Case file · Folklore / legend
José Gaspar, the pirate who never was
Tampa's Gasparilla festival, first held in 1904, celebrates José Gaspar, a pirate said to have terrorised Florida's Gulf coast around 1800.
1904 CE · 27.95, -82.46 · status: hoax
The account
The tale first appeared in a promotional brochure for the Gasparilla Inn and railway around 1900, which claimed he hid treasure on Gasparilla Island.
The sceptical view
Historians have found no trace of Gaspar in any Spanish, American or British record; he is an advertising invention.