The Ghosts of the USS Alabama

I thought I would return to where I started tonight.   My first few blogs were about Alabama and the places I had been in Alabama.  The USS Alabama is one of my favorite Southern haunts.

The USS Alabama is a large and impressive ship that is a major tourist attraction for Mobile, Alabama. It has been retired and docked in the Mobile Bay and sees thousands of visitors every day. At night, the ship hosts many cub scout camp outs so the battleship is rarely empty or quiet. Despite the fact that officials claim the ship is not, nor has ever been haunted, many claim to have seen ghosts on this ship. There have been reports of phantom foot steps and odd noises. It is said that late at night bulkheads open and close by themselves and odd tapping noises can be heard throughout the ship.

The Battleship Alabama’s first two deaths were of men who were in the Norfolk shipyard as she was under construction. She was finished in 1942 and served 37 months without any deaths due to enemy fire. As for death under friendly fire, however, there were 8 deaths on gun mount #5 when gun mount #9 fired upon them. It seems that the safety feature that was supposed to prevent the turrets from firing upon each other had failed. The men were completely destroyed; the only thing left of the gun commander was his boots.

The USS Alabama staff does not allow anyone interested in the paranormal to spend the night on the ship, so few people can tell stories of what happens when night comes aboard this old bit of history.  My boys, however,  were fortunate enough to spend the night on this wonderful ship last summer. As cub scouts, they were able to camp out on the ship.  Women are not allowed on the ship after dark, so I had to abandon my men to the shadows and wait for their stories.  Both of my boys claim that they saw and heard ghosts the night they stayed on the ship. My oldest son says he saw a barefoot ghost by turret five.This is particularly interesting, because he didn't know about any ghost stories associated with ship or about the man who lost his boots at this turret.   I have attached a picture of their overnight t that shows an orb by one of the turrets. The orb is directly above my son's head.  I know orbs are nothing like hard proof of the paranormal,  but it is still an interesting picture especially since it was taken my gun mount # 5.