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| Photo via the Naval Historical Foundation, Maher Collection. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. |
The Haunting of the Battleship USS North Carolina
Decommissioned ship turned museum... but what about the ghosts???
Growing up in Wilmington, NC, the Battleship was just a part of the local city layout. Everyone has at least one photo they have taken of it, mostly from Water Street, looking across the Cape Fear River. And everyone has heard the stories - faces looking out from the portholes, overwhelming emotions in certain locations, footsteps when no one else is around. But is the battleship USS North Carolina really haunted? Or is it all just local legend?
The Lore
The USS North Carolina saw war, death, and destruction, both as the cause and the recipient, during her time on the water in the 1940s. With so much terrible history lurking in her metal walls, something, or someone, was bound to stick around.
Reports from museum employees, visitors, and investigators alike range from doors opening and closing on their own, overwhelming emotions out of nowhere, being touched, hearing footsteps, and seeing someone in restricted areas.
The Experiences
Danny Bradshaw started working as a caretaker on the battleship USS North Carolina in 1976. Over the years, he has witnessed many unexplainable things, so many in fact, that he wrote Ghosts on the Battleship North Carolina, a book describing his personal experiences over the years. His book has helped bring investigator eyes to the ship as his career is a long one. Along with Danielle Wallace, the museum's Program Director, Danny has experienced all the normal things you would expect in a haunted hotspot - doors opening and closing on their own, voices you can't place, things moving on their own, shadow people, figures and faces where they really shouldn't be. Danielle herself thinks the spirits that roam know her and the others are there to take care of the ship, and keep her safe and afloat. They may rustle papers about or watch the staff as they make their way about the ship, but the spirits mean no harm.
Area resident and my personal friend, Gene W. saw something he couldn't explain during a trip as a second-grade kid: "I saw a 'ghost'/'spirit' on the battleship when I was little, there was a floor hole where stairs used to be, the guide said that 'No one goes down there anymore' and I saw a pale face in one of the corners of the lower deck."
There are reports of people, both staff and visitors, seeing a young man in a washroom and a blond-haired man walking down passages. I am a little fuzzy on if this is the same apparition or two different ones, as I did not seem to find a description of the washroom ghost, but it is thought he died in the torpedo attack.
Both the mess hall and sick/medical bay are hotspots for EVPs (electronic voice phenomena), being touched by unseen hands, and seeing apparitions and shadow people. Paranormal investigators, Ghost Guild, have caught EVPs of bedsprings being hit during one of their events. The group likes to use trigger sounds to help create a familiar atmosphere for spirits, it helps to encourage interaction. From fireworks paired with the general quarters alarm to mimic battle sounds, the mess call to trigger mess hall ghosts, old movies from the 40s the crew would have enjoyed, even the nightly taps played at 11 PM can help bring out those who still wander about the battleship.
During one of Ghost Guild's investigations, they invited WRAL lifestyle editor, Kathy Hanrahan, along. Overnight she experienced the basic ghost stuff but one key moment was her experience in the torpedo room, the spot where a torpedo hit, causing half the crew deaths the Battleship ever saw. She was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions and started crying. The feeling passed almost as quick as it came about, but what caused her sudden need to sob? Was it the spirits of the men who died there that fateful night?
And speaking of paranormal groups, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, AKA T.A.P.S. of Ghost Hunters fame, have been to the USS North Carolina on more than one occasion as well. And that's not to mention other various local groups that have had the pleasure and honor of investigating the Battleship. Even if the only thing they managed to see was the view of the city across the water, well to me, that view at night is worth never seeing a ghost or possibly seeing a thousand ghosts, depending on your point of view.
The Facts
Ordered August 1, 1937, the battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55) launched June 13, 1940 and was commissioned from April 9, 1941 until June 27, 1947. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on June 1, 1960 and scheduled to be scrapped, James Craig campaigned to save her. She was brought to Wilmington, NC in Autumn 1961 before undergoing repairs and officially opened as a museum on April 29, 1962.
(I won't go into her detailed history here as I have sources linked below, but will say she was the lead ship of the North Carolina class of fast battleships and is highly decorated, so she is a special lady to say the least.)
During her time in service, she only saw ten crew deaths, with half of those being part of a torpedo attack. So let's talk about that attack and what we know happened...
On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked and USS North Carolina began her extensive training for combat. Fast-forward to September 15, 1942 and Guadalcanal, where the Japanese submarine I-19 fired six torpedoes. Two or three of these hit the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, one hit the destroyer USS O'Brien, and one hit our lady. Hit on the portside 20ft below the waterline, a 32ft x 18ft hole was torn into her. The shock of the blast disabled the forward turret and she began flooding from the damage. Counter-flooding measures corrected the 5.5-degree list and overall, she sustained little serious damage. Unfortunately, five members of the crew lost their lives in the attack. One can only hope their deaths were as fast and painless as possible. Both of the other two ships received more damage than USS North Carolina, with USS Wasp being scuttled that night.
