It's a fact that Blackbeard, also known as Edward Teach, was killed in a gruesome battle in 1718 off Springer's Point, a wooded Eden that lines an area by Ocracoke Inlet called, aptly, Teach's Hole.
It's not a fact, as legend would have it, that his headless body swam around his ship Adventure five times before giving up the ghost, so to speak. Nor is there a shred of evidence that the buccaneer buried his treasure beneath the dunes on Ocracoke.
As part of a documentary he is filming about Blackbeard, Raleigh filmmaker and historian Kevin Duffus thought it would be interesting to dispel, or - who knows? - confirm, the legends at the place of his undoing, where it's said that his beheaded body still roams at night.
"One reason I wanted to conduct the paranormal investigation is if we were able to contact Blackbeard, I could have saved a lot of time in my research by speaking to him myself," Duffus said with a grin. "On the more serious side, I wanted to attempt to put an end to the legends, or myths, of his headless corpse walking the lonely beaches along Teach's Hole channel."
When Rodriguez, who runs East Coast Hauntings Organization in Washington, N.C., reached the shore by Teach's Hole, she and para psychologist Sonya Holley, holding detecting equipment, scanned the spartina grass between the windswept cedar trees for any spirit energy.
"Did you lose yours - he still with you?" Rodriguez asked Holley.
As they searched, the sinking sun spilled deepening shades of red and purple onto the water. Jumping mullets occasionally flung themselves out of the water in search of bugs or menhaden. The gentle lap-lap of the water on the beach was marred by the incessant buzzing of mosquitoes alerted to dinner.
"It feels hinky," Holley responded. "He feels like he's right here."
That means, she said, that there's a sense that something happened at that spot.
While the sky darkened, the women moved further down the beach, eventually finding a total of eight spirits, a least two of whom were "running" around them, they said. The presence is akin to a feeling under the skin, or a pressure, Rodriguez said, and males and females exert different types of energy.
"There's some interaction between sensitive people," she had explained earlier. "To me, it might be something interdimensional. It's like a thin point. Somehow, when they open up, there's some kind of energy exchanged or released."
Holding two dowsing rods - bent brass rods with copper sleeves on the handles - Rodriguez stood in the grass and asked a series of questions requiring "yes" and "no" answers. For a no, the spirit energy moves it in an "L" shape; for a yes, they're crossed in an "X."
After a time, it was learned from the spirit that he was an American Indian who had lived on Ocracoke in the 1600s.
The few details provided about the others said they were not related by blood and were unfamiliar with each other in life.
"Did you know any pirates?" Rodriguez asked, the rod handles held steady by unmoving hands.
One rod whipped out to the side, forming an "L."
"No," she said, interpreting.
"Did white men come in ships?"
"No."
"Are you happy that you're talking to us?"
"No."
"Do you know that you are dead?"
"Yes."
After several more questions, Rodriguez said it seemed like the communication was becoming more difficult. When one response said that the entity was aware of "the light," she advised the spirits to go to the light if they wanted to leave.
While she was working, Holley and others took photographs. When a spirit is present, a white orb often is evident in photographs. Considered to be energy bursts, they are usually not visible to the naked eye. Cold spots have been reported to have been felt in the area where an orb appeared.
Orbs were seen in numerous shots taken by two different cameras and photographers at Teach's Hole.
Rodriguez, 52, who has a degree in psychology, has been doing selective paranormal work for no charge for the past five years. She said spirits' energy has a force of charged ions similar to plasma. In their presence, she said, batteries, electrical sockets and lamps are routinely drained of energy.
Even though Blackbeard didn't make himself known that night, Duffus said the eight spirits - seven of whom were identified as men - may indeed have been part of Blackbeard's crew.
"The fact is, Christine and Sonya were really communicating," he said. "There's no reason they couldn't be pirates pretending to be Native Americans."
Edward Teach, born about 1680, was more likely named Edward Thatcher, or Thatch, Duffus said. Most of his life is a mystery, but much that is known - including his violent death at the hands of the Royal Navy - was memorable.
A big man, Blackbeard was said to have woven wicks laced with gunpowder into his full black beard, according to a description on the North Carolina Maritime Museum Web site. To enhance his image even more, he wore a crimson coat with two swords, and bandoliers holding pistols and knives across his chest.
Known as the richest, most ruthless and most bloodthirsty pirate in history, Duffus said, the amazing thing is that the pirate's name appears in the true recorded history for only about two years.
Yet Blackbeard is a household name nearly three centuries after his death.
"He sort of understood the value of good marketing," Duffus said.
When Duffus went back to Teach's Hole for a second night, he stood at the same spot preparing to take more footage, and shared some tales about Blackbeard with Holley. While he chatted, Rodriguez shot a photograph.
Above Duffus' head, the photograph later revealed, hovered a large misty orb.
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