Unsolved Mysteries of Texas by W. C. Jameson

Author:W. C. Jameson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2022-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

The Cursed Treasure of Pirate Jean Laffite

The buried treasure cache near the Lavaca River is not the only one in Texas associated with the pirate Jean Lafitte. There are, in fact, so many stories of lost treasure associated with this fascinating buccaneer that they would fill an entire book. Many of these tales are undoubtedly exaggerated and amount to nothing more than just that—tall tales. As the reputation and mystique of this daring and adventurous pirate grew, so did the number and kinds of legends and accounts associated with him, particularly those regarding buried pirate loot. In spite of the proliferation of buried treasure stories linked to Lafitte, a number of them possess tantalizing elements of truth, and deep investigation yields compelling evidence pointing to the notion that many of these treasure tales are based in fact.

Another, and important, truth is that Lafitte himself cultivated this mystique. He was an elusive, sly, and enterprising adventurer to be sure, but he was also a highly skilled self-promoter who understood the value of possessing a reputation as a notorious and feared freebooter.

One of the more intriguing and mysterious tales of Lafitte’s buried treasures is one that is said to have a curse associated with it. Any who attempted to remove the treasure other than Lafitte himself, according to the curse, would be struck down and rendered helpless. As the stories go, many were, some even unto death.

Sometime during 1820, Jean Lafitte and his crew piloted a treasure-laden ship to a location near where the Neches River of Texas enters the secluded bay of Port Arthur near the Texas- Louisiana border. Steering the vessel as close to shore as possible, Lafitte selected a site to bury several chests filled with gold and silver coins and jewels recently taken from a Spanish ship on its way to Cuba. As he was searching for a suitable cache site, Lafitte was also concerned about pursuit from a second Spanish galleon, one whose captain was intent on exacting revenge on the pirates.

Lafitte had his ship moored by stretching a long, heavy iron chain to a stout tree near the river. The pirate leader then had his men bury the chests in the shadow of this same tree. After lowering the containers into the excavation, the pirates spotted the pursuing Spanish vessel sailing into the bay and began heading toward them. According to the legend, Lafitte had one of his crewmen killed, wrapped in sailcloth, and placed in the hole atop the chests. After refilling the excavation, Lafitte ordered his men back on board the pirate ship. Before leaving the cache site, however, the pirate stood over the recent excavation, raised his face to the heavens, and placed a curse on the treasure. He vowed that anyone unworthy who tried to recover the treasure would be stricken with unnamed horrors. On returning to the ship, the pirates hoisted the sails, primed the cannons, and unfastened the heavy chain, tossing it into the water. The other end was still attached to the tree.

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