Thanks again to Bright Cellars for sponsoring this video and for the limited time offer! Click here bit.ly/BrightCellarsKazRowe to get 50% off your first 6 bottle box!
Just wanted to say: I never, ever get sick of listening to your stories. You may be a scholar first, but you're also one hell of a storyteller. And, you're adorable! I'm glad you're alive somewhere on this planet with us. Live long, Kaz Rowe. 💜
@@I_am_Irisarc I'm terrible at like, reading tone lol, so if this is sarcastic, apologies for the reply lol. They mean Ned Fulmer, of recent Try Guys cheating infamy
I find it so amazing that boats are probably one of the oldest things to exist. From Polynesian Voyagers, Ancient Greek/Rome sea battles to medieval times, warships in World War II to now. History is so crazy man.
this is a story my dad told me. he works on a ship and one misty morning they saw a shadowy ship in the fog that sailed along side them. but eventually they realized it was just the shadow of their own ship.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the art, intelligence, care, respect, and creativity Kaz brings to each video!? I’m a new subscriber and I have to say I ADORE everything about these videos! 🤩💙
Kaz nailed it with people in the sea being in the perfect headspace to see ghosts. First there is a slowly growing exhaustion from monotonous work with no days off. Then there is watchkeeping. If it's a cloudy night, the sea and the sky appear similar, two almost identical colours stretching in all directions. And all you listen to are monotonous sounds of waves/radio static of emergency frequency/hum of the engine. It's basically a light form of sense deprivation, along with tiredness it makes you see things
I was thinking the same thing. While reading your post, I kept thinking "it could be hypnotizing." I can imagine it being very hypnotic with seeing nothing but sea, sky, and ship for weeks/months, sometimes even longer, on end and the rolling of the old ships without a motor on a windless day/night. Just the thought of that is starting to put me to sleep.
Being born and raised in Cape town, I get a strange feeling of pride every time the flying dutchman is mentioned internationally. It's like having someone from your small town high school become famous!
Not from Cape Town, (I’m from Joburg) but I get so excited too! It’s nice to have something like that associated with our country. Have fun in ur strange weather random Cape Town resident! (I love Cape Town I’m just being kinda strange. Not too sure what this comment was lmao but I just get so excited when I see other South Africans)
My favorite ghost ship is the Octavius! It disappeared in 1762 near Alaska and reappeared in 1775 near Greenland after having been trapped, frozen and unfrozen in sea ice for over a decade. The story goes that the frozen, preserved bodies of the crew were still onboard, having sailed the Northwest Passage posthumously. The Franklin expedition is also very interesting.
@@nights_the_nightingale Dudee, your name is Octavius? U probably know this but you share the name with one of the most psycho and greatest emperors of Rome, I love that guy
This video, when combined with Ask The Mortician’s “The Lake That Never Gives Up Her Dead,” and Jacob Geller’s recent “Fear of Big Things Underwater,” makes for a truly *impeccable* triple feature. 😍 Would HIGHLY recommend the experience! Amazing job as always Kaz! I might be stealing that makeup look to incorporate into my own spooky sea related look later this season, provided you don’t mind of course.
I would like to see Kaz and Caitlyn Doughty do a crossover, but I also fear that, combined, they would be too powerful for mere mortals to safely view.
you're so right, I have watched all three videos as well and they excellent and informative. I learn't so much. I also would highly recommend watching Ask the Mortician's " The Tragedy of the SS Eastland video if you enjoyed these.
My dad liked using the Edmund Fitzgerald as a way to get my siblings and I to be cautious out on the lakes as a kid. Mostly because of the storms and the currents... but the part that scared me the most about the story is the idea that the ship and its crew are *still down there*, preserved by the cold and conditions. I think the ghostliness of the Great Lakes is less in the idea of ghost ships sailing the lakes themselves, and more in the idea of what's lurking below you when you're way out on the water - There's thousands of frozen snapshots in time, mariners still preserved and hovering at their stations - you can imagine them still down there, wandering the decks where no living eyes can see.
The vastness, unpredictability and isolating nature of the ocean terrifies me. Space is like that too but more extreme. We’ll probably have space ghost ship legends one day if space travel continues to advance
I live in Dallas, which does have a couple of legends, myths and urban stories. Aside from the obvious ones about JFK's assassination, the most well known among the locals are the supernatural stories surrounding White Rock Lake. The Lady of the Lake is said to have been a young woman from the 1920s that drowned in the lake. There are variations on the story, but the consensus is that during night time, she will emerge from the darkness, all wet, and ask an unsuspecting driver to give her a ride back home. By the time the driver arrives at the location (usually somewhere in Oak Cliff) she would disappear, and leave a puddle of water where she had once sat.
