Ghosts aboard the Battleship North Carolina

The Battleship North Carolina, also known as the “Sleeping Giant” or “Ghost Ship,” rests in Wilmington, North Carolina and is viewed as one of the most recognized haunted locations on the east coast.  Open to tourists and paranormal researchers, the Battleship North Carolina embraces their haunted history and paranormal claims through various events held at the great ship.  Danny Bradshaw has been the Night Watchman on the Battleship North Carolina for over two decades.  Six years ago, Mr. Bradshaw released a book entitled, “Ghosts on the Battleship North Carolina,” describing his experiences with the alleged paranormal activity on the ship.

Heather Loftin, Promotions Director of the Battleship North Carolina has experienced a few strange occurrences of her own. 

“There are few things that I have questioned in regards to computer and other electronic equipment malfunction in my office which happens to be around the library/Chaplains office where there have been reports of major activity. But I haven’t been able to debunk or confirm one way or the other,” said Ms. Loftin.

Her experiences extend beyond that as well.  On many occasions, like so many others have reported, Heather experienced the overwhelming feeling of being watched.

“Everyone was down in the canteen eating pizza when I came up on the ship to get drinks. It was dark and again it just felt like someone was watching me. That time, I actually spoke out and said, ‘it’s just me you know I’m not going to do anything to harm you.’ The feeling of someone watching me went away,” added Heather.

Heather and Danny are not the only employees working on the ship that has experienced paranormal activity.  Throughout the years many staff members have reported claims of phantom voices, moving shadows and the overwhelming feeling of being watched or followed.  Even Night Watchman Danny Bradshaw’s predecessor warned him about the ghosts allegedly aboard the ship.

“He told me, Danny, there are two ghosts aboard this ship.  There is one who won’t mind you too much and another who is mischievous.  I didn’t really believe him, but my first five nights on the job I ended up sleeping in my car,“ stated Danny Bradshaw, Night Watchman of the Battleship North Carolina.

Danny and Heather, as well as many others, describe the visual encounters with the entities as solid walking shadows with the silhouette of person.

“There have been several instances around the Barbette Area of shadows behind the projectiles standing and watching the activities. They always duck back when they find someone looks over at them,” stated Heather.

With two decades worth of ghostly claims, the Battleship North Carolina welcomes Paranormal Researchers to conduct investigation work and hopefully come to conclusions that help validate these paranormal occurrences.

“I don’t think anyone has showed any undeniable evidence. I’ve got and seen images and video that is very believable. All these reputable groups and even some not so renowned local groups such as Port City Paranormal have shown evidence but it’s inconclusive. They can’t debunk it, but they can’t prove that someone wasn’t standing in the foreground either,” stated Heather Loftin, Promotions Director of the Battleship North Carolina.

The Battleship North Carolina has been the subject of many network paranormal programs in addition to endless personal videos captured by independent paranormal groups.

“Right now monsterVisionTV, Ghost Hunters, and Ghost Hunters Academy [have researched and filmed episodes aboard the ship]. There are however numerous other groups that have come to investigate as well,” added Ms. Loftin.

Much of the activity reported has derived from the Sick Bay area of the ship.  A large portion of the staff has experienced the feeling of being brushed by or objects blown towards them and have even seen or heard something talking to them.

During an investigation into the paranormal claims, researchers captured a phantom voice in the hallway adjacent to the Sick Bay area.  Although many opinions have been given as to what the voice is saying, the majority appears to lean towards the phrase, “stay back.”  Seen in the video below, as the investigators proceed down an empty hallway, a loud and demanding voice can be heard directly in front of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UxA6ZFap8

When the ship was commissioned, ten soldiers were killed in action during war times.  Many believe that the two alleged apparitions haunting the ship could possibly be those killed during battle.

The Battleship North Carolina shares their haunted history very openly and hosts many events yearly based around the paranormal occurrences.

“We currently host ‘Batty Battleship’ and ‘Ghost Ship.’ ‘Batty Battleship’ is a Trick or Treat event for kids and ‘Ghost Ship’ is a haunted house aboard. We have been working on an event entitled ‘Paranormal Nights.’ This looks to premiere some time in 2011,” said Heather.

Below is video footage from the 2010 “Batty Battleship Halloween Bash.”  An interview with Battleship Night Watchman Danny Bradshaw is included, as well as appearances by monsterVisionTV and Promotions Director Heather Loftin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8LYNQPV56s

“People have experienced things, I just don’t know what they are.  Something is happening here, I just can’t explain it,” added Heather.

There have been hundreds of paranormal claims deriving from personal encounters on the great ship.  Still to this day, no real concrete evidence has been presented to validate these strange occurrences.  Audio and video footage continues to surface displaying possible paranormal happenings onboard the ship.  The majority of evidence publicly made leaves too much room for subjectivity.  However, not every Paranormal Researcher or group studying the ship are conducting research to validate the claims.  Some researchers are attempting to disprove the haunting altogether by offering scientific explanations for the most common occurrences possibly mislabeled as being paranormal.

Recently, Los Angeles California based Dark Matters Radio with host Don Ecker spoke with a Paranormal Researcher from the east coast about the Battleship North Carolina.  The interview can be heard below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDGUvbi5eS4

Even considering the large amount of claims documented through personal experiences, video footage or audio captures about the paranormal occurrences, the Battleship North Carolina’s haunted history has yet to truly be proven.  With no solid evidence presented, the quest for further validation to either prove or disprove the haunting continues.

“It is really difficult to put an estimate on the number of people that have encounters on the Battleship. Social Media has really expanded and more people are coming out to tell us of the experiences aboard. I would guess that at least once a month people are mentioning some type of out of the normal happenings,” concluded Heather Loftin, Promotions Director of the Battleship North Carolina.

The historic Battleship North Carolina is truly a magnificent ship rich in history.  The attraction offers self-guided and educational tours, activities for children, a museum, naval heritage and frequent special events.

For more information on the Battleship North Carolina, including hours of operation and upcoming events, please visit http://www.battleshipnc.com/.

For more information on the Ghosts of the Battleship North Carolina, please visit http://www.battleshipnc.com/Events/GhostShip.aspx.