Was the USS Forrestal Haunted?

In April 1985 a detachment from my helicopter squadron was assigned to ride the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for sea trials. A detachment is usually two or three helicopters, their crews and enough maintenance people to support the aircraft. I was assigned to the night shift along with two other guys, I’ll call Ron and Larry (real first names but I don’t want to give their last names without their permission).

With the ship doing sea trials ours were the only three aircraft on the ship, which meant that the flightdeck was wide open. This also meant that only about 1200 people from the ship’s crew, about 250 civilian shipyard workers and the 40 people from our detachment were aboard instead of the usual 6000. Our job on the night shift was to do light maintenance, stand by for an emergency and provide security for our helos that were parked on the flightdeck. With the weather being cold and rainy we were told that we didn’t have to stand watch up with the aircraft, we could watch them on the PLAT system (PLAT or Pilot Landing Aid Television a video camera that records everything in the landing area and is usually on all of the time). If we saw anyone near the helos we could be there in about 15 seconds.

It was about halfway through the fifteen day detachment at about 2:30 in the morning when I saw what looked like an officer or chief dressed in flightdeck gear walking toward one of our helicopters. I knew that it wasn’t anyone from our detachment because they would have stopped in to let us know that they were going to be up there. I figured that it had to be one of the officers from the ship sneaking around to see if we were keeping an eye on our aircraft. They were always pulling crap like that trying to cause us a problem and to let their superiors know how vigilant they were. I didn’t need our Officer in Charge to get a headache from this so I raced out the door and up to the flightdeck, figuring to sneak out from the opposite side and challenge him. When I got up to the flightdeck I looked around and didn’t see anybody there. I checked inside the helicopters to see if maybe he had hidden himself inside and there was no one there. I figured that I might have been seeing things and went back down to the shop.

About an hour later I looked up at the PLAT and saw the same guy again walking towards out helos. This time I called for Ron and Larry to come in and take a look at the television. They both saw him and again I raced up to the aircraft looking for him. There was nobody there again! If you have ever been on or have seen an aircraft carrier they are huge! The flightdeck on the Forrestal is around 1000 ft long and is almost 300 feet wide at the angle deck, where our helicopters were parked. Other than the stairs that I came up the nearest place to come on to the flightdeck was over 200 ft. away. I don’t care if you are an Olympic sprinter there is no way for someone to have ran across the deck without my seeing them. I went back down to the shop and told Ron and Larry that I didn’t see anyone. They were as amazed as I was. We ended up figuring that there might have been something wrong with the PLAT system as it was brand new and pretty much forgot the whole thing.

We finished our detachment and flew back to Florida and I didn’t think about it again until several years later. My mother was watching a show on television, I think that it was “Unsolved Mysteries” and they were talking about sightings of ghosts on the Forrestal. She asked if I had ever seen one when I was on that ship. I told her the same story that I have written here and she said that the reason there was no one there when I went to the flightdeck is that it may have been a ghost. One thing that I have always wondered is if the PLAT videotape would have showed him being there and then me coming out looking for him? Might have been real proof of his existence.

For those of you who may not know the USS Forrestal had a bad series of explosions and a fire when it was off Vietnam on July 29th 1967. As a result of the explosions and fires one-hundred and thirty-four men were killed. When I went through boot camp in 1982 there was a movie named “Trial by Fire” that showed the effects of that fire. When I was on board in 1985-1987 in some places you could still see some walls and beams that were still warped from that day. If what I saw on the PLAT that night was a ghost it may have been one of the men killed in that fire. Unfortunatly the the only proof that I have is my own word. Ron and Larry witnessed the image on the PLAT system, but I won't post their last names without their permission.





George the Forrestal ghost

Fascinating! WATs to you!

Thank you so much for sharing this experience.

That is truely an amazing story, thank you for sharing it with us.

wow jim! thats amazing!!

ghost stories are the best, and this ones amazing, you got my WATS vote!



--Kit.

what an amazing experience, thank you for sharing that with us,
and providing some background on the issue, I will be having a good read of that,

It really would have been something if that PLAT videotape could have been looked at,
what kind of feeling was there on the USS Forrestal ?

Originally posted by asala
It really would have been something if that PLAT videotape could have been looked at,
what kind of feeling was there on the USS Forrestal ?

There wasn't anything that I noticed. As I said I didn't even think that it might have been a ghost until several years later. As far as the PLAT videotape goes they are recycled after 30 days unless there is an incident requiring that they be kept. When I thought of this those tapes had been rerecorded probably a few hundred times if not worn out and replaced.

reply to post by JIMC5499


I was on the Forrestal from Feb 1982 until March 1984. EVERYONE knew it was haunted.
Bob

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


Did they have any evidence? Actual hard proof?

I was part of ships company A-gang, 1979-1982. I was all over that ship, our birthing compartment was wiped out back then. the Navy replaced all of the damaged stucture. Ghost maybe, warped steel in 1983 no way!