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CHAPTER 1
BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE
As certain as the sun behind the Downs And quite as plain to see, the Devil walks.
— Sir John Betjeman
When many think of the notorious Blackbeard the pirate, the Outer Banks of North Carolina automatically come to mind. From 1716 to 1718 Blackbeard became the most feared pirate on the sea, capturing at least forty ships. By 1718 he had a fleet of four ships and nearly three hundred men under his command.
Some historians believe that Blackbeard was actually a very fair and amiable sort; at least to those he liked. He wasn't a psychopath who killed for the fun of it or who collected human ears as trophies. Of course, once he supposedly cut off a man's finger (or possibly his entire hand) after the man refused to surrender his ring; there was also the time he shot his own first mate in the leg to prove to his crew that he had no favorites.
Blackbeard certainly understood psychology and used this to his advantage. Being over six feet in height, the pirate captain towered over most other men like a giant. To make himself appear even more fearsome, he grew a thick, full beard that covered his entire face and was known to decorate it with bits of colored ribbon. In battle, Blackbeard carried two swords and six pistols and put slow-burning fuses in his hair and beard so that his head would be shrouded in smoke. No doubt he looked like a demon to the superstitious men of his day. Because of his reputation, when most merchantmen saw Blackbeard's ships approaching, they surrendered without a fight.
The Outer Banks of North Carolina became the base of operations for the pirates. The location provided quick access to the shipping lanes, the many bays and inlets provided concealment, and the narrow channels and treacherous currents discouraged uninvited guests. Bath, North Carolina, was the seat of government in 1718 and the home of the state's governor, Charles Eden. Knowing the pirate's cruel reputation, Eden offered a full pardon in exchange for Blackbeard's promise to retire from piracy. The pirate went to Bath to accept the offer.
For a brief period Blackbeard, whose given name was Edward Teach (or Thach), enjoyed his retirement much like any other man would. He spent his great wealth freely and even bought a house in nearby Beaufort. The pirate and the governor soon became close friends. Governor Eden even officiated at the marriage of Blackbeard and his fourteenth wife, sixteen-year-old Mary Ormond. The wedding was attended by dozens of the pirate captain's old friends who began making frequent visits to the quiet little hamlet.
It didn't take long at all before Mr. Teach grew bored with the mundane life of an honest man. Hearing about the exploits of his friends persuaded Blackbeard to resume his chosen profession. In exchange for a portion of the ill-gotten gains and a promise that vessels sailing along the North Carolina coast would not be pirated, Governor Eden agreed to turn a blind eye on Blackbeard's activities. With the Carolina coast off limits, Blackbeard frequently sailed north to prey on the heavily laden merchant ships entering the Chesapeake Bay. When his ships could carry no more, he would return to his sanctuary.
On November 22, 1718, Blackbeard met his death, courtesy of Lieutenant Maynard of the Royal Navy. At the time, Maynard was actually working for the Governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood. Spotswood had heard rumors that Blackbeard had plans to fortify his position in North Carolina. Doing so would give the pirate complete dominance of the mid-Atlantic coast. Since Governor Eden was not going to take action to prevent this, Spotswood did.
The pirate's final fight was a bloody one. Blackbeard and Maynard fought hand-to-hand as the pirates and the Englishmen battled around them. The advantage went back and forth several times. Near the end, although he suffered five bullets and twenty sword wounds, it appeared that Blackbeard was about to defeat his adversary. However, a Scottish member of Maynard's crew stepped between the pirate and the lieutenant, wielding a heavy broadsword. The Scotsman beheaded the pirate with a single blow.
Lieutenant Maynard stayed in Bath for several weeks until his ships had been repaired. Then, commanding the Avenger, one of Blackbeard's old ships, Maynard returned to Virginia. Blackbeard's severed head was hung from the bow of the ship and delivered to Governor Spotswood upon Maynard's arrival.
So what is the link between Blackbeard and Virginia Beach? Why is there an area at the oceanfront called "pirate's hill"? Why is there a Blackbeard Road in a city that is not mentioned in any written history of the pirate captain's activities? Maybe the answer is in this story that was told to me by my high school English teacher, who grew up in Virginia Beach and often shared his childhood memories with the class.
There is a landmark that appears on local maps that date back as far as the late 1600s. If overlaid on a modern map, it would be very near where the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel crosses the shoreline today. It was called the Pleasure House, and there is still a Pleasure House Road in that area. Apparently it was a popular place for Blackbeard's men to stop and, well ... visit. Not wanting to get caught with his pants down (literally), the captain left men behind to serve as lookouts.
