John Hagedorn

Not the half-story you've been getting from historians and authors and t-shirt sellers on the East Coast, but the real story from a North Carolina man who spent most of his life researching Blackbeard.

His name is Kevin Duffus.

and his take on Blackbeard is a significant departure from traditional pirate lore, arguing that Blackbeard, rather than being an English-born criminal, was actually Edward Beard, a native of the American colonies with deep roots in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Duffus' research challenges the general history narrative given just moments ago by Defoe, suggesting that Blackbeard's inner circle consisted of local mariners, sons of plantation owners, and enslaved individuals from the Pemlico region who returned home to live honest lives rather than facing the gallows.

Amazing, but true.

Duffus contends that the widely accepted identity of Edward Teach from Bristol, England is based on a single unverified seven-word phrase in Defoe's 1724 book.

His theory instead identifies the pirate as Edward Black Beard, the son of Captain James Beard, who owned land on Bath Creek in North Carolina as early as 1707.

James Beard previously lived in the Goose Creek area near Charleston, South Carolina.

Duffus suggests Black was a nickname similar to Black Sam Bellamy and that Teach or Thatch was likely an alias used to protect his family from legal repercussions.

The pirate's comfort in the backwater town of Bath, located 50 miles from the sea and difficult to navigate, suggests he was a local mariner rather than a stranger from England or Jamaica.

That local boy status also adds up when you think about what a close tie he had to Tobias Knight.

Blackbeard had a close, trusting relationship with local officials like customs collector Tobias Knight, an attorney and judge.

A letter from Knight was found among Blackbeard's possessions after his death.

While traditional histories often claim Blackbeard's entire captured crew was hanged in Williamsburg, Duffus argues that many actually returned home and became grandfathers of American liberty.

According to historical records and Duffus's research, several key members avoided execution.

Israel Hands, Blackbeard's sailing master, was convicted and sentenced to hang, but was pardoned after the king's pardon for pirates was extended.

That much we learn from Defoe.

Samuel O'Dell, a man from Bath who was on board during the final battle, but proved he'd been forcibly taken from a trading vessel only a night before.

He was acquitted and released.

William Howard, Blackbeard's quartermaster and future owner of Ocracoke Island, was saved from his scheduled hanging when the King's Pardon arrived in Virginia in mid-December 1718.