It's likely Edward Teach didn't need much to scare his enemies. After all, the notorious pirate better known as Blackbeard boasted a thick mass of facial hair so intimidating that it got immortalized in history.

But archaeologists now suspect they've found one more clue behind the pirate's menace: what could very well be Blackbeard's sword, or at least part of it. National Geographic published photos released by a team that has for more than a decade been excavating the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was Blackbeard's flagship until it ran aground in an inlet off the coast of North Carolina in 1718.

Click here for the full report.