Ghosts along the Texas Coast

by Docia Schultz Williams

  The United States government eventually launched a number of expeditions against the Lafittes, but they all failed. A revenue inspector who had been sent to examine their goods was murdered in 1814. Legal proceedings against them in United States courts had to be abandoned because John R. Grymes, the U.S. District Attorney, resigned his office in order to help the pirates! It seems Jean Lafitte’s whole career was built more or less on duplicity and double dealing. So successful was he in his various endeavors that he succeeded in transforming himself into a legend while he was still alive!

  Now, Pierre was finally captured. During his captivity, Captain Nicholas Lockyer, of the British navy, offered Jean a captain’s commission, the sum of $30,000, and pardon for all “past mistakes” if he and his followers would join the British expedition against New Orleans. While pretending to deal with Lockyer, Lafitte informed the American authorities of the British plans. The Louisiana authorities, with the exception of General Jacquez Villere and Governor William C. Claiborne, suspected a plot from the pirate, and they sent an expedition against Lafitte at Barataria. Many of the pirate company were captured, but the Lafitte brothers escaped. Later on, they, and a number of their followers, honorably served under General Andrew Jackson. In fact, Jean Lafitte assisted in the construction of the defenses of Barataria Bay. In command of a detachment of his pirate band, he participated most creditably in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. For his services, Lafitte and his men were granted full amnesty by President James Madison in 1815.

  Even though the Lafittes were pardoned, they probably felt like their welcome had worn thin in Louisiana, because in 1817 they founded a “pirate commune” called “Campeche” (sometimes spelled “Campeachy”) on Galveston Island, which was first called “Galvez-town” after Bernardo de Galvez, viceroy of Mexico. Jean Lafitte ruled over Campeche as “president,” and in 1819 for a short time he was governor of “Galveston Republic.” In the administration of his far-flung piratical empire, Jean made use of the islands off the coast of Texas. One of his bases was Culebra Island, composed of Matagorda and St. Joseph’s, separated only by Cedar Bayou.

  For the purpose of protecting commerce against depredations of freebooters and to safeguard the port of Caparo, the Spanish, and after them, the Mexicans, maintained the small fort of “Armzazu” on Live Oak Point. In retaliation, Lafitte maintained a fort of his own on the southwest part of St. Joseph’s Island. The village of Aransas (now Aransas Pass) was later laid out near the site of the pirate’s fort.

  In 1821 the U.S. government, in reprisal of an attack on an American ship by a Lafitte follower, sent Lt. Lawrence Kearny to disrupt the community, although it was Spanish territory at that time. Lafitte is said to have burned Campeche and “disappeared.” Actually, after being ousted from Galveston Island, many of the pirates just settled down in the coastal area. The final meeting of the great buccaneer and his men is reputed to have taken place at False Live Oak Point after they had been cornered by British and American navies. Here the booty was divided up and Lafitte supposedly cached most of it at False Live Oak Point in heavy chests, among the oak trees. This done, the pirate and his remaining followers attempted to slip through the American and British blockade. For three days and nights a cannonade was heard by the residents of Cedar Bayou, and Lafitte finally eluded his pursuers.

  Later on, it is said that Lafitte conducted most of his activities on the “Spanish Main,” which could have been just about anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean. The famous pirate died of a fever at Losbocas, on the north coast of Yucatan, about fifteen miles from Merida, in 1826. He was forty-six years old. He was buried in the “Campo de Santos” in the little Indian village of Silan.

  Historical marker at Galveston

  Now, there are lots of legends concerning Lafitte and his crew. Their latter-day haunts greatly resembled the Barataria waterways they had known in Louisiana. They centered in the marshy Texas coastland below Beaumont and Port Arthur, and around the vast, brackish Sabine Lake, which emptied into the Gulf of Mexico at dark-running Sabine Pass. These secretive waterways and marshes harbor stories of buried treasure and pirate ghosts to this day.

