Understanding True Roots of Stories and how they Become Legends & Grousome Tails

         Blackbeard the Pirate: Terror of the Barrier Islands 

                The legend surrounding pirates of the 1700’s, and the great galleons they were able to besiege at sea is extremely exciting and instilled a real fear during there time period; so how do stories and events turn into myths and legends is what I set out to unveil. I looked to a familiar and less paranormal topic although some do say they still run aground because pirates still haunt the shores. Sailors see lights appear on shore which are supposed to mark channels and safe passage but instead they run aground and when they look for the light they had seen it is gone.

                All stories and hauting tails begin with a real person somewhere in history so; Using Blackbeard (Edward Teach) a firmly rooted figure in New Jerseys history who called the Mullica river basin and Burlington county his home (hideout). This is where the legend Began for Blackbeard one of the the fiercest pirates to ever sail the seas! 

        No one knows for sure where Blackbeard was even born except the date 1680. He was devilish in appearance with two slow burning cannon fuses tucked into his fur hat enveloping his head in a halo of black smoke. He controlled the eastern seaboard; He was known for making hell on earth, we have him to thank for most of the well known pirate stories, Blackbeard’s ferocity on the open water was unmatched. This eventually lead to his demise when officials of Virginia were appointed with the task to kill Blackbeard once and for all in an attempt to make shipping goods along the eastern seaboard safer, the conflict began off the coast of North Carolina on November the 21^st 1718, the officials from Virginia were successful, after over a century of evading the law. 

               This is a quick summary which shows how secret aspects in someones life such as the unknown origin and the halo of smoke around his head made him appear devilish. and through stories people tend to make the stories sound more haunting or gruesome or scary through modification of rhetoric, many minute changes over the centuries of being told you can easily have your self a tale like no other that will keep you awake or hid under you bed when you hear a creek at night.