10 Of The Most Haunting Ghost Ship Stories
Christopher Davis Quick Links
Everyone loves a ghost story. They’re haunting, chilly and really spooky. But what’s more is that they give the listeners, readers, or even tellers of these ghost stories a sense that there are things among us that aren't part of our world. This can be either fascinating, or completely frightening. There are haunted places all around the world. Stories of ghosts can come from haunted hotels, abandoned towns, or even someone’s own home. But there are also haunted stories involving our vast oceans. Countless lives have been lost at sea and sometimes, these lost souls come back to travel on the sea in unexpected ways. Sometimes, these stories don't even involve ghosts, just unexplained disappearances that leave others questioning whether there was a curse on board the ill-fated ship. And sometimes there is just a lone ship, roaming around the seas, looking for its lost passengers. No matter what the mystery is surrounding the ten ghost ships below, no clear explanation has been found to date. Leaving some to believe, that these ships were haunted by something much bigger, and deadlier than ourselves.
10. Carrol A. Deering
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The Carrol A. Deering disappeared in one of the most infamous areas in the sea, the Bermuda Triangle. The Ship had its problems from the start. It was set to sail to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, with its captain and its first mate, but both of them fell ill. A replacement captain was sent in, and the ship set sail. It was said that the crew on board didn't get along well with the captain. They said he didn't know what he was doing which made everyone a bit on edge. Eventually, the crew and the captain made peace. Although, what happened next was downright chilling. On January 28, 1921, a lightship keeper was hailed and a red-haired man told him that the Deering had lost her anchors. However, the keeper was unable to get any help because of a malfunctioning radio. Just three days later, the Deering was found off Cape Hatteras. When rescuers were able to board the ship they found the Deering completely abandoned. The logs and the navigation equipment were missing but the food was in midway preparation for the next days meal. There has never been an answer as to what happened to the crew of the Deering, but theories range from paranormal activity, to mutiny and piracy.
9. Baychimo
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The Baychimo is a ship that had a lot of bad luck. In October 1931, the ship set sail carrying a cargo of fur. Unfortunately, the ship became trapped in ice, off the coast of a town called Burrow. The crew abandoned the ship and set up camp to wait out the harsh weather conditions. About a week later, the ship broke free from the ice and the crew went back to get their cargo. Unfortunately for them, on the 15th of October the ship became trapped in ice once again. The crew abandoned ship once more with an intent to return back after the winter had passed. On the 24th of November, a blizzard stuck and the Baychimo vanished. The crew members presumed that the ship had sunk in the storm but that wasn't the end of the Baychimo. Over the next forty years, the Baychimo has been spotted numerous times sailing the oceans. There have been several attempts to board the ship but all of them have been unsuccessful. The last sighting of the ship was in 1969, a grand total of 38 years after she had been abandoned.
8. MV Joyita
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The Joyita set sail for the Tokelau Islands on October 3rd, 1955. The journey should have only taken two days but by the third day, the Joyita still had not arrived. It wasn't until five weeks later that the vessel was found. Her deck was partially submerged and there were four tons of cargo missing but none of the crew-members were on board. All of the clocks on the ship were stopped at 10:25 and all of the lights were switched on. What’s more, the vessel’s engine was still running. In the ship, a doctor’s bag was found with four bloody bandages. The disappearance of the crew-members was inexplicable. The route that the ship should have taken would never have put it out of radio distance and the ship was unsinkable because it was lined with cork. The bizarre disappearance of the crew-members on the MV Joyita has remained a mystery till this day.
7. The Flying Dutchman
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The Flying Dutchman has left quite an impact on the maritime world. Legend has it that Van der Decken, the captain of the ship, was on his way to the East Indies. He tried to make his way through the terrible weather conditions but failed. The captain vowed that he would continue to drift until doomsday. Apparently, the sea didn't like that Van der Decken was trying to conquer it and he was cursed to sail the oceans for all eternity. Since then, hundreds of fishermen and sailors have reported seeing the cursed ship, and for many of them, it has been a bad omen, causing death and destruction to whomever lays eyes on it.
