Capture of the Pirate, Blackbeard, 1718 depicting the battle between Blackbeard the Pirate and Lieutenant Maynard in Ocracoke Bay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Ocracoke's Curse:
The Mystery at Teach's Hole
By Mark Duffey
An excerpt from the book blurb of Mark Duffey Novel, Ocracoke's Curse, provides the important historical background for readers.
On November 22, 1718, Lt. Robert Maynard of the British Royal Navy defeated and beheaded the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, at Ocracoke Inlet off the coast of North Carolina. Hundreds of years later, it is said that Blackbeard’s spirit haunts the area, searching for his lost head and seeking revenge for his untimely death.Of course, I had heard of Blackbeard, but not about how he was killed... With this research, Mark Duffey began his paranormal tale of Blackbeard wanting revenge against the man who murdered him... even though he had been dead for centuries...
For 300 years, Blackbeard had stayed there in the Ocracoke Bay area and when somebody--some boat drew close enough, he had captured those individuals on board and tried to use them in his plan for revenge. When Mike Callahan, who, together with his brother, owned a fisherman's boat and supply store in Wilmington, North Carolina, was unlucky enough to actually see the ship sailed by Blackbeard, he was changed...
Blackbeard's spirit had possessed his body and was fighting for supremacy...
Callahan began to drink rum, allow his hair and beard to grow, and his nights were full of nightmares of Blackbeard's life. Often, he would shout out "Ahoy Mates" or sing a pirate song... His wife began to be afraid and she soon started to talk about the changes with his brother, Steve, and Sam, who was their best friend who also worked as their salesmen. Mike now refused to attend church, paid little attention to his wife and children--and soon began to go out alone most nights.
Then on-boat robberies started taking place...A man with a gun would come onboard, speaking in a British accent, using pirate-like language and would take everything of value from those on board. Soon everybody was talking about the pirate! What began the real fear, however, was when the Coast Guard had been able to follow the boat, closing in quickly, only to have it come near Ocracoke Bay, where it disappeared...
As Mike's family grew more concerned about him, they even started to follow him and check up on what he was doing in other ways. Soon, they were thinking he might be the thief...but they also knew that the man that Mike had been was not the same and all of them had experienced weird visions of someone in pirate clothes being nearby, only to have Mike actually appear. They even considered a priest and an exorcism, but they weren't Catholic and didn't know how to proceed...
But there was those who were watching and caring for Mike and when he was in a major accident in his car, they were there to get him out of his car before it blew up from leaking gas...
When the police and EMT's came, they couldn't find anybody who knew how he had gotten out of his car; Mike described them, but, it just had not happened the way he said... And soon Mike went into a coma from his multiple injuries...
There is one significant issue readers will discover--the unexpected transition from Blackbeard's activities to those of, I will say, angels helping Mike... It caught me off-guard and confused, but only for a little while. I include it in my review because others may describe it as a failure of the author. I'm not sure that it was. None of us know when God may choose to intercede in our lives. When a man is possessed by, essentially, a ghost--but definitely what was clearly evil, there is little we as humans can do, except pray and seek help. That's exactly what happened in the last part of this mystery.
I'm not sure I would call this a mystery, though, because solving it was never completed. Blackbeard? Is he still roaming the water of Ocracoke Bay? Is his spirit completely gone from Mike? You, the reader, will be required to decide those answers based upon how the book ended. For me, I came away satisfied and found much to consider about the constant balance of power of evil versus the power of love and prayer. I think the one transition "glitch" was when Blackbeard's spirit took control and it's not worth detracting from what happened next. This is an unusual presentation, taking a piece of history and saying, "what if?"
Ahoy Matie - a personal question from me...would you have the power of good behind you if evil caught hold of your life? This young author made me overlook a few editorial issues because his overall goal in writing is so very important to all of us... Highly recommended, for many reasons...
GABixlerReviews
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