Additional noted deaths include a crew member being killed by a strafing aircraft a couple weeks prior on August 24, 1941; on April 6, 1945, during an anti-aircraft barrage, she was hit accidentally by another ship's 5in shell which killed three and wounded 44. (There is a death I did not see mentioned online, it could have been a wounded crew member that passed or from some non-war cause or I'm human and missed it.)
In total, the USS North Carolina saw ten crew deaths and 67 wounded.
The Possible Causes
So, here's the part Lily hates most about lore and legends... what could be the most logical explanation for the sightings, sounds, feelings, and more that have taken place aboard the USS North Carolina? I'm an avid believer as much as the next gal, but I was also raised to question everything, and let's be honest, Spock was always my favorite on Star Trek. So let's get logical.
Danny Bradshaw's experiences are truly of note and have helped bring some much-needed attention to the ship. That attention can help bring in something all museums need - donations, visitors, news reporters, money. Could Danielle Wallace and Danny maybe, possibly be leaning into some random acts of happenstance to get some attention on what is otherwise a hot metal sweat box in the summer? Well... yeah. I would consider it if I needed to keep my job afloat. But that is some long-term storytelling if I ever saw it. (And a bit rude for the South, if you ask me.) Am I accusing them of lying? Nope, just saying it's possible. (Seriously though, I am not saying they are lying. For real for real.)
The art and act of lying aside, what else could be making all this ruckus on the river? For starters, drunk people! You ever been to Downtown Wilmington at night? You can hear the drunks for blocks within the city. The Battleship might be located across the water, but that sound travels. It travels, it muffles, it distorts. A scream of delight can morph into one of terror when carried across the river and into the depths of a metal ship. Additionally, we do have alligators, fish, birds, driftwood, and trash in the river (though the trash seems to be getting less, thank goodness). They all can bump up on the ship causing sound to reverb. Boats and ships travel up and down the river all hours of the day and night, and the ports are just a stone's throw away. Sound travels. Spooky is sometimes just science. Lame, but also cool, because SCIENCE!
But photos! Videos! Creepy faces in restricted areas! Come on, Lily, you can't blame it all on the science of sound!
True. I can't. But I can blame it on the science of dust on a lens (3rd generation photographer here and a glasses wearer, dust is EVERYWHERE, clean your lenses), light refracting just so at the right millisecond, pareidolia (seeing shapes or making pictures out of randomness), third-parties screwing with innocent bystanders, and while no offense is meant towards the Battleship cleaning crew, bugs or spider webs catching the eye. The list goes on.
We also can't rule out hallucinations, both auditory and visual. The person hearing and/or seeing what isn't there could have been experiencing a hallucination without realizing it. They then told their story and much like fishermen and their fishing tales, this one grew too big to hold on to as it got retold. After all, it's incredibly easy to create a fake memory or manipulate one into something new. The brain is easily corrupted after all.
And finally, we come to the overwhelming feelings of sadness, pain, grief, etc. that people have felt while aboard the Battleship. This one I get- a lot. Feelings. You just all of a sudden feel like you gotta cry and you aren't sure why or feel like someone is watching you. The feeling stays until you move away. There are two great explanations for this. The first is you know the history of the place and even without actively thinking about it, your brain wiggles some feelings your way without permission (rude). If you are hanging out in the torpedo room where men died, yeah, you might catch a tear or two. I know I would. And the second cause is EMF, AKA electromagnetic fields. You know, that spooky reading ghosties put out? Well so does anything electrical. When it's high, pretty much everyone can feel it in the air. But for some of us, myself included, it doesn't take much to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up straight. (Metal ship + electricity in the air = not romance)
But logic aside, can I say for sure that the USS North Carolina is as mundane and not haunted as my new apartment? Never! While I have never experienced anything spooky, creepy, or anything other than sweaty at the Battleship, there are tons of stories and experiences, videos, audios, photos, all the o's, that say there is something that is more than just the mundane happening aboard. And honestly, if I can't trust my dear Gene to give me his personal memory without a fib, well then who can I trust for a creepy retelling?
Whether haunted or not, the rich history of the battleship USS North Carolina is something to reflect on and keep in our collective memory. And besides, if she hadn't been saved from the scrap heap all those years ago, we wouldn't be having this little conversation right now, now would we? So I'm certainly glad she was.😉
Until next time lore lovers, stay spooky💖
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