Ghosts At Sea - MOTU

I puled out my copy of Time Life's Mysteries of the Unexplained, printed back in 1982. Some really od stuff in this book. Thought I would put up a few around here and see what people think. Real? Not? Hell if I know.

James Courtney and Michael Meehan, crew members of the S.S. Watertown, were cleaning a cargo tank of the oil tanker as it sailed toward the Panama Canal from New York City in December of 1924. Through a freak accident, the two men were overcome by gas fumes and killed. As was the custom of the time, the sailors were buried at sea. But this was not the last the remaining crew members were to see of their unfortunate shipmates. The next day, and for several days thereafter, the phantom-like faces of the sailors were seen in the water following the ship. This tale might be easy to dismiss as maritime legend if it weren't for the photographic evidence. When the ship's captain, Keith Tracy, reported the strange events to his employers, the Cities Service Company, they suggested he try to photograph the eerie faces - which he did. One of those photos is shown here.

paranormal.about.com...

EDIT: My typing sucks.

[edit on 8/31/2009 by TheLoony]

reply to post by TheLoony


S&F for you for posting this. This is one of the first "ghost" pics I remember seeing when I was little and it is part of what got me started on the paranormal. Honestly, I've looked at this pic so much over the years that I can't really say much about it's validity, but it's one of my fave ghost pics, just because I have fond memories of it for whatever reason, lol.

Oh, I just have to mention that I hate about.com so badly! But, I'll forgive since you made this thread.

EDIT: Ok, ok, I broke down and went to the loathed about.com and read the tales and I have to admit... it's the best thing I've ever seen written on that site. So more kudos to you! You actually found something interesting on there and that alone deserves a few stars!



[edit on 8/31/2009 by gemineye]

reply to post by gemineye


I originally got this from the book. I went looking and found the best link I could. It's verbatim what the book says. Hence the MOTU - Mysteries of the Unexplained - in the title. I couldn't very well post the story without the picture, so I had to find something on line with it and that site was what I first got that had it. I takes what I can get LOL!

I always found this one to be really creepy. If that's a hoaxed pic, then so be it, but it still freaks me out. If it was real, would you want to be on that boat for days, watching these faces float around you? I wouldn't.

reply to post by TheLoony


I had those books! A very nice collection Time Life books put together. Was that from the phantom encounters book?

reply to post by hangedman13


I only have one book and its called Mysteries of the Unexplained.

Spontaneous human combustion, prophecies, Loch Ness, a little of everything.

In the case of this one, I thought hopefully someone who knows something about photography could bunk or debunk it. If the photo isn't real, then that makes the story much less believable. As it is, it's quite out there. Not your average ghost story.

Sir, I'm not a debunker, but I do believe that with abstract pictures that contain many shapes and shades, the human eye and brain tries to resolve disorder into some kind of order.

Also, auto-suggestion plays a part in it too, much like when you're laying down with someone looking up at the clouds and saying that that one looks like a dog, and that one like a car etc, order from disorder.

So we have been told a creepy tale about two poor sailors that met with an untimely demise, and in this picture you can see their wreched souls following the boat, well what if I tell you that where I've added marker 1, that is the spooky image of the wife of one of the deceased sailors? no2 is the specre of his 6 year old son? And the best of all, no3 circled is a young Jesus Christ with his hands to his face and wearing a thorn crown???? And if you want to get really silly, no4 is a 300lb gorrilla wearing lipstick. (Please refer to the original and slide across for this as I'm new here and don't seem to have the photo knack yet).

Order from disorder.

It really is a creepy pic though.



[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8c9bbd264040.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by butch_uk


Nah, you're wrong. # 4 is a bear coming out of the water.

IMO, it's either real or superimposed. Retouching photos to take things out I know for certain was done before this pic was taken - see the documentary Coming To Light:Edward Curtis for evidence of this. I'm pretty sure they could do a double exposure type of thing also back then and that wouldn't surprise me about this.

I see you are from Rutland. Is that where the "great" band The Rutles is from?

reply to post by TheLoony


You know what, now that you describe that book, I believe I had the same one and that's probably where I saw that pic for the first time! I loved that book, although it had me scared to death that I was going to to burst into flames at any moment, Ha!

I see you are from Rutland. Is that where the "great" band The Rutles is from?

I was not familiar with he 'Rutles' until you mentioned them, but the good ol' intrawebby has enlightened me now.

I think Mr Idles inspiration for the name was our smallness.

I never expected much out of this thread, and since I started it I'll bloody well derail it. I sound like Ian Paice from Deep Purple - "I bought it, so I'll bloody well boot it".

I dig British humor and The Rutles is one of my favorites. Of course I'm a big Beatles fan too, so that helps. Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band, Let It Rot, Tragical History Tour, Leggy Longbottom, how they "drank"tea, Banana records and George Harrison as a fan stealing from Banana records. They even did good music for it, so close to the originals yet so different. I love the video from Yellow Submarine Sandwich - Cheese And Onions. Classic nonsense.

Ridiculous yet absolutely fantastic.

Now that's out of the way, we can talk ghosts again. Sometimes I just have to go off topic. It makes life a little more interesting.