Pirates: Where Does the “Black Spot” Come From?

History, The Arts
Movies and TV shows featuring Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and their supposed exploits usually deviated enormously from reality. Even when there was a grain of truth, the productions were often encased in fictitious chaff. But Westerns were not the only shows we craved. Pirates were an enormous favorite as well. Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, were popular Hollywood fare for a buccaneer-hungry public. Fictional Pirates [caption id="attachment_24548" align="alignright" width="300"] Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver with his parrot[/caption] Ned Buntline and Zane Grey enthralled the young with action/adventure stories of the 'Wild and Wooly West'. Robert Louis Stevenson gave us cowboys of the seas in his salty novel Treasure Island. Treasure Island features Long John Silver, the peg-leg buccaneer, and his band of misfits. Included in…
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