Chicago has a lot to offer, amazing pizza, incredible concerts, Da Bears!  But what I was really drawn towards was the Real Pirates exhibit at The Field Museum.  Let me start by saying that I fancy myself a bit of a pirate at heart. Of course unlike the lame “white” witches, piracy never really gets warm and fuzzy. Johnny Depp put a nice Disney spin on the lot of them but essentially they were just plain rotten. And for that I truly love them. Rape and Pillaging aside they were some of the most colorful characters in history.

Driving up to the museum you can’t help but notice the massive  Jolly Roger flag splitting the Roman columns like a beacon calling all the wayward braggarts home.  Its skull and cross-swords is imposing, majestic and dare I say it, fun!  I was thrilled to get inside and document the exhibit for my fellow enthusiasts. And I sure would have if the “man” didn’t step in to wreck my documenting desires. The irony of trying to share the Pirate exhibit with you is that the souls of those fearless men on the Whydah, the worlds only pirate shipwreck, are damned to spend all eternity being protected from piracy. Copyright laws do apply.

So instead of showing you an image of the pirate’s lethal sharp daggers and sawed off muskets, here’s a close up of the resident T-Rex’s teeth. Sue, as she is known, is the most complete skeleton of a T-Rex in the world. Not really as cool as pirates but just as deadly.

Instead of showing you a diagram of two pirates engaged in mortal combat, swords drawn, greed in their eyes, here’s two elephants engaged in what I can only assume is not a game of slap and tickle.  Pieces of eight or peanuts? You decide.

And just as you can imagine the power struggle between satan’s own sailors, these two stuffed groundhogs paint a convincing portrait of the struggle of the fittest.

However, joking aside, the museum did successfully showcase this unique pirate find. They have a stunning display of the only legitimate pirate treasure known to ever be found, and a collection of tales of all known pirates, not just the sailors on the Whydah. My favorite, and dare I say most inspiring, story is of Mary Reed and Anne Bonney. Both women who disguised themselves as men and first ran away to join the army, but later rebelled further by becoming the most legendary female pirates in the annals of history. These women were two of the most fearsome creatures, famous for their cruelty and aggression.  Eventually they were caught and sentenced to death only to surprise the court by claiming to be pregnant. Both sentences were changed to life in prison where Mary died of fever and Anne was never heard of again.

Let that be a lesson to you women with loose morals and a penchant for violence.

So if you find yourself in Chicago before October 25th, stop in The Field Museum to Shiver ye timbers and walk the plank. As long as the Jolly Roger is flying, you never know who just might drop in!

Words by Barbie Brady, photos by Matt Brady