In 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades killing most of the passengers. Years after the crash, people talked about seeing the ghosts of the crew, not only around the crash site, but on other flights of Eastern Airlines. 

In December 1972 one of the worst plane crashes in US history happened. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was headed to Miami from New York, but due to an electronic failure and pilot error, it crashed in the Everglades on the 29th. It most likely happened because when the autopilot was accidentally shut off for a moment as they were investigating a burned out indicator light.

The plane was a very new model, only put into production four years prior. The crew was an experienced one with Captain Robert Albin Loft as the pilot. With him, he had his Flight Engineer, Donald Louis Repo. 

The last transmissions of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 were:

Stockstill: We did something to the altitude.

Loft: What?

Stockstill: We’re still at 2,000 feet, right?

Loft: Hey—what’s happening here?

In less than 10 seconds after this exchange and message, the jetliner crashed and a huge scandal and tragedy of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 started.

Read More: Check out all of our ghost stories from the USA

This glip caused them to lose too much altitude and they crashed. A couple of days after it hit the Florida wilderness, the wreckage were pulled from the swamp. 96 of 163 people on board were killed in the swamp upon crashing and these people are said to still haunt the area. Back when it happened it was the second most deadliest crash in US history, although it today ranks among the top 16 or thereabouts. 

The Haunted Crash Site in the Everglades

Right after the crash came the ghost stories. After a frog hunter Robert Bud Marquis saw the crash and tried to pull people out from the burning wreckage, that night and the following day, saving dozens of lives. 

The place was a terrible inhospitable place though and rescue workers had troubles finding their way, alligators, snakes and other swamp horrors made it all more difficult, many died upon impact, some of injuries, and some drowned in the murky water. 

Hunters, poachers and hikers in the swamp started to swap tales about seeing strange things around the crash site of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. 

Marfa lights are said to have just happened to pop up in the swamp and ghost were looking at those walking through the area. Things wearing rags swam in the swamp.  

The Haunted Eastern Airline

What is also a peculiar thing about this particular haunting, was how the ghosts from Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 traveled. Paranormal events were soon experienced on other Eastern Airlines planes that used parts cannibalized from the wreckage of Flight 401. And according to the stories, there were a lot. 

Crew members and passengers claimed to have seen ghosts on other L-1011s like the one that went down. This was especially reported the following year after the crash and were less and less told as the years went on. 

The odd occurrences were documented in the 1976 book “The Ghost of Flight 401,” and the airline eventually replaced all the parts salvaged from the doomed flight.

Especially the pilot and flight engineer Bob Loft and Don Repo is said to have been spotted in the swamps as well as on airplanes from Eastern Airlines flights when there was a problem. Almost as if to help out.

The Mystery Passenger

On one occasion, the captain was asked to see a passenger wearing a pilot uniform in 1973 as the Tristar flight was bound to Miami from JFK. One of the vice presidents were travelling with the flight and noticed a pilot in full uniform and went to talk to him. During their conversation, he realized he was talking to Bob Loft who vanished into thin air right before his eyes. He went to get a crew member and they conducted a search, but the ghost passenger was nowhere to be found.  

Seeing his apparition and mistaking him for a live passenger has happened more than once. One time, the passenger was travelling first class and the flight attendant had said he was unresponsive when they talked to him, only smiling. Also, he wasn’t on the passenger list. The man was no longer there when the flight attendant returned. The pilot recognized him at once as Bob, his former colleague from Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. 

The Face of the Ghosts

Another flight from New York to Miami, one of the flight attendants opened a overhead locker and found Bob’s face looking back at her. 

Seeing their faces has been one of the things repeated and another flight from JFK to Mexico City a flight attendant named Fay Merryweather saw Don’s face on the oven door. The face had reportedly warned them about fire on the plane. When the plane returned to New York an engine failed and had to be shut down before it went up in flames. 

Another time on a flight from Atlanta to Miami on a N318EA, the crew heard knocking from what was known as the hell hole. They were having a meal at 39 000 feet and nothing should be knocking on the trap door. Reluctant to open the door, they did and Don was found under the floor after knocking and they found a problem that could potentially have caused serious troubles. 