6. Octavius
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On October 11, 1775, the Octavius was discovered west of Greenland, by a whaler and his crew. What the crew-members found was absolutely horrifying. On board, they discovered the entire crew of the Octavius, seemingly frozen at the moment of their death. The captain of the ship was found in his cabin, with a pen still in his hand. The crew-members of the whaler quickly left the ship and took with them the captains log. The entry was only party completed and was dated, 1762, which meant that the vessel had been in this frozen state of horror for thirteen years. Unfortunately, the ship was never found again after the strange encounter by the whaler and his crew.
5. Lady Lovibond
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On the 13th of February, 1748, the Lady Lovibond set sail with Simon Reed and his new bride, Annette. Unfortunately for Reed, his first mate, John Rivers was madly in love with his new wife. He was overcome with jealousy at seeing the pair together and ended up attacking Reed and killing him. Afterwards, he steered the ship towards the Goodwin sands, killing everyone on board. Since then, the ship has been sighted on numerous occasions. On the 13th of February 1848, two separate ships witnessed the Lady Lovibond sailing the seas. In 1948, the ghost ship was once again spotted by Captain Bull Prestwick. The next sighting of the ship is set to be on the 13th of February, 2048. It is believed that the ship appears once every fifty years.
4. Mary Celeste
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The Mary Celeste holds the title for one if the greatest Maritime mysteries of all time. On December the 5th, 1872, Captain Morehouse spotted the Mary Celeste. He attempted to hail the ship but there was no reply. Eventually, Morehouse boarded the vessel and what he found makes the Mary Celeste one of today’s great mysteries. On board, all of the ship’s papers were missing, with the exception of the captain’s log. There have been tales about a half-eaten breakfast sitting on the table, with a cup of warm tea beside it, but these are probably just stories. However, it is clear that the ship was abandoned in a hurry. There was still a six-month supply of food and fresh water, and all of the crew’s personal possessions were left untouched. There was some water damage found on the boat but not enough for the crew to abandon ship. A marine surveyor, who was sent to decode the mystery of the Mary Celeste, found a few spots of blood in the captain’s cabin and a gash on the railing. Over the next few years, the Mary Celeste went through 17 different captains, each of these captains and their crew-members experienced tragedy. Eventually, the cursed ship was deliberately sunk to avoid any more deaths.
3. Ourang Medan
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In June of 1947, a Dutch freighter received Morse Code messages from the Ourang Medan. The message read, ‘All officers including the captain are dead lying in chart-room and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead.’ The final message from the ship read, ‘I die.’ After a few hours, a small team was able to aboard the Ourang Medan. The ship seemed to be in near perfect condition, except for the numerous corpses that were found on board. What is most disturbing is that all of the bodies on board were frozen, looking up at the sun, with their arms outstretched and a look of horror on their face. In addition, there were no signs of injuries on any of the bodies. When the rescue crew tried to enter the cargo area, an explosion from an unknown source occurred, forcing them to retreat to safety. As a result of the explosion, the Ourang Medan sank to the bottom of the ocean and has not been seen since.
2. SS Valencia
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In 1906, a total of 173 passengers set sail from San Francisco with the intention of ending up in Seattle. On their journey, the weather became so terrible that visibility was nearly impossible. As a result of the weather and the wind, the ship collided into a reef near Vancouver Island. The crew tried to escape the ship but in a panic, two lifeboats were capsized and one of them disappeared. All of the women and children on board that day died. The final death toll was 136 people. Twenty-seven years after the tragedy, one of the lifeboats that belonged to the Valencia was found in near perfect condition. Since then, there has been numerous sightings of the ill-fated ship.
1. Zebrina
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In 1917, the Zebrina set sail from Southern England. The ship was bound for France but it never made it to its destination. The ship was eventually found in good shape, but abandoned, two days after it left for France. The crew was nowhere to be found. A popular theory for the reason behind the abandonment of the Zebrina is that it was as a result of some kind of conflict related to the World War. Maybe, a German submarine took the crew-members of the Zebrina on board of one of their own ships, and later that ship sank. Whatever the reason is, the crew of the Zebrina disappeared without a trace, and they haven’t been seen since.