You’re such a great storyteller, I could listen to you for hours… and I have 😂 Seriously, thanks for getting me through a couple bad years. When the world’s too outrageous, I put on your videos and go somewhere else. 💕
I know that this might sound weird but have you ever considered into looking into the history of the queer community in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It’s quite interesting as for a long time they were one of few groups in NI to bridge the Ethno-political gap (everyone says Catholic and Protestant because it’s Politer than Irish and British).
Fred D'Aguiar's book Feeding the Ghosts does an excellent job recounting a woman's experience aboard a Middle Passage ship. The idea of thousands of souls, bones, bodies underneath the sea still haunts me today. Such a good book.
The 'floating ship' illusion happens pretty often where I used to live on the Isle of Wight - we'd always say it's quite easy to see why they thought they were ghost ships 🚢 (also worth noting the IOW is a VERY haunted island)
Yes, they do believe the Titanic encountered a “coldwater mirage,” the weather was just right for it along with the moonless night. Always enjoyable video Kaz!
The story of the Flying Dutchman that's most widely known in the Netherlands is that it was meant to set sail on Easter, but this being a day of rest and of god it shouldn't. The Captain being stubborn said they would anyway, 'storm or no storm' so they set out and ended up in a horrible storm, supposedly sent by god to punish them.
I've always had a fascination with Davie Jones's Locker. The sheer amount of human dead in there is insane. Thousands upon thousands of sailors for millennia all in the same resting place. Pretty interesting to think about
I think about that a lot too. I also think about how my government asked the navy to push migrent boats back into the ocean. I wonder if there will ever come a time when people will push shipwrecked navy personal back into the ocean and face minimal backlash. RIP little Ahmed and the countless others.
I'm surprised you didn't mention St. Elmo's fire! It happens in really specific conditions and is actually a kind of electrical phenomenon like lightning, so it happens a lot during storms on the pointy metal ends of the ships masts and rigging and such, which could have been confused for a ship with ghosts lights! It's also been known to happen on things like church steeples (metal rod and all), which would understandably make people think it was a divine happening kind of thing.
The Ghost Ship that I'm most familiar with from my home town, isn't on the ocean, it's the Tombigbee River, and she's called the Eliza Battle. A steamboat that carried passengers and cargo, caught fire and wrecked, with many of the people burned or drowned. The lore is that if you see her, disaster is sure to follow, and I've known a couple of people who claimed to have seen it. She rolls down the river in flames, and supposedly you can hear people screaming, and then poof, it's gone. While I readily admit to knowing people who've claimed to have seen it, keep in mind, there is 1 stop sign and 4 buildings in the entire town, so telling a yarn on the front porch of the general store, is not uncommon either.
Interesting that there isn’t a similar phenomenon in Polynesian sea faring. Also, other natural events like Auroras, bioluminescence, and all kinds of fun light refractions can cause all kinds of optical illusions. And just something as prosaic as passing an unmapped island at night would be enough to freak a drunk crew out. 👻⚓️
The way you made the lighting and wardrobe so on theme gave me a lot of dopamine. Thank you for teaching us such interesting history once again. Also, thank you for still telling people to wear masks, it really means a lot as a disabled person who has lost a lot of trust in folks who have stopped doing so. We're still in a pandemic, and bc of all the people not masking a lot of new variants are here. Stay safe folks.
Because you’ve tackled so many amazing and shall I say, ‘niche’ topics, I would be so obliged to hear your take on the lesser known history of Columbus, the Caribbean and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. So very few people know that it was Caribbean Native Americans to first encounter Columbus and experience slavery alongside the Africans imported to the islands. I adore your channel and would be so grateful to hear this untold story from the perspective of someone I admire so.
Speaking of first to America, what about the vikings and portuguese who did trading with the natives there way before Columbus or the english! Oh, and the three japanese fishermen who accidentally ended up on the west coast of america in a storm at sea, durring Japans Isolationist period.
@@chloepainter4064 - yes, that is very true, although it’s worth noting that there was little to no socio-cultural impact with those contacts. They arrived, explored, traded and were pretty much forgotten. I’m referring more to the impact of Columbus and other Spanish and European conquests of the 15th and 16th century which lead to mass slavery of Indigenous and African people in the Caribbean (pre-dating slavery in the USA). I’m always disappointed that mainstream education never mentions that it was the Caribbean Natives who were first contacted by Columbus and his men, not Northern Native Americans. It was also the origin of the Trans Atlantic slave trade (a century before the first slaves were brought to Virginia) and that is never mentioned either.
