Sinister Swamps: Monsters and Mysteries from the Mire by Lyle Blackburn

Author:Lyle Blackburn [Blackburn, Lyle]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: LegendScape Publishing
Published: 2020-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

Ghostly Visions and Voices

As much as dead bodies are associated with the backwaters of the Everglades, so are ghosts. We’ve already learned of the ghostly rumors floating around Bloody Watson and his alleged victims, but there are plenty more to go around. Perhaps the most fantastic is the tale of a ghostly pirate ship said to navigate the twisted channels of the Everglades as punishment for the crew’s horrible crimes. The legend originated in the 1800s and was told by sailors who navigated the bays and river channels of the Florida coast. According to the story, a band of cutthroat pirates was sailing in the area when they came upon a merchant ship. They began to chase the ship, but it proved to be difficult to catch. Finally, after hours of pursuit, the pirates caught up to the vessel and boarded it. The pirate captain was so furious, he forced the merchant crew to walk the plank one by one while the skipper’s wife watched. Horrified, the skipper’s wife pleaded to God asking him to curse the pirates and damn them for eternity. When the pirates had completed their evil work and returned to their ship, a huge wave suddenly rose up and forced their craft into the labyrinthine swamp channels of the coastal Everglades. The pirates became trapped and eventually perished, but their souls and their ship were doomed to remain in the clutches of the ’Glades. Since then, people have reported seeing the hazy form of ghostly ship as it navigates the endless channels of mangrove and saw grass.

The reality of the ghost ship legend may be questionable, but the fate of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is definitely not. On December 29, 1972, the Tristar jet was flying over the Everglades when the flight crew became aware of a malfunction in the landing-gear system. While they were troubleshooting the problem, no one noticed the autopilot mechanism had been turned off. The plane had already lost considerable altitude and by the time anyone noticed they were flying dangerously low, it was too late. The jet slammed into the marsh at 227 miles per hour, killing ninety-seven passengers along with two flight attendants and the first officer. Pilot Robert Loft and Flight Engineer Donald Repo initially survived, however, Loft died as he was pulled from the wreckage and Repo died later after succumbing to critical injuries.[111]

Since then, witnesses have reported seeing ghostly figures not only in the area where the plane went down but aboard aircraft that utilized salvaged parts from Flight 401 for maintenance. In these cases, descriptions of the eerie entities seemed to match either Pilot Robert Loft or Flight Engineer Donald Repo. In one chilling incident, a female passenger noticed a man in a flight uniform sitting in a nearby row who looked pale and ill. She alerted a flight attendant, who promptly came to check on him. When the attendant arrived, the mysterious man faded from view as the woman, the flight attendant, and several other passengers watched.

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