Selasa, 20 April 2010

The Phantoms of Flight 401

Every ghost story is different, but few are truly unique. Many tell similar stories that are part of recognizable archetypes. Gray ladies, faceless specters, forsaken lovers, and murder victims fill houses and hospitals and museums. The story of the ghosts of Flight 401 is truly unique. Their story is different from the rest. Their story doesn’t fit a pattern.


American Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Everglade on December 29, 1972. One-hundred and one people died in the crash. Captain Loft survived the impact, but died as they were removing him from the aircraft. Another gentleman, Officer Repot died one day after they removed him from the airplane.

In a desperate attempt to salvage some of what they lost, Eastern Airlines salvaged much of the airplane and redistributed the parts among other aircraft in their fleet. Not long after the redistribution the sightings began. People reported seeing the ghosts of Repot and Loft in the planes that had received spare parts from Flight 401. Repo’s ghost was said to appear often. He appeared in the cockpit and the galley and seemed to be very concerned about safety. He pointed out fire hazards and safety concerns to whoever was present to listen. Loft’s ghost was also seen sitting in first class. One stewardess reports seeing him and thinking he was a stow away. She reported him to her Captain. The Captain recognized him immediately and then Loft vanished before his eyes. There were numerous reports like these from the dozens of planes containing 401 parts. The reports became almost epidemic. 

Eastern Airlines rejected these claims and referred employees making them to see a counselor. When these stories didn't stop Eastern  Airlines threatened to fire anyone who told ghost stories about flight 401.   Despite their consistence rejection of the notion that the pieces of flight 401 were haunted, they finally did remove all the salvaged parts from their fleet. As soon as this was done, the sightings ended. A book was written about this very odd haunting called The Ghost of Flight 401. John Fuller wrote it. I haven’t read it yet. It is an older book, but I’m going to definitely put it on my list of reads.

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar