmith Shop and Bar was once Lafitte’s home, adding, how- Andrew Jackson there in 1815 to plan the ever, “it is the ghost of another notori- have been described by Victor C. Klein Battle of New Orleans; however, the alley (1999, 54) as exhibiting “strange lumi- ous pirate known as Captain Flint, who was not actually constructed until the haunts the place.” nous, somewhat amorphous, translu- 1830s (Cook 1999, 25). (See figure 2.) cent cloudlike images.” Although he A “History” (2009) provided by the Lafitte’s ghost is also reputed to make restaurant’s Web site, states does not reproduce the photos, the appearances at La Porte, Texas (east of descriptions are consistent with the Houston). Legendarily, Lafitte buried a ’Tis said that old Captain Flint, who originally buried the fabulous treasure camera’s flash rebounding from smoke treasure there, consisting of gold and or mist. Note Barbara Sillery’s comment on Treasure Island, died here in an jewels and allegedly protected by his upstairs room. In the story, his faith- (2001, 110) that “the pirate has been ghost. However, the treasure-guarding ful mate, Billy Bones, was at his side SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September / October 2009 19 SI Sept/Oct 2009 pgs 7/22/09 2:26 PM Page 20 when he breathed his last, muttering U.S. He became the hero of many bal- dubbed “Oak Island’s most obsessive ‘Darby bring aft the rum.’ Even now, lads, his ghost was seen on several occa- searcher” (O’Connor 1988, 145). The many swear that the ghost of Captain sions, and numerous attempts were next day I viewed the remainder of the Flint still haunts the Pirates’ House on moonless nights. made to discover a fabulous treasure that island by boat, piloted by local private he supposedly buried in various points eye Jim Harvey. After considerable sub- It helps here to realize that “Captain ranging from Oak Island, Nova Scotia, sequent research (Nickell 2001, 219, Flint” was a fictitious character in to Gardiner’s Island, New York” (Benet’s 234), I concluded that the “money pit” Robert Louis Sevenson’s tale of greedy 1987, 529).