Two or three men would be stationed atop a particularly tall sand dune near Cape Henry, hence the name "pirate's hill." Their job was to watch for approaching ships and send a signal back to Blackbeard indicating if the vessel was approaching from the east or the west. The signal could not be seen from the Pleasure House, so two additional men were placed at another point near the entrance to Lynnhaven Inlet. When a signal was sent from the Cape, one of these men would take the message to the captain. The narrow little road that led to the Pleasure House is now called "Lookout Road."
If a vessel was coming from the east, it was almost always a merchant ship. Blackbeard would take his own ships out into the Chesapeake Bay and wait until the unsuspecting vessel rounded the Cape. If a ship approached from the west it was either an outbound merchant or a warship, on the lookout for pirates. In either case, Blackbeard would take his ships through a narrow inland waterway that put him out into the ocean somewhere south of Cape Henry. (The exact location of the cut through is not known.) From that location he would be in a position to sail north and intercept a merchant or sail south, ahead of a pursuing warship, and find safety in his North Carolina hideout.
As the story goes, one day shortly before Blackbeard's death, while the pirates were "relaxing" at the Pleasure House, a signal came from the hill indicating that a merchant ship was approaching from the east. When the vessel rounded the Cape, Blackbeard and his men were waiting. The merchant captain loaded his most valuable items into a small boat and, with the help of four other men, quickly rowed to shore. The remaining crew was left to deal with the pirates however they could.
The experienced pirates made quick work of boarding and searching the ship, but it was long enough for the captain to get to the shore. When Blackbeard was told that the merchant had escaped, he was furious. A longboat was launched and, with his six strongest men at the oars, Blackbeard gave chase. The merchantmen, weighed down with their boxes of treasures, were soon caught and killed. As Blackbeard stood over the bodies and admired his valuable trophies he was alerted by the sound of cannon fire.
Looking out at the bay the pirate captain saw two navy vessels bearing down on his ships. He needed to return to his ship immediately. With no time to spare he hastily covered the boxes with sand and branches and returned to his men. They successfully escaped, but were never able to return and reclaim what was rightfully theirs, thanks to Lieutenant Maynard and company.
According to what I was told by my teacher, before the area was made into a state park, prospectors used to come in search of Blackbeard's lost treasure. Some of them brought heavy excavation equipment and spent weeks at a time digging in the dunes but were always unsuccessful in their quest. The story goes that if anyone ever got close to finding his stash, the headless ghost of Blackbeard would appear, chase them away and move the treasure. The pirate's booty remains unfound to this day.
First Landing State Park is a beautiful nature preserve. If you walk along the trails you will see bald cypress trees growing in the swamp. You will also see Spanish moss hanging from branches and you might spy a red fox or even an eagle. If you venture off the trail, however, you may see something else, especially if you get too close to Blackbeard's lost treasure.
CHAPTER 2
HAUNTED HIGHWAY
One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing Material place.
— Emily Dickinson
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the photograph that accompanies this story should leave very little else to tell: "89 people have DIED on this road since 1977." There have been many, many more, but the records only go back to 1977.
"This road" is Route 60, Shore Drive, formerly, the Ocean Highway. The eighty-nine people are men and women of different ages, races, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds. They have died in every type of vehicular conveyance while traveling in all types of weather. I spent many years assigned to the Ocean Park fire station, whose primary response area includes much of Shore Drive, and I have dealt with several of the traffic fatalities personally. I've pulled bodies from vehicles that were upside down, burned, cut in half and hanging from trees.
It's not a road with any one particular type of hazard. It's not narrow, curvy or hilly. The city has tried time after time to eliminate the accident potential areas by installing traffic controls, lowering speed limits, removing trees and adding rumble strips along the road's edge. Nothing seems to help. What is it about this road?
Shore Drive runs along the northern coast of Virginia Beach. It was built in 1928 parallel to the railroad tracks that were constructed around the turn of the century. It was the second east-west highway that connected Virginia Beach to Norfolk. During World War II a portion of the road was diverted around the military facility at Fort Story and through what was then Seashore State Park, a natural area established in the 1930s. To this day, despite the intensive urban growth that is common in all coastal cities, that area of Shore Drive has not changed. This is the area where many of the eighty-nine fatalities have occurred.
Perhaps it's not the road at all, but the area itself — something in the air, so to speak. Traveling Shore Drive from end to end is like time travel. Part of the highway is brightly lit, heavily traveled and closely lined with houses and stores while another portion of the same road is dark, desolate and deserted. The median strip in that area is full of trees whose braches reach up and over to touch the branches of other trees that line both sides of the road. There are no streetlights and the canopy of leaves prevents even the moonlight from getting through. The little bit of light that spills over the road from your car's headlights only dimly illuminates the swamp and makes the oddly shaped stumps and cypress knees appear to be an army of trolls waiting to devour you if they ever get the chance.
