I saw a ghost ship

Growing up in the backwoods of northern florida as a babtist raised child, I experienced many things that defied logic. I practically lived with my grandparents...we were very poor but very religous and very happy despite all of the hardships. Now I should mention that where we lived was just outside of a revolutionary war fort. I used to believe that some of the things I saw was because of where we lived and the "energies" tied to the area. I had an experience one night while with my grandparents. It was dark and we were going frogging (this is where you shine a light in /on a bullfrogs eyes and they freeze and you stab them with a trident looking thing called a gig) and as we were traveling down the river we went around a bend in the river and right in front of us as big as life was an old spanish galleon (sp?) there were people moving on it working as if ...well I dont know what. I can still remember the way the light shown off of their lanterns. There looked to be a hundred of them. At this point I looked at my gramma who sat at the front of the boat who looked at my grandpa who was driving the boat and he grabbed me and said sit right here bug we are going home. They were both white as a sheet. For 25 years we never spoke of it until my grandpa fell ill and on his death bed he asked if I remembered that night. LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY! I can almost feel the wind and smell the water. He said he had saw the ship only twice before that and never since but it always scared the bejezus out of him. My gramma still wont speak of it...she says it's evil and refuses to talk about it. That was the first of many supernatural experiences I have had in my lifetime and would love to share others if anyone is interest in hearing them.

By the way I wanna say this is a great place. I have been reading posts for quite a while and finally decided to post. I believe after reading things here that I have that I will not be judged "crazy" for telling my stories.

Thanks,
Kafer

What an absolutely wonderful story! Do you still live in the area and have you been back down this river as an adult? Have you heard any other accounts of people seeing this ghost ship?

Welcome to ATS!

One thing I failed to mention is that just on the opposite side of the river of the fort are 2 spanish ships that were sunk during a skirmish...In the pas when the river got low part of the mass wouls still protrude...now after years of dredging it nolonger can be seen. My Uncle David and my Father would dive down there and bring up old bottles and anything that they could get their hands on. I just wonder if that wasn't what we saw that night?

I go home from time to time and the people around there all know about it and other odd things that happen there but wont speak of it. Life is really different down there

There are many historical stories surrounding phantom ships. Yours is different with respect to you saw it first hand and are passing on. WHat was the color like? For instance, was it typical light that one might have seen back in the day those ships were about? Or did it have a different type of light cast around it?

Well, welcome aboard matey, as it were.

I really dont know how to explain it. The lights that is. I was almost as though the whole thing was superimposed (SP?) on the world. The lights were not like an electric light that we would see now very clear not as bright but almost foggy at the same time. Almost like an oil lamp that is smokey. I wish I could explain it better. I was filled with awe when I saw it.

that's cool kafer, don't worry about me judging you're crazy, I mentioned about 50-60 ghosts I saw on the 'Ghosts I have seen' post I just started.
The only nautical ghost I saw was when I opened my eyes one morning and a periscope came up thru the floor with a big eyeball looking at me at the end of it about two feet from face. How far away was the ghost galleon?

Honor Seed

wow, great job describing your experience, i had an amazing mental image pop up in my head from the detail you provided. Personally i think it ould be pretty cool to see what you did. You say it was superimposed....could you see through it, or did it appear solid?

It was solid enough that if close enough I almost believe that I could have felt it
You couls see through it if you looked hard enough but I was too amazed to concentrate on what was behind it

Awesome story. I've never actually heard anyone tell a story of seeing a ghost ship, aside from the occasional show on the History Channel and whatnot. As someone already said you told your story very well and I did have the visual imagery of it happening in my head as I read your post.

What part of the country are you in exactly? I live in southern New Jersey and we have some pretty historic spots here along the Delaware River when it comes to the Revolutionary War. Philadelphia alone is filled with ghosts from the Revolution. There's also a place I grew up near called Red Bank Battlefield. It's right along the Delaware and its a park now. They still have some cannons and cannon balls, statues, etc.

Unfortunately (or maybe not), I have never personally witnessed a ghost or anything of that nature. For someone like myself who is so interested in the paranormal, as well as the extra terrestrial, you would think that I've had seen something by now that spurred my interest. But to this day I've yet to see anything. I guess that's why they say faith is believing in that which you cannot see.

Once again, great story. You'll never be called crazy by anyone here on ATS. And even if you are it will come from a small, absent-minded minority so you should just ignore it and not be discouraged. You mentioned in your first post that you have had some other ghostly encounters. We'd love to hear your stories. Try and break it up into paragraphs this time as its easier to read! Thanks in advance, and welcome to ATS!

Rasputin,

I live in Illinois now...far away from home.

The place I lived down there was just outside of a town named sumatra. If you call 40some people a town. We lived southwest of there in a little place called the brickyard which is about a mile from Ft Gadsden.

Now where we saw this was just south of that pretty close to the mouth of Ft Gadsden creek.

My grandfather actually lived in a house that his dad built that was in the middle of the old fort before they turned it into a state park. He had some crazy stories about that place

You saw a Galleon? I wonder if you saw the Duchman, not sure if the Duchman has ever been sighted in the Americas. If you did see him then its a bad omen, did anything bad happen soon after?
Its a very interesting sighting though, thanks for sharing it with us.

Imagine if you could have actually touched the ship, or even better go up to it and shout at the people and see if they responded.