A pirate ship once got lost in the mangroves and swamps of the Everglades in Florida. They were cursed by the crew they made to walk the plank and are now The Ghost Ship of the Everglades are doomed to sail the murky waters forever.
Everglades National Park, with its mysterious labyrinth of bald cypress trees, shadowy hammock forests, and winding rivers, takes on an eerie ambiance after the sun dips below the horizon.
Centuries ago, pirates plagued the seas from the Gulf of Mexico to the Caribbean. They attacked merchant ships to steal the goods and it could be a very lucrative business. The pirates also sometimes ended up on the Florida coastline as well.
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In 1901 one of these stories were printed in the national newspaper, the New York Daily People and the Chicago Tribune, about a 300 year old curse about a pirate ghost ship cursed to sail the narrow rivers in the Everglades forever.
The Ghost Ship of the Everglades: It is said that a pirate ship was cursed to sail the narrow Everglades for eternity after they made the crew of an entire ship walk the plank.
The Ghost Pirate Ship
The story goes that a merchant vessel was sailing through the waters near Cape Florida in the 1700s, just beyond the bounds of Miami. Pirate lore in Florida are initially from the Florida Key area after Spanish vessels came and many pirates took hold around St. Augustine. But did they ever sail to the swampy waters of the Everglades?
The Ghost Ship of the Everglades: The story of the cursed pirate ships made the news in 1901. Read the full story here.
According to this story, seizing the opportunity for a lucrative plunder, the pirate ship set forth in pursuit. However, the resourceful crew aboard the merchant ship, well-acquainted with the treacherous waters, hatched a plan to elude their pursuers by navigating through the intricate channels of the Everglades.
The pirate ship finally caught up with the merchant ship in the end though and looted the goods of the merchant ship. The pirate captain was furious about how long it took to chase them, that he made the whole crew walk the plank and made the skipper’s wife watch before she herself had to walk the plank and end up in the boggy water.
The wife prayed to God to curse the pirates, and he did and pushed them deep into the Everglades, making them haunt the Everglades for all eternity, a place they would never escape from.
The tidal wave brought the pirates stuck in the swamp, making them die of starvation and fever one by one.
The Ghost Ship of the Everglades of Cursed Pirates
The Ghost Ship of the Everglades has been haunting Florida’s south coast since the days of pirating marauders. The ship’s phantom crew is cursed to sail the seas for all eternity, after giving chase to a merchant ship and getting lost in the twisting channels of the Everglades’ swamp lands.
According to the story in 1901, the Natives that stayed in the wetland as well as hunters spending much time navigating the same rivers, came back, telling stories about having seen the The Ghost Ship of the Everglades with its rotting masts and hill. The crew are now all skeletons, still trying to find their way out of the Everglades.
Was it ever a pirate ship sailing the fresh water sea of the Everglades? Although we don’t have much documentation, we have a long tradition of tales instead. And perhaps, the dim lights of the skeleton crew working ever since the golden age of piracy speaks for itself as it glides through the river of mangroves and alligators.
For years the notorious outlaw Edgar Watson lived in the Everglades where his workers had a habit of ending up dead or disappearing around payday. When the authorities ignored their plea, the villagers took law into their own hands, and are now forever haunted by the man they took out.
In the year 1910, the humid air of Chokoloskee witnessed a chilling event—the demise of Edgar Watson, a plantation owner with a sinister reputation. Watson, a man known for his malevolent deeds, was not only a ruthless serial killer but also a plantation owner who showed no mercy to his own servants, most of whom were black, Native American or some form of vulnerable migrant with no place to go. His blood-stained legacy extended to anyone who dared trespass on his property.
The Everglades in Florida is a 1.5 million acres of marshy swampland of alligators and crocodiles and other deadly things, like people. Like a last frontier you find the small town of Chokoloskee at the edge of the chain of islands and mangroves called The Ten Thousand Islands.
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Since 1965, there have been 175 unsolved murders around these parts and that is only those bodies that were found. Who knows how many missing bodies are just waiting to be discovered or have already been taken by the alligators and sharks?
Ever since settlers came to this place, it has been known for being a place for outlaws far from the long arms of the authorities and the Everglades has been a place where people disappear and some never return from.
