The SS Watertown Ghosts

7. The SS Watertown Ghosts The SS Watertown ghosts are classic examples of real ghostscaught on film. The story behind the photograph dates back to December 1924. The SS Watertown was making its way to the Panama Canal from New York City. Crewmen Seaman James Courtney and Michael Meehan were assigned to clean out a cargo tank of the oil tanker as the ship sailed through the Pacific Ocean. But as tragedy has it, the seamen were overcome by gas fumes during the task and died before help could reach them. Following the tradition of the sea, their bodies were committed to the ocean on December 4th. The following day, just before dusk, the first mate reported seeing the faces of the two men in the waves off the port side of the ship. They were seen for 10 seconds but then faded. For several days after that, the crew reported consistently seeing the phantom-like faces of the doomed sailors in the water who seemed to be following the ship every now and then. The entire ship was in uproar. Once the ship arrived at New Orleans, the ship’s captain, Keith Tracy, reported the strange events to his employers, the Cities Service Company, who suggested he try to photograph the eerie faces. In the continuing voyage, Captain Tracy took 6 snapshots, once the ghosts were spotted again, out of which 5 showed nothing but foam upon development but the 6thphoto clearly showed the doomed sailors’ floating heads in the sea. From then on, there have been frequent sightings of the SS Watertown ghosts by many ships and sailors in the following years, doomed to roam the sea for their untimely and tragic deaths.