  According to a story that appeared in the Houston Post many years ago, one of Jean Lafitte’s ships was chased across Sabine Lake and made anchor in Port Neches at the mouth of the Neches River. To keep the treasure aboard the ship from falling into the hands of the Spanish pursuers, it was carried ashore and buried in a marsh. Maps purported to show where this treasure was secreted have appeared from time to time, and there has been much digging for it. It is supposed to have never been found. Maybe this is because it was never placed there. Lafitte’s treasure simply can’t be buried at every place it is said to be!

  The late Thomas Penfield wrote a fascinating little book entitled A Guide to Treasure in Texas, published by Carson Enterprises, Inc. of Deming, New Mexico. Mr. Penfield really researched the Lafitte treasure locales, and while he didn’t find the buried chests, he certainly told some good stories! I’ll just bet one reason the treasure has not been discovered is because there are pirate ghosts out there doing a great job of guarding the burial sites!

  In his book, Ghost Stories of Texas, the late Ed Syres, storyteller extraordinaire, tells us that Henry Yelvington, a notable lorist, discovered the sunken outline of a low-slung schooner. It was the type often used by the Lafittes as a raider. This was in 1921, and the locale was in a lonely stretch of reeds and bayous flanking the narrows of Sabine Pass. From an old coastal dweller whose trapper forebears had settled Texas in 1833, Yelvington learned that the hulk was indeed one of Lafitte’s ships. Indians, whose story was told to Yelvington, had seen the ship sunk under pursuing fire. They were unsure whether the crew drowned, or fled. Since we know that Jean Lafitte died in Mexico, we have to assume he was not on this particular ship, or else he managed to escape.

  According to Syre’s account, “of something else the Indians had been certain. For many years, the waters remained still, the land empty. Then one day, at the lone tree beside the sunken ship, an incredible figure appeared. Running Snake, the Attacapan chieftain, knew this man; he was Jean Lafitte, the chief of boats that had been driven away by the big ships; the man that Indians, far southward, claimed to have seen dead and buried.” (This statement probably refers to the inhabitants of the Indian village of Silan in the Yucatan Peninsula.) “And yet, there he stood, all alone; so with his braves, Running Snake approached, and in terrible shock, saw the figure vanish. After that, only from a distance would any Indian watch.

  “But watch they did, for the figure returned and stationed himself where the waters hid the long boat. The figure waited in the manner of one who would summon others, and knowledgeable of dark matters, Running Snake’s braves were not overly surprised when a strange, shadowy boat slid noiselessly up the narrow waterway.

  “From that boat emerged silent men, who, as though directed by their summoner, began to raise chests from the sunken vessel. Mutely they worked, loading their boat and then, with the dead Lafitte standing in their boat, they left as soundlessly as they had come.

  “Where did they go? They started towards the big lake (Sabine Lake), then disappeared in a mist. After that, no one came again. Naturally, the braves of Running Snake thereafter avoided the place.” Who could blame them?

  Now, it’s hard to tell whether Jean and Pierre Lafitte and their pirate crew spent more time plying the ocean deep in search of ships to plunder, or whether they spent more time ashore, digging holes in which to bury their ill-gotten goods, if we are to believe all the buried treasure stories that are often told. These stories run the gamut of the Texas coastline, from Cameron County, down near Brownsville, clear up to Jefferson County near the Louisiana border. Why the pirates didn’t come back for their treasure is anybody’s guess. Maybe they had poor memories, or maybe they partook of too much rum while out burying their loot. I’d buy the theory that the shifting sands on the windswept seashore caused the ter
rain to change in appearance sufficiently to make the burial spots unrecognizable. And, we must remember, the pirates more than likely buried their chests under cover of darkness as well. It would have been a real chore to find a certain spot among all the almost identical sand dunes and tufts of sea oats and marsh grasses that dot the coastline.

  Conversations with psychics, and time spent reading and researching the subject of “ghosts” in general and “pirate ghosts” in particular, have brought out several interesting conclusions. Ghosts, which are the spirits of dead people who can’t quite accept they are dead, do come back. In the case of Jean Lafitte and his pirate-followers, they return to guard the treasure they buried so long ago, and never got around to dividing up. But are they there just to protect their treasure? Might be they are there to lead a selected someone to the site of their buried treasure. Maybe this selected person would be someone with whom they could identify, a “kindred spirit” chosen to be the finder. Now, since there aren’t any pirates out there robbing the big ocean freighters and tankers and cruise ships today, the Lafitte crew’s spirits might have to identify with an airplane hijacker, since they have largely replaced the buccaneer!

