The Ghosts of the USS Alabama
The USS Alabama is a large and impressive ship that is a major tourist attraction for Mobile, Alabama. It has been retired and docked in the Mobile Bay and sees thousands of visitors every day. At night, the ship hosts many cub scout camp outs so the battleship is rarely empty or quiet. Despite the fact that officials claim the ship is not, nor has ever been haunted, many claim to have seen ghosts on this ship. There have been reports of phantom foot steps and odd noises. It is said that late at night bulkheads open and close by themselves and odd tapping noises can be heard throughout the ship.
The Battleship Alabama’s first two deaths were of men who were in the Norfolk shipyard as she was under construction. She was finished in 1942 and served 37 months without any deaths due to enemy fire. As for death under friendly fire, however, there were 8 deaths on gun mount #5 when gun mount #9 fired upon them. It seems that the safety feature that was supposed to prevent the turrets from firing upon each other had failed. The men were completely destroyed; the only thing left of the gun commander was his boots.
The USS Alabama staff does not allow anyone interested in the paranormal to spend the night on the ship, so few people can tell stories of what happens when night comes aboard this old bit of history. My boys, however, were fortunate enough to spend the night on this wonderful ship last summer. As cub scouts, they were able to camp out on the ship. Women are not allowed on the ship after dark, so I had to abandon my men to the shadows and wait for their stories. Both of my boys claim that they saw and heard ghosts the night they stayed on the ship. My oldest son says he saw a barefoot ghost by turret five.This is particularly interesting, because he didn't know about any ghost stories associated with ship or about the man who lost his boots at this turret. I have attached a picture of their overnight t that shows an orb by one of the turrets. The orb is directly above my son's head. I know orbs are nothing like hard proof of the paranormal, but it is still an interesting picture especially since it was taken my gun mount # 5.
Comments
It is a amazing place to tour and we got some very interesting pictures on the USS Drum early the next day when I picked up the boys. Someday would like to figure out who our mysterious friend is and go back to try to debunk our own pictures.
Anonymous.. I love to hear people update and dispute facts. Feel free to post another comment with any facts you have from working there or information you might have about how the ghost stories started spreading in the absence of facts. Sometimes they begin with urban legends. I love disputes, but I love it even more when those who disagree give me real data to go with it. It makes the story that much better!
First off, never believe any story about hauntings or visits to the engine room, there's nothing there. The "activity" takes place in a few areas:
1. Aft deck containing Brig and Laundry (maybe something to do with the Japanese pilot that committed suicide in the Brig?)
2. Wardroom (this was a triage station during the war and was put to use after the Mount #5 incident. The dead and wound were triaged there).
3. Sick Bay (over the years it has picked up the nickname, well the passage way, Hell's Highway due to the weird occurrences. Note that Matthew Trojan was the last to succumb to his injuries in the OR from the M#5 incident).
4. CPO Lounge (might have something to do with Wilbur Manning who went over the side in the North Atlantic).
5. Port Side Quarterdeck (guess our other anonymous poster must have been napping but there is something residual that roams...possibly from the worker who was killed when ship was being built in Norfolk).
6. Various passageways (our friend must have never heard the whistle???).
Wonder if poster knew of the 50+ bodies that were stored in the refers after a destroyer was hit and later sunk...
I could go on, and may visit again later to post more odd occurrences from all over...
They would mention other things too when they would restore various compartments, or having to work below the decks that are not open for touring, or even having to stay after hours in some areas.
They once kept a log of strange events that would happen during the overnight hours but that log vanished, they claimed, in 2011/2012, it was stated by one of the guards in the mid 90's. I've seen the video and pictures that some of the guys took and the images they have. Creepiest was the video from the Sick Bay area...just the audio.
Once of my favorite stories is when some of the original crew would come back to the ship for the reunion. One of the crewmen would sit in the CPO area and play poker...with somebody. And, another crewmember would walk the decks just carrying on a conversation just as if you and I were talking to each other.
If you meet the right people they will talk to you and tell you. I've also been told that the main office doesn't admit to, or like to talk about, any ghost stories or possible hauntings as this would cause of flurry of the curious to start their own little ghost hunts.
Oh...one of the oddest stories was from one the security guards that has long since retired, and the former overnight guard who left to move to a different state...the night guard was almost finished for his shift for the night before the overnight took over. He and the overnight guard were talking at the top of the gangway and both saw someone walk across the back deck and heard the doghouse door slam. They both knew the ship passages well and the night guard went to the doghouse and down while the overnight guard went into the museum entrance and down the passage and both hit the passages until they ran into each other, never seeing anything or hearing anything else. They both have admitted to following or chasing shadow figures. That same night guard would have a run in with a dark figure down in Laundry which from what I was told shook him up pretty good. I respect those two friends and have never had any reason to doubt them. Seriously...if you know the right people, you can learn a lot.