Mike and Maria helped their grandfather clean out his house once a year, but this time they made an unexpected discovery in the attic. The story they were told afterward is one that they never expected to hear about their grandfather's unbelievable secrets...
Yearly Spring Cleaning
Mike and Maria helped their grandfather clean out his house once a year. It was a tradition that they'd all done together for the last five years since their grandmother died. This particular visit wasn't like all the others, though...
A Hoarding Problem
Over the last year, Mike and Maria realized that their grandfather had developed a sort of hoarding problem. The house had never been this messy, so they knew they had a long day of work ahead of them. Looking at the state of the house, Maria started to worry about him...
A Hard Time Alone
Since the death of his wife Grace five years ago, John had been having a difficult time living alone. He missed her and wasn't used to being in such a big house on his own. He didn't want to sell it, so he had his grandchildren visit as much as possible. He always looked forward to this day with them...
Time to Prepare
Grace had been sick for several years before she succumbed to her illness. It wasn't a shock to the family—rather a long and winding road of different medical hardships that nobody wanted to see her endure anymore. After a while, he'd accepted that his wife was going to die, but it hadn't been an easy transition...
Intense Reorganization
Mike and Maria decided to start with the attic first. The most clutter tended to always make its way up there. Their grandfather waited downstairs while the two of them made their way up to examine the mess...
Complete Disarray
Maria was shocked when they'd reached the attic: it was a complete wreck. It looked totally rundown and neglected. Attics weren't the nicest of rooms to begin with, but this was a mess. Mike pointed out a particular box in the corner...
Mystery Box
Mike and Maria pulled the box from the corner of the room and set it on a table in the middle of the room. They weren't sure how they'd missed it during their previous visits, but they decided to open it now. They had no idea that would they were about to see would change their whole perception of their grandfather...
Dozens of Old Photos
They sifted through the box's contents carefully. It was full of old photos, most of which were from their grandfather's years spent traveling across Europe. Photos of him and Grace in dozens of different countries made Maria smile. However, as they kept looking, she felt Mike freeze beside her...
Painful Memories
At first, Maria thought maybe Mike was just getting emotional at seeing all of the old photos of their late grandmother. As she was about to take the photos from him, she realized what he was actually looking at. There was something hidden at the very bottom of the box...
Where Had They Actually Traveled?
Mike and Maria knew their grandparents had done extensive traveling when they were young, but they had no idea where exactly they had gone. Mike pulled out what appeared to be a faded map of the Pacific Ocean. But that wasn't the only thing they saw...
Shocking Discovery
At the bottom of the box there was what appeared to be a mummified hand. It was covered in dust and wrapped in old pieces of cloth. The bones were exposed and the fingers wore old brass rings. What had they just found? Whose hand was this?
Uncovered Secrets
Maria said they shouldn't tell their grandfather about what they'd found yet. The box was hidden for a reason, so they decided they'd take it to an antique appraiser to determine what exactly they were looking at. Their grandfather was in an emotionally fragile state and they didn't want to bring up any painful memories of their grandmother just yet...
A Professional Opinion
After they'd spent the day cleaning out their grandfather's house, Mike and Maria went to a local antique store and had the box and its contents looked at by a professional historian. They were admittedly skeptical about the fact that their grandparents were possibly pirates. However, the historian wasn't as skeptical as they were...
The Map Was a Relic
The historian explained the origin of the map after he did some research. Their grandparents had in fact been pirates in the early 1900s. The historian recognized the map and the ship routes written out on it and explained they'd actually been pretty famous as some of the last remaining true pirates out on the oceans...
Where There's a Map There's Treasure
Mike's next question was pretty obvious. What did the map lead to? Did it have something to do with the severed hand? If they were allegedly famous pirates, was there a treasure hidden somewhere that they should look for?
That Was a Question For Their Grandfather
The historian said he wasn't the person to ask, and that they should probably go home and have a conversation with their grandfather. They thanked him for taking a look at the strange artifacts they'd found and were ready to go home. The story they were about to hear was one that belonged in history books...
A Young Couple In Love
John and Grace had met when they were just 17 years old. Instead of going to college, they decided to travel across Europe together. They were natural free spirits and made no plans to settle down. They loved the constant moving around, but they never expected to get roped into one specific adventure...
Jumping Ship
One day while they were exploring around the coast of Spain, John and Grace decided to stow away on what they thought was a cargo ship headed for Portugal. They didn't realize that they'd made a huge mistake until it was too late. The ship they'd jumped was a pirate ship...
An Adventure of a Lifetime
John and Grace didn't even know pirates existed anymore. When they were caught on board, they were brought to the captain who agreed to let them stay if they worked as a part of the crew. To their surprise, they loved the pirate lifestyle and easily fit right in...
Nothing Like the Movies
Mike and Maria listened in awe. How had their grandfather never shared any of these stories with them? While they listened, they couldn't help but compare everything he said to the various movies they'd seen, and nothing he said even remotely compared to those stories. They learned that their grandparents had been famous among outlaws and they'd never even known it...
Traveling The Seven Seas
Mike and Maria couldn't believe what they were hearing. Their grandparents had sailed across every ocean for years with a gang of pirates. They realized their parents didn't even know this story. Mike was bursting with so many questions...
Where Was The Treasure?
Mike had to know two things: where was the treasure buried? And who did the hand in the box belong to? John paused before he answered because he wasn't sure how they were going to take his response. He rifled through the box in front of them again and pulled out something inside...
The Mysterious Hand
John was hesitant at first, but then he finally spoke. He showed them a photo of a young man standing on the deck of a ship. The man, he explained, was another stowaway who'd joined the crew about a month after they had, and he'd tried to steal Grace away from him. Of course, John wasn't going to take that lying down...
A Fatal Fight
John explained that he and the other man had gotten into an intense fight onboard one night and things had gotten violent. John threatened the other man unless he left Grace alone, and subsequently cut off his hand when he refused. The man's pain was so intense that he begged John to throw him overboard, so he did. While he was speaking, Mike and Maria could tell he wasn't proud of his actions and he felt extreme guilt over what he'd done...
Why Had He Kept It?
Mike asked his grandfather why he'd kept the hand after all those years if he felt so guilty, and at that John smiled a little. The answer was simple. The other pirates said he was officially one of them...
Was There Really Any Treasure?
This time Maria had to ask. Finding treasure would help their family financially in ways they couldn't even imagine. Was the map accurate? John had another answer surprising answer...
They'd Probably Never Find It
John explained that there had been treasure at one point, fifty years ago, but he was sure it had been discovered by now. The other pirates had buried it off the coast of Portugal deep in a cave, but John had never seen it himself. His grandchildren shouldn't get their hopes up...
His Treasure Was Grace
John said that even if somehow the pirate's treasure was uncovered, all he wanted anymore was Grace. Mike and Maria understood, and they said they missed her just as much as he did. They were still shocked neither of them had ever shared this incredible story before...
Incredible Memories
John explained that their life before they had children felt too special, and Grace had wanted those memories to be just for them for as long as possible. John never thought his grandchildren would ever find that box, but now he was glad they had. He was glad he could relive that time of his life before they'd settled down and had a family...
Passing On Their Story
While going out and looking for the pirate's treasure wasn't possible, Mike and Maria promised to keep this story alive. Their grandparents had been amazing adventurous people, and they were so glad to have finally been told that story. They'd always known their grandparents were special, but they had no idea just how special they were.