@@Wildflower687 just recently an Italian manuscript was discovered that was written nearly 2 centuries before Columbus was born and mentions that the people of Northern Europe swore there was another landmass to the east of Greenland. It is starting to look like, at least among sailors, the idea of another landmass spread way further than was originally thought
Isn't it weird that you write a comment about Carribbean Natives encountering Columbus and you get not one but multiple replies about vikings/ other euro contact unrelated to the topic?
@@smrtfasizmu7242there is documented ocean voyage between South America and various islands in the Pacific for a long time before any documented european ocean travel, so that's not as impressive as you might think. People had maps and navigation skills for a long ass time before vikings came along
An interesting and somewhat obscure myth relating to haunted ghost ships is the legend of the Klabautermann! It's described as a water spirit/kobold that helps fisherman and sailors when they fall overboard or sends a warning when danger is to come. But if anyone is to see it, then that ship is doomed to sink. The most famous representation of the myth is in the manga series One Piece, where, in that series, it becomes more a spirit of the ship itself given life thanks to a crew who cares deeply for it, and there's a whole emotional sequence that many cite as the scene that made them sob over a fictional boat. Thought you might like to know that little tidbit! Very cool video btw!! Your vids are always super interesting!!
I remember an old Ted Ed video about ghost ships. Some "ghost ships" are perfectly real! Sometimes, when a ship is abandoned after a collision and it takes on water, the water only fills until it hits equilibrium. It can keep floating on its own, still buoyant because the water didn't become too heavy. The same abandoned ship can be seen multiple times in different places years apart because of ocean currents. Scientists were able to track some current systems by charting abandoned ships!
Speaking of the Queen Mary, for a long time they had a Halloween event called Dark Harbor where the characters were based off the actual ghost sightings. It closed when QM did/for covid…and now I don’t know when/if it’s coming back, because rn the dock has been taken over by…wait for it…Shaqtoberfest. Which is exactly what it sounds like. I heard of it at the Midsummer Scream con panel and wanted to go SO bad…BUT ALAS
Shaqtoberfest sounds like I'm trying to get hammered at a beer tent while a bunch of wanna be thug teens wing basketballs around blasting sh.tty music and I'm about to lose it!
Shaqtoberfest sounds like a beergarden where I can sample a variety of good German beers while schmoozing with Shaq himself and listening to him regale us with his tales of love and life and straight ballin'.
I’ve lived in Rhode Island all my life (northern Rhode Island to be a little more specific) and I have literally never heard the history of block island, nor have I ever been to the island because the ferry ride is too expensive. I love when my little home state shows up in random places on the Internet
Like northern RI is really different than Southern!? Is there central too? I'm ribbing. I was wondering what it's like now ,Block Island, do people live there? What are the dimensions of RI in miles?
This video reminded me of "Tugs," a children's television about the life of tugboats in the 1920s. The show does a spectacular job at depicting the nuances (both good and bad aspects) of a life in the harbor. Night shots in the show are beautiful, eerie and atmospheric all at once. I highly recommend it to anyone that is interested.
I live in Tennessee and my favorite local legend is the bell witch, I have a grandma who has seen her first hand and i have as well. She's the only ghost to have a murderer blamed on her. My family has all agreed to not talk about her out loud and we all keep quite about her.
Oh my God, have you really? I have always been obsessed with the Bell Witch story since I first heard it in high school. Funny enough, it's not a local legend for me, because I grew up in Massachusetts actually - I've been to Salem and done the historical tours Kaz discusses in this video several times. If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear any further information on these sightings you and your grandmother have had. I am endlessly fascinated with the legend, and the fact that it's the only known case of a ghost committing murder as you said. The shapeshifting animals involved in the situation are super strange as well. Reminds me of how different paranormal phenomena sometimes occur together or in close succession, Bigfoot and UFO/alien sightings being a common example (a big thing in my neck of the woods these days - I live in Washington state near Mt. St. Helens now).
My very first thought when I hear "ghost ships" is Fata Morgana! Optical illusions without scientific explanations would be especially spooky at sea, and I'd probably think there was something weird going on if I saw ships or entire cities floating above the horizon too.
You're historical, cultural, and mythological videos are immensely informative and equally entertaining with the one on Sarah Winchester and her not-so-Mystery House being my top favorite at the time of this writing. I'm about to watch this latest one but the subject of ghost ships is most mouthwatering, pun intended.