Even Repo’s son believed the haunting and claim that his father attended his wedding night, leaving Eastern Airlines merchandise in their hotel room even though they hadn’t told anyone about where they were staying, 

Helpful Ghosts from Eastern Air Lines Flight 401

One time everyone was said to have seen the appearance at the side of a pilot who was worried about the weather. The ghost said that they would all be well because they were watching over them. 

Another time during take off the voice spoke through the loudspeaker, reminding the passenger to wear their seat belts. None of the crew had used the microphone. Once a motorist were doing checks and the ghost of Repo came to him in his uniform. He told there was no need to do checks as he had already done it before vanishing. 

A captain going from Miami to Atlanta was checking the instruments before his flight. He then saw the same and the ghost told him, there would never be an incident like that again as they wouldn’t let that happen. 

Airline Scandal and Action Taken

Still, sometimes still reports about people sightings ghosts on Eastern flights happen, their description sounding very much like the 55 year old Bob and Don. Although it was mostly an assurance, it did disrupt air traffic. Like when a crew member saw Don warning them about a faulty electrical circuit and Bob being seen doing his usual pre-flight checks, unnerving the pilot so much that he canceled the entire flight. 

The gossip about this particular ghost sighting was so severe that the management warned staff about them losing their jobs if they spread these ghost stories about Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. It is also said that entire flight log pages with haunted incidents were torn out. The airline even thought about taking legal action if the reports didn’t stop.

Publicly they went out to deny all haunted rumors, but just to be sure, they reported to have removed all the salvaged parts they had used. It is also said that the vice president of the Eastern Airlines was annoyed as well as worried about the rumors and made an internal investigation. The Flight Safety Foundation found the cause of the ghost sightings to be true worries, so he had an exorcism performed. As the report said: “The reports were given by experienced and trustworthy pilots and crew. We consider them significant”.

It is said that the vice-president went on a plane in 1979 to prove that there was no plane present on the plane. But when he boarded, he found the ghost of Loft in the seat next to him. Screaming the ghost disappeared, but ever since then, the two ghosts were never seen again. Or were they?

Salvaged Parts Today

Today, Eastern Airlines doesn’t operate anymore. It is said that they took the parts out from the planes, but is this true? The flights went further and further, sometimes to flights bound to Asian countries. It is said that the ghost sightings stopped, but there are still reports about people seeing the pilots onboard flights to this day.

The salvaged parts of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 have become something paranormal investigators and collectors are interested in. One of the parts can still be found in Ed and Lorraine Warren’s Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. 

There is also an original floorboard from the Flight 401 found in the archives at  History Miami in South Florida, believed to be cursed. 

Skeptics about the Haunted Rumors

After the crash and the following ghost stories, the story about the ghosts from the flight seeped into popular culture. Movies, songs and books have all taken part of keeping the legend alive. But was the mass media stronger than the actual ghost rumors?

There is some debate about just how big the haunting was though, or if the rumors of it were blown out of proportion. In Robert J. Serling’s 1980 book From the Captain to the Colonel: An Informal History of Eastern Airlines it was even claimed that none of the salvaged parts were used in other aircraft.

It is also said from Jim Ashlock who worked in public relations for the airline until it was put out of business that Fuller, the author detailing the hauntings in his book, made everything up. It is worth knowing that he usually wrote about UFO cases.  

According to the same book, the rumors about seeing Bob came from a joke from a pilot that did an emergency landing and said he thought Don Repo’s ghost was on the plane.

Although it definitely lessened and the haunting from Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 faded since the initial incident, there are still reports about sightings, even from the 2020s. Like a flight from Chicago to Miami in 2020. Although it was a Boeing 737, the haunting was said to have taken place when the plane was going over the Florida Everglades.  According to this passenger, a man in pilot uniform, with an ID badge saying Robert Loft, saying his name was Don sat in the seat next to the passenger, even though there was no one assigned to this seat. 

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References:

The Ghosts Of Flight 401….. 

Grounding the Ghost of Flight 401 

Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 – Wikipedia 

Ghosts On A Plane? The Story Of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401

Florida Time: The Ghost of Flight 401 

Ghosts of Flight 401 

Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 – History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute – Survivor Stories & Memorial 

The Ghosts of the Eastern Airlines flight 401 ✈️☁️

My Flight Was Haunted By The Ghosts of Eastern 401