Chokoloskee Island: Looking like a picturesque place with its lush and sunny beaches, this part of the Everglades are so remote and a place that attracted people on the run from authorities and those living a life that didn’t do well in the light of day. // Source: William “Patrick” Ma…/Wikimedia
The History of “Bloody” Edgar Watson
Edgar Watson was born in 1855 in South Carolina and seemed to be violent from his early years, thought to him by his abusive father. After he murdered two people he went on the run from Florida to Oklahoma, renting a place from Belle Starr, another well known outlaw known as the Bandit Queen of the Old West.
Edgar Watson: Notorious outlaw from the Old West and fugitive in Florida, Watson is thought to haunt the town that took law and order into their own hands.
According to legend, he shot Belle in the back as she was riding her horse, killing her as well. He feared that she was about to turn him into the authorities for a murder he did in Lake City. And although he was tried for her murder, he was not convicted.
Even though he was a wanted man in Florida, he returned in 1891 and murdered another man in what he claimed was self defense. This is also when he went into the Florida Everglades as a fugitive, a perfect place to hide and dispose of dead bodies that seemed to pile up around him.
On his land by the Chatham Bend area he started up a sugar cane syrup business that was quite successful and he started to hire people. He hired a lot of African-Americans and Native Americans as well as vagabonds, migrants or other fugitives to work for him at his farm. When they wanted to get paid, however, legend is he murdered them instead and threw their bodies into the river.
This is said to have gone on for 15 years and rumors started to be told about what really happened there, but there was no definitive proof. Bodies started to wash ashore close to the small town of Chokoloskee. When a runaway worker told them what was going on they also found the body of a woman named Hannah Smith whose foot was revealed in the swamp after a hurricane blew through the Everglades. The worker claimed that there were plenty more.
They all knew about Edgar “Bloody” Watson and knew he was carrying a gun under his black trench coat and some of his runaway workers told horrible tales. The authorities didn’t want to get involved because they didn’t think it was their jurisdiction. So the people of Chokoloskee were left to their own devices.
In 1910 he was attacked by the townspeople at the Smallwood Store, the last frontiers of Florida. This was both a trading post, post office and a market for all things people could need in this remote part of the world. Everyone was armed and they shot and killed him when he tried to pull the gun at them back. This is said to have taken place on the sandbar right below the store. 30 rounds of bullets went into his body, although the first shot went right between the eyes.
The Ghost of Chokoloskee
Ever since then the Everglades have gotten another haunted legend to go with all the others and today Edgar Watson is remember as a notorious outlaw and murderer. The place is still remote and the town has around 300 people living in Chokoloskee. Some say that there are more ghosts than living people in the town.
The legends claim that Edgar Watson is still haunting the area. Around 50 skeletons have since been found around his old property according to the local legends, although not verified at all. How many that were murdered or if there were any at all is not known for sure.
The Smallwood Store closed in 1982 but is still open as a history museum and especially around this building people swear to have seen him, and according to legend, there is still blood splatter on the walls from the shoot out.
The people working in the museum have been called up in the middle of the night by people claiming to have seen movement inside of the building. But when investigating, there is nothing. Could it have been the ghost of Edgar Watson? Or perhaps one of the other ghosts rumored to roam the island?
The Haunted Shop: The Smallwood store has stood in isolation on the southern tip of Chokoloskee Island for more than 100 years. This was the place where the villagers finally took the life of Edgar Watson and where he is thought to haunt in his afterlife. // Source: Wikimedia
Other Ghosts Haunting the Smallwood Store
Another ghost said to linger in the store is the ghost of C.G McKinney who started the first post office as well as the first school on the island. He moved to this place after he abandoned his wife and his five children and ran off with the nanny. They settled on Chokoloskee Island and had five more children, naming them the same as his previous set of children.
The last ghost said to haunt the place is a boy that is said to have once been a pirate. He is said to have died when he got trapped in his fishing net at the age of 120. He is said to come to the market in search for a new net in the middle of the night.
So if you see the lights switched on out in the remote parts of the Everglades, perhaps it is just a nightly walk of the outlaw Edgar Watson.
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.
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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.
Haunted Plane: Wreckage of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 how it crashed in the Everglades in Florida. Many died and many have claimed to have seen its ghosts.
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
Robert Albin “Bob” Loft (1917-1972)
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.
Donald Louis “Don” Repo (1921-1972)
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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