Was coming here to say the same thing!😂 Definitely only heard it said Peabody like pea body or pea-bah-d they were def messing with someone that doesn't know how to say mass names😂
Australian, which means I am a lowkey around the ocean all of the time with a cultural relationship to the sea, and also someone whose family who owns a vessel and has subsequently been around a lot of sailors, ship construction and repair crews, and nautical-themed madness. Got behind the helm for the first time and was instantly hooked for life lmao. One of the things that I find interesting is that there is a great deal to be said for the Mary Celeste, of course, but I find the difference between people on land and people who sail. The Mary Celeste is terrifying, as a concept, perhaps because of its utter reality, as it said. But I find it wrong to say it's scarier in one setting - sailors themselves. Most sailors I know to be far, far more terrified about the Flying Dutchman. Because of the simple difference, if you find the Mary Celeste, it's already happened, it's done and whilst it proves that sailors aren't lying to land dwellers, to a sailor, the danger has for the most part passed, even if there is sensible wariness as a whole to not attract the same fate. But if you run into the Flying Dutchman? Your doom is upon you and you can never escape. That is the difference I think to a lot of people if you are not at sea, that doesn't seem so scary, does it? We dismiss sailors quite easily, even if compassionately, for their superstition. Especially now that they make up such a small part of any given population, that real fear in them is often dismissed. So what does the Flying Dutchman scare the person who has never faced down the horror of a storm at sea, the lack of rations, or the worst of all, the endless, mindless Dulldrums where some go mad? Also in regards to the ships as haunted vessels of human life, this is something that is often lost to the modern world. Historically, each ship is singular. Each ship is conceived of, and constructed as, a singular individual creation that is the work of hundreds if not thousands of people as time goes on. From the engineer who drafted to the hundreds of people nailed in planks of wood. It is both an experiment, and a proof of old concepts which hold so much hope inside of it. It stands not only as a testament of itself but all the ships that came before it. Until recently, no two ships were ever truly the same, the occasions when two or something three would be constructed the same was so rare that they tended to gasp that its sister ships!! and you had to know them. They had terms used to describe them as infants with growing pains, they talked about weathering the issues of the wood needed to swell with water to fully seal the boards so it wouldn't leak in the future, and that if you sailed it in this period of 'infancy' the ship will sink, that they will be in her 'prime', a period of many years where everything is good as it can be, and they cut through the water clean. Then there is old age. The point where the crew, the captain and the engineers in the shipyard know she's not well, she's sickly and her time is ending. That there is no patching to be done, no repairs will hold her together anymore. It is time for her to go. They develop an almost funeral and mourning process, but also a relief and joy at a life well and long-lived. And last and most important, the naming of the ship. "You have to christen it." I think about that a lot. You *christen* a ship. The same way we christen an infant, which is the process of blessing a soul and commending it to God to be recognised in various Christian faiths, but as far as I am aware forms of this exist for other religions in the world for their own respective faiths, I can just speak of this to the western phenomena of ghost ships. The whole process is not a figurative process like a house, it's very, very literal. We give the ship a soul before we put it to sea. It's a serious act. You don't just name a ship, you commend it up beyond the sums of its parts. It has to be chosen especially, it's got to be a different name to any of the other ships in the harbour where it's being put to sail. It requires individuality and soul then. You don't just rename it either. If you want to rename it, you have to have a ceremony. You have to say goodbye to the old ship's name, have a party, drink and pour it out for the ship. It's like sending an old friend off. If you don't do this process, the ship will resent you. The old soul will never leave and whatever it carries with it, will hang around. I wonder then if when faced with a reflection of our individuality and mark upon the world, we reject the idea of it being swallowed so completely as the sea does to ships and in the case of these famous ghost ships. Unlike a house which can remain as ruins, the lay of its shape found by archaeologists even centuries later - the ship is gone. Whilst we know where some are, as many have been lost completely. There can be no gravemarker for them, no note except the stories we in turn keep alive of them. So in a rejection of the sheer pointlessness of it all, we tell stories of the Noah's Dove, or the Flying Dutchman, or embellish things like the Mary Celeste to try and drive home the fear and tragedy of a life lost and forgotten. But thoughts that your very wonderful video provoked!
I absolutely love this channel! I found it a month or two ago and wow! I'm a big history nerd so seeing all these videos about different time periods is just so great. I like how Kaz dresses to match the era and cracks jokes at the appropriate times. I've watched nearly all of them while drawing, keep it up Kaz!!