I know from my time in the fire department that radio communications along Shore Drive are very unreliable and frequently nonexistent. Radio signals are simply lost along this stretch and your car radio will play nothing but static. After a few minutes of this you actually begin to worry that perhaps there has been some kind of movie-style disaster and you are the only human left alive on the planet; however, according to Motorola service technicians, this is all caused by a vein of iron ore that runs parallel to the bay front. The iron ore apparently causes radio interference.
Maybe there's something evil nearby that somehow brings about the death of others. In January of 1638, a ship carrying Swiss immigrants sailed into Lynnhaven Inlet to ride out a great storm in safety. Instead, the ship was destroyed by the high winds. When the storm had passed, the bodies of three hundred men, women and children were found along the Lynnhaven River either drowned or frozen to death.
In May of 1700, the county sheriff executed three pirates who had been caught in the area. In the weeks prior to their capture, Captain Lewis Guitarr had commandeered four merchant ships as they sailed fully laden from the Lynnhaven River. In addition to taking several hundred pounds of tobacco as his prize, Guitarr also took a number of hostages onto his own vessel, La Paix. On April 29, the HMS Shoreham of the Royal Navy was sent to locate La Paix. The two vessels met in the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Henry and the Lynnhaven Inlet. The ensuing fight lasted almost eight hours and ended only after La Paix had been heavily damaged and run aground.
With thirty-nine of his men already dead, Captain Guitarr vowed that he and the remainder of his crew would not surrender if doing so meant they would all be executed. Guitarr issued an ultimatum stating that unless the commander of the Shoreham agreed to spare the lives of all the pirates on board he would blow the ship up, killing himself, his men and the hostages. It was agreed and the pirates gave themselves up. They were ultimately transported to England for trial and imprisonment.
There were, however, three of Guitarr's men who were not aboard La Paix when the negotiations were made. Two had been captured during the earlier fighting; another jumped ship, swam to shore and was apprehended by the local militia. For all intents and purposes these men did not qualify for the pardon, and taking advantage of this little technicality, the Governor of Virginia chose to make an example of them.
After a swift trial the local sheriff was ordered to hang each man near the place where he was apprehended and, as a message to all pirates, to let their corpses hang "until they rott and fall away". One man was strung up near Cape Henry, another at Lynnhaven Inlet and the third somewhere between the two.
It was also near Lynnhaven Inlet where some say they have seen the devil himself. Residents of the area during the early 1700s reported seeing Grace Sherwood, the Witch of Pungo, dancing on the beach with a creature that was half man and half goat. This supposedly happened very close to where Shore Drive crosses over the Lynnhaven Inlet today.
As if all this isn't enough, there's also the burial mound in First Landing State Park that is the final resting place of sixty-four former members of the Chesapeake tribe. The skeletal remains were uncovered in the 1970s and '80s during the excavation and construction of a new portion of Great Neck Road near its intersection with Shore Drive. The positioning of the bones and the unique artifacts found with them revealed to archaeologists that the area had been a burial site for the Chesapeake Indians, a tribe that no longer exists.
The remains were carefully put into boxes and transported to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources where they remained until they were adopted by a present-day Nansemond tribe and reburied at First Landing State Park.
So just what is it about that certain stretch of road called Shore Drive? It could be any or all of the things I have mentioned or it could be the deadly mix of alcohol and gasoline. Face it, drinking and and driving is an evil force in itself and has caused innumerable tragedies.
CHAPTER 3
NEW ORLEANS VOODOO
Everything you can imagine is real. — Pablo Picasso
The magical city of New Orleans offers something for almost everyone: history, music, art, incredible food and, of course, ghost stories. We can only hope that the great city will recover from the devastation wrought by the hurricane season of 2005. Fortunately, you can find a little flavor of the Crescent City right here in Virginia Beach at Eddie Sal's Big Easy. Entertainer Eddie Sal and his business partner opened the restaurant when Eddie's family came to stay with him after being evacuated from the path of hurricane Katrina. As a result, the restaurant offers the most authentic Cajun and Creole cuisine outside of Louisiana. It also serves up its own ghost story.
Donald Berger owned and operated a billiard hall in Virginia Beach for several years. A woman named Betty worked for him as a waitress for most of those years. Fran, a former coworker, says Betty was more like a family member than an employee. Talking about her friend, she recalled two unique habits Betty had: she always took a shot of Wild Turkey at night after work, and she would never pick up a coin off the ground unless it was at least a dime. "She said it was too much trouble to pick up anything less than a dime," recalled Fran. "She'd look down at a penny and say, 'If that was a dime, I'd pick it up.'" Betty died in 2003.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Haunted Virginia Beach"
by .
Copyright © 2006 Alpheus J. Chewning.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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