19th-Century Pirate Cursed Pitcher Point in Long Beach, Mississippi
By Kat Bergeron
Capt. John Pitcher was a cruel, mean-spirited pirate who had so few redeeming qualities that even his own villainous men disliked him. The Pitcher crew used to hang out on the waterfront in what is now Long Beach. In this era before sea walls and U.S. 90, inlets led from the Mississippi Sound to safer ground, and one of these spots became Pitcher's hideaway. They looted, then ran and hid, sometimes burying their treasures there. The mean-spirited Pitcher distrusted his own men, so at the hideaway, he picked the biggest oak for himself and made a tree house. At night, he'd undo a rope ladder, climb and pull up the ladder so no one could sneak up with evil on the mind. The crew's final straw came the day that Pitcher mistreated one of their Indian girlfriends. The pirates were so angry that after their captain finished his nightly tree routine, they piled wood and dried grasses under the oak. Wooosh went the deliberate flames. With his dying breath as the giant bonfire consumed him, Pitcher cursed the land where the booty was buried. Today, the spot appropriately named "Pitcher Point" has a reputation of, well, problems. Fire, hurricanes are among them. Although this legend is impossible to prove, the curse of Pitcher Point has been as much a part of Long Beach history as the radishes and truck farms that turned it into a viable community. Is the curse poppycock? The question, if asked of long-timers, is likely to bring a combination of smiles and furrowed brows. "It's one of our great legends, but no one can prove it -- or disprove it," says Mary Ellen Alexander, Long Beach native and president of the newly formed Long Beach Historical Society. "I've heard there is a spring there, and that makes me wonder. That might be a good reason for a pirate to chose the area, right?" The story of Pitcher's curse has existed as long as anyone can remember. "I first heard the legend from Mary Boggs, and I guess she got the story from her family,"Alexander says. "The Boggs came here in 1875, and their family compound, Boggsdale, is less than a mile from Pitcher Point." The point is in west Long Beach, almost to the Pass Christian border, where a Pass restaurant calls itself Pirate's Cove. In the old days Pitcher Point was swampy, and the point was easy to discern because it jutted into the sound. Today, the beach front land just east of White Harbor Road has a two-story house, woods and some emptiness ripe for development. Further back into the point there is a small subdivision, called Pitcher Point, with brick homes.
Unraveling the Mystery
The late Coast historian M. James Stevens, who was fascinated by the legend, decided that Pitcher and his men would have used the site around the turn of the 19th century when the Coast was under the Spanish flag. He surmised that Pitcher and his crew were woodsmen who had moved south to be under less stringent Spanish rule and accessible to boat plunder. Between 1790 and 1830, a constant movement of trade goods and passenger between New Orleans and Mobile made the pickings easy for the likes of Pitcher, who could then seek the safety of the water-front hideaway. As 1900 rolled around, the point was still swampy and the inlet made building a beach front road there difficult. Instead, people traveling east-west used Old Pass Christian Road, some portions of which remain today as Pass Road. "At numerous points are vistas of the water through the branches of oaks and pines," observed one writer for the Works Progress Administration, otherwise known as the Depression-era WPA. Few signs of habitation break the scene, and the isolation and forest growths make credible the story that here the pirate Pitcher had his hideout. Pitcher Point is almost bare of population, either because its frontage lies low on the Mississippi Sound, or, as superstition would have it, because Pitcher cursed the spot almost 200 years ago. "According to the legend, under one of the branching oaks, he hid the part of his gold that, to this day, has not been discovered." At least, no one has admitted to the discovery.
An Ever-Changing Point
When the sea wall was completed in the late 1920's, the character of Pitcher Point changed. The inlet was cut off and the swamp was filled in for a beach road and development. A Southern colonial mansion, called the Mount Vernon of Long Beach, was built there by a Gulfport baker. A fire badly damaged it before the house disappeared in the hurricane of 1947. Next came the Pine Lodge Court, which became a popular family motel with cottages. Supposedly, a storm got that one, too. By the late 1960's, Pitcher Point was bathed in prosperity and a subdivision claimed much of the land. A 96-foot by 120-foot lot cost $5,000, according to one subdivision promotion. Instead of ignoring the legend, developers twisted it to their advantage. "The story goes that he buried his treasure here and pronounced a curse on the area to discourage habitation of new settlers", an old sales brochure claims. We believe this to be the exact location of Captain Pitcher's treasure trove. There is no record of any part of his immense fortune ever being found. Look sharp, Matey! When you find this buried treasure, we would like to share your happiness, so we reserve one-fourth the treasure rights of this property. "No rights reserved on the "Treasure Chest Living' you'll find in Pitcher Point." Such playful boasts and toying with the legend ended abruptly on Aug. 17, 1969, when Hurricane Camille wiped out much of the subdivision. Years passed before people began rebuilding.
Special thanks to Kat Bergeron and The Sun Herald for permission to reprint this article.