  For some unknown reason, there has always been a certain amount of romance and mystery attached to pirates. It must have something to do with all that buried gold, because they really were dastardly individuals. Boarding and looting and sinking ships was NOT a wholesome occupation!

  Before we can begin to think about the ghostly guardians that protect the pirate treasure, we have to have an idea of where the booty is buried.

  Using Thomas Penfield’s book A Guide to Treasure in Texas, we will come along on a make-believe trip along the Texas coast, county by county, from the southernmost portion, near Brownsville, in Cameron County, where Penfield reported, “unconfirmed is the report that the pirate Jean Lafitte sank an unidentified Spanish galleon off South Padre Island in 1811 with a cargo of $500,000 in gold and silver. One treasure writer speculates this may have been the Santa Maria, and the treasure was valued at around a million dollars.” This event took place during the time the Lafittes were still operating from their Barataria headquarters near New Orleans.

  Moving on up along the coast, we come to Kenedy County, where it is noted that off the shore of Padre Island there is the wreck of the Spanish galleon Capitana. This ship was assigned to defend some smaller Spanish vessels against a band of pirates. In a furious fight, the Capitana went down with all hands, and so did the treasure in her hull, said to be over $1,000,000.

  Moving eastward up the coast, we hit Kleberg County, where the famous King Ranch is located. There is a peninsula that juts out into Baffin Bay that is known as “Point of Rocks.” A Lafitte treasure chest is said to have been buried there and the site marked by a copper spike driven into a crack in a rock.

  Penfield reported there are three hills, called “Money Hills,” on Mustang and Padre islands. The original Money Hill on Mustang was the highest sand dune, about three miles south of Aransas Pass. Because of the wind, the sand dunes shift a lot, and the highest dune one day might not be that way the next! Therefore, nobody knows where the original “Money Hill” was located. Sometimes it was called “Big Hill” or “Three Mile Hill” because of its location three miles south of Aransas Pass. According to local legend, a pirate ship blew ashore on northern Mustang Island, and the treasure from it was buried under “Money Hill” because it was a good landmark for the pirates to locate. Many coins have been picked up in this area over the years, so the main cache may already have been found.

  The northern tip of Padre Island, located in Nueces County, abounds in buried pirate treasure stories. Penfield’s guide states, “It is related over and over that Jean Lafitte’s men frequented this area while the pirate leader was established on Galveston Island, and for years afterwards. Corpus Christi and the Laguna Madre, then, as now, were havens during the hurricane season. In 1835 the embankments and fortifications of a rendezvous were plainly visible on the north tip of Padre, and along the beaches were many posts yet standing with iron rings affixed to them, which had been used by the small boats that plied between Padre’s shores and the larger vessels anchored offshore. There was a secret pass where the pirates could repair their ships, supply them with food and water, and divide their loot among themselves. All of these signs of Lafitte’s presence on Padre Island have now disappeared.”

  When Lafitte was forced to quit Galveston Island, the remnants of his organization drifted on down the coast to the many islands and coastal towns where they were safe from patrols. It was at this time that the legend was born that Lafitte had personally buried a vast fortune under a millstone on the northern tip of Padre Island. A printer from New Orleans named Newell spent a great part of his life, and finally lost it, searching for this elusive treasure. No one ever learned just what information he had that made him so persistent in his search, but it was believed by some that he had befriended one of Lafitte’s men while living in New Orleans and was told the secret of Lafitte’s treasure in repayment. The markers sought by Newell were a single Spanish dagger (a type of yucca plant) and three silver spikes. He found hundreds of Spanish dagger plants but not a single silver spike. In 1871 Newell’s small boat was found drifting in the Gulf, and a few days later his body was washed ashore.