In Turku, Finland there is a docked ship called 'suomen joutsen' in english it translates to 'Finland's swan' and it was used to teach sailors a LONG time ago. I have visited the ship twice. First was when I was 6. I felt so uneasy inside the swan that I almost throwed up. Second time was when I was 12 and actually cared about the history of the ship. I remember clearly a certain picture that shows at sea burial. The picture showed an open casket, something we finnish People dont do anymore. It really gave me the chills.
idk how widespread this was in the Great Lakes region, but everyone knew of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I'm pretty sure we had a bit of 4th grade class set aside to listen to this sea shanty about the shipwreck. I don't remember any specific ghost stories, just visiting a bunch of lighthouse museums as a kid, which included the bell recovered from tbe Edmund Fitzgerald wreck
My favourite ride in the Efteling (an amusement park in the Netherlands) is De Vliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman). It's very interesting to learn more about ghost ships.
In wondering how there are ghost ships and trains, I wonder if it is either one of two things. One, that they are farriers of humans in our lives and like how you said about our homes ‘vessels’ for our souls in the afterlife. Or second, that often times, particularly in the instance of ships, they are personified-named, talked about like a mistress, taboos about them must be honored or things go wrong, and so much human energy is put into them and these taboos and beliefs and personifications for many many years, decades or longer. On top of having the energetic tie to crew and passenger in the instance of say a ship wreck that manifests a ‘ghost’ from that collective energy.
Kaz Rowe, as I live and breathe, you are both treasure and trove. Your delightful intellect and willingness to ferret out and share such colorful bits of history make me giddy.
hundreds of years from now, people will tell the story of a ghostly visage who continues to post interesting and educational videos to a long-forgotten platform, and a spectral crew of likers and subscribers who continue to support them. spooky
Absolutely loved this and didn't expect you to cover slave ships but glad you did. as a descendant and scholar of the Transatlantic slave trade one fact that haunts me is that slave ships could be spotted because they were always trailed by sharks -- the extent of death was so great that it altered the ecosystem around it
here in Chile there’s a famous ghost ship, the Caleuche, that visits Chiloé and near by islands and supposedly takes men that round the streets at night. When i was a little girl we went as a family to Chiloé, and i was so scared not because the extensive mythology of the area, i was specifically scared of that ship. I was so scared that the ship would take my dad. Nothing really happened, but years later, in school, our teacher explained to us that the ship was a common excuse for drunk men to disappear a few days of hangover, and i, as a naive child , feared the ship because i didn’t realized my dad was a drunk BDJFKFKDKFKFKFK
I found a book of haunted sea stories based in the Oregon and Washington coast. Some were quite amazing. There was one about a father and her daughter that was particularly impactful. She ended up haunting some lookout on the Oregon coast. The book is called creative I know. I've always loved walking along the shore when it's particularly windy out with maybe decent showers, but just super windy and cloudy is best. It just feels romantic like I'm the wife of a sailor currently at sea. I wait for her on the shore looking out at the white caps, praying for her to come home. Bonus points if I can get a long scarf to blow around with my hair down. I grew up along the Salish Sea in Bellingham. I probably like the wind so much because it's so windy there. The water isn't super wavy because the ocean is kinda far away, and there's the San Juan Islands in the way breaking up any ocean waves. I miss living near the ocean.
I stayed on the Queen Mary and although I didn't "see" anything, when we were touring the swimming pool I had a weird experience. The tour guide told us not to go up the stairs to the balcony and just to walk around pool side. After a time I became aware of a child running and laughing in the balcony and I turned to my friend and rolled my eyes and sighed saying "we weren't supposed to go up there and someone is letting their kid run around!" After I said it that I realised I couldn't hear the kid anymore and I never saw anyone coming down the stairs from the balcony! Make of it what you will. I couldn't sleep in my cabin that night!
Just got here from the "Ask a Mortician" video on the wreck of the SS Eastland (which youtube in it's infinite wisdom is trying to bury) and yeah, there is something uniquely sad but fascinating about shipwrecks that makes me (and other people I guess) want to believe in haunted vessels. Great video, the local story to my area is the very real Isles of Scilly mass wreck of 1707, which was such a disaster for the Royal navy it directly lead to the invention of modern mechanical watches, as the navy pumped a fortune into trying to find a reliable way to calculate longitude. The ships were sailing with dead reckoning, and when a number of common sailors smelt people burning Kelp (for alkali ash used in glass manufacture) when they were supposed to be far from shore, they questioned if