Читать книгу Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside - Brad Steiger - Страница 55

Leslie Danielle Ferrymen is a paranormal investigator from Franklin, Tennessee, who heads up The Franklin Ghost and Paranormal Investigation Team. Ms. Ferryman is active in pursuing real urban legends and finding out what truth lies hidden in the stories told. Her 15-member group has investigated many haunted locations all over the United States since its founding in 2006. Her account below originally appeared in Haunted America Tours and is reprinted with the permission of Leslie Danielle Ferrymen.

A pack of twelve dogs from hell is said to have been born in the eye of a hurricane during Pirate King Jean Lafitte’s time on the Island. The Voodoo Queen who performed the ritual that spawned the dogs is said to have died as the last evil pup was born, thus infusing her eternal black powers into the pack. The pups were cross bred from a large Spanish or European black wolf and an evil bitch dog that Lafitte owned.

Some tell the story that the twelve black dogs were bred for hunting down unsuspecting thieves, travelers, and interlopers. Other tales tell that the evil Pirate King claimed the hounds have brought home to him each night multiple heads, hands, and human penises. These bloody trophies came from the people who tried to steal his treasure, his belongings, or his woman.

Jean Lafitte was a privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. (He often spelled his [name] Laffite.) Lafitte is believed to have been born either in France or the French colony of Saint-Domingue. By 1805 he operated a warehouse in New Orleans to help disperse the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre Lafitte. After the United States government passed the Embargo Act of 1807, the Lafittes moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay. By 1810, their new port was very successful.

The Pirate King is said by some to have been involved with the powerful forces of black magic and Voodoo-Hoodoo practices. After being run out of New Orleans around 1817, Lafitte relocated to the island of Galveston, Texas, establishing a “kingdom” he named “Campeche.” In Galveston, Lafitte either purchased or set his claim to a lavishly furnished mansion used by French pirate Louis-Michel Aury, which he named “Maison Rouge.” The building’s upper level was converted into a fortress where a cannon commanding Galveston harbor was placed.

Around 1820, Lafitte reportedly married Madeline Regaud, possibly the widow or daughter of a French colonist who had died during an ill-fated expedition to Galveston. In 1821, the schooner USS Enterprise was sent to Galveston to remove Lafitte from the Gulf after the captain of one of the pirates attacked an American merchant ship. Lafitte agreed to leave the island without a fight, and in 1821 or 1822 departed on his flagship, the Pride, burning his fortress and settlements and reportedly taking immense amounts of treasure with him. All that remains of Maison Rouge is the foundation, located at 1417 Avenue A near the Galveston wharf.

While Lafitte and his brother Pierre were engaged in running the Galveston operation, Lafitte demanded that a voodoo queen give him an army of dogs to guard his Island retreat. He reportedly maintained several stashes of plundered gold and jewelry in the vast system of marshes, swamps, and bayous located around Barrataria Bay. Other rumors suggest that Lafitte’s treasure sank with his ship, the Pride, either near Galveston or in the Gulf of Mexico during an 1826 hurricane. It is most commonly said that Lafitte buried his treasure on Galveston Island, and in each location a large black devil dog from his pack of 500 dogs is said to guard it. When Lafitte left the island he left only twelve of the largest and meanest of his supernatural black dogs.

The dogs are said to possess supernatural powers that defy explanation. If you are on Galveston Island, be aware of the shadows day and night, for you might be followed by the dogs of Campeche where ever you go.

The dogs are more [than] able to become just shadows and are said to track anyone who might have strange or covert intentions. Many locals will tell you they will closely follow any stranger [s] on the Island until they leave.

The black dogs are known to breathe heavily on the necks of those who have no good on their minds. One recent tale tells of a tourist who said that she was chased back to her hotel by a large black beast.

Lafitte’s Black Hell Hound Devil Dogs are also said to haunt New Orleans, Barataria, and anywhere Lafitte set foot in his lifetime. Some say the shadows of these dogs can be seen in the waves that crash ashore along the Gulf of Mexico.