  In Calhoun County, where the ghost town and former seaport of Indianola was located, Penfield’s treasure guide states: “A number of Texas treasure stories start with Jean Lafitte’s inland flight as he was pursued by a U.S. man-of-war. This was soon after he was ordered to leave Galveston Island. One story has it that he sailed into LaVaca Bay and, with the help of two men, buried treasure valued at a million dollars at the mouth of the LaVaca River, across the bay from the town of Port LaVaca. It is said that a long brass rod was driven into the ground directly above the treasure and left emerging to indicate the treasure site.

  “One of the pirates who helped to bury this treasure is said to have told of the incident on his deathbed in New Orleans, giving rough directions to the treasure. This story was heard by a man named Hill, who eventually bought the ranch on which the brass rod was believed to be located. One day a man out herding cattle for Hill noticed the rod and pulled it from the ground, not realizing its significance, and he took the rod with him that night. When Hill saw the rod he recognized its meaning at once, but the old cowhand could not retrace his steps to the place where he had found it. Hill is said to have searched for years for the Lafitte hoard, but he never found it.

  “Rumors of a pirate ship wrecked at the mouth of the St. Bernard River in Brazoria County have persisted for more than a century. It is said that the ship put into the river about 1816 to escape a hurricane. Before the vessel was destroyed by the storm, the crew took ashore and buried a treasure estimated at ten million dollars. When the storm was over, only one of the pirates remained alive. He is said to have settled down as a fisherman on Matagorda Island, and frequently displayed gold coins. He admitted to having been a member of the ill-fated ship’s crew, but insisted that he had not participated in the burial of the treasure, and therefore knew only generally where it was hidden. In support of this story, it is said that Indians living in the area told early settlers of seeing the wreckage of a great ship after a storm had passed.

  “The village of Liverpool, located on Chocolate Bayou in eastern Brazoria County, has all but ceased to exist,” according to Penfield. He states, “A man named Campbell came here in 1821 and settled on a branch of Chocolate Bayou that eventually became known as Campbell’s Bayou. Before long he was joined by another strange character who was known only as Capt. Snyder. It was believed that both men had been involved in piratical ventures with Jean Lafitte, and as neither had any visible means of support but always seemed to have plenty of money, it was rumored that they kept money buried around their places. When Campbell died, Capt. Snyder shortly afterwards disappeared, never to be seen in the area again. It was said that Campbell’s widow knew w
here some of the supposed treasure was buried, but not the main cache.”

  Now, speaking of treasure believed hidden in Brazoria County, the folklorist and writer Catherine Munson Foster, in her Ghosts Along the Brazos, talked about a treasure chest found near old Velasco (now called Surfside). The story was given to Munson by L. Claude Shannon, and by Sybil Andrus, son and granddaughter, respectively, of Mrs. Georgiana Shannon. Mrs. Shannon’s unpublished memoirs had included a story as told by an old Negro man named Jeff, whose word everyone in those parts took to be reliable. It seems a couple of men came to Velasco and seemed to be searching for something between San Luis Pass and the Brazos River. The strangers, who were camping, had nothing at all to do with the locals.

  They hired Jeff to accompany them to a certain place among the sand dunes one moonlit night, and there set him to digging in the sand. After he had dug a deep hole, his shovel hit a very large chest which was buried there. It was so heavy it took all three men to lift it out with ropes.

  When they had brought the chest to the surface, one of the men shouted in triumph, and at just that moment, a huge hand reached up and grabbed the chest, drawing it out of sight. Jeff, who later told of the event, said he was so frightened he ran away! Jeff would never tell where the place was where the chest was buried, but he did swear the story he told was true. When asked to tell more about it, he refused, saying, “It was the devil.”

  Nobody ever saw the two strangers after the “devil’s night,” either, and while there were many searchers out looking for the place, no one ever found it.

  As might be expected, since Lafitte and his pirate followers lived on Galveston Island for a time, there are many stories of buried treasure connected with that area. Penfield’s book cites a number of pirate treasure locations around Galveston. It’s said that there may be as much as $27,000,000 in pirate’s treasure on Pelican Island, whose 4,000 acres are used largely by industry, including ship repair facilities. The small island is connected with Galveston by a causeway.