Phantoms of the Sea!

Posted by scarygeek on January 23, 2010 at 20:39 pm

Phantom Ships

It is said that ships manned by a ghostly crew still travel the oceans in the dead of night, especially during storms.  They are said to be replaying their last voyage, before their ships were destroyed and sand into the depths of the ocean.  They seem to reappear in the same areas over and over again.  Maybe it is the violent destruction of the ship, and the death of the crew, that has left an energy imprint over the ocean.

The Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman, is by far, one of the most famous of these phantoms ships, and has been seen traveling full sail over the ocean, accompanied by an eerie light.  It is said to be a bad omen to see the Flying Dutchman.  Sometimes her Captain, Hendrick van der Decken, tries to get close enough to other ships, as to hand them a letter.  I am not sure why, but those that accept this letter are not to be heard from again.  According to legend, the was on its way to the cape of Good Hope off of South Africa, when it hit a storm and either was unable to reach the harbor, or refused to seek refuge there.  The rest is history, and sighting of this ship have been recorded in the logs of many vessels.   The lighthouse Keepers at Cape point have also reported seeing this phantom ship sailing in the harbor. 

Ship of Skeletons

Another phantom ship with a ghostly crew, well skeleton crew, is the Libera Nos, which is another Dutch merchant vessel like the Dutchman.  This ship seems to appear out of no where, and all of her crew, from the Captain to the lookout in the crows nest, is seen as a skeleton.  It is said that this ship is condemned to sail the ocean forever. 

Palatine Lights

Once in a great while there are very bright lights seen between Block Island and Rhode island.  They appear suddenly and then seem to disappear into the sea.  Some have described the lights as looking like a ship that is burning and then sinks into the water.  In 1738 a ship wrecked on the island, and it was carrying immigrants from the Palatinate.  Some say that all of the passengers were murdered by the island natives.  No one is really sure what became of the passengers, but the ship was burned.  The lights are now called the Palatine Lights.

I don’t know about you but seeing the lights might be fun, but I will pass on seeing the Flying Dutchman.