Pirate woman

Yo ho yo ho it’s a pirate’s life for me.Yo ho yo ho it’s a pirate’s life for me. There are a couple of ways to do a pirate costume for this upcoming Halloween, if you decide that you do indeed want to dress as a pirate. There is of course the Halloween staple of red, white and black pirate costumes, that generally feature a vest or tunic of some sort, and striped black and white pants that look like they were shredded at the bottom. But there are tons of other versions available now as well.

There is what is best known as the “Captain Jack” costume, since there are tons of variations of it, but it’s clear that they were all made to look like Jack’s outfit from the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The key to a good pirate costume really is layers and essential props. If you’re looking at costumes to purchase, keep an eye out for these things, and you’ll notice that they make the costume seem cooler and more authentic. A simple white shirt, pants and an eye patch would do the trick. But if you added a couple of belts (one to hold up your pants and the other to attach your gun holster to), then you would begin to see the improvements already. Why not take it a step further and add a pair of knee-high boots, or a vest/jacket of some kind? Perhaps a hat with a feather in it, a sword, or a parrot to sit on your shoulder would add some extra flair. Take a step back and just look, your pirate costume looks like a real pirate now! This is one of those costumes that (if you have the means to) you could do a little bit of splurging and watch the difference it makes in the finished product.

Sailors tell a lot of stories. Stories about sea monsters that are hundreds of feet long and cling to the underbelly of ships to sink them within a matter of minutes; making it as though they never sailed at all. They tell stories of illnesses and hallucinations, of sirens and of pirates. But something even more terrifying than being taken over by a pirate ship, would be to see one abandoned and floating freely in the ocean. When all the members of the crew died, or for whatever the reason abandoned ship, this phenomena would occur. The ship would continue on, sailing through the ocean until it eventually sunk due to lack of maintenance, weather conditions, or eventually hitting something. A ghost ship.

ghost ship

Of course, some novelists and screenplay writers have taken this concept and said “suppose the pirates never left the ship, suppose they were unable, or their spirits were tied to it.” In the Pirates of the Caribbean movies a group of men are tied to their ship by a curse. During the day it seems that all is well and they are normal seafaring men, but by night they become skeleton ghoul-like creatures with organs missing and detachable limbs.

In other instances, the guys in pirate costumes are simply ghosts; making the term ‘ghost ship’ a very literal one. They are described as washed out, misty images of a crew. Working relentlessly on the ship despite their work having little to no effect on the improvement of the vessel. Some of the stories go that if you were to board a ghost ship you might become a member of the crew and be forced to spend the rest of eternity with them as a trapped spirit. It is a fate that some think worse than going to Davy Jones’ locker down at the bottom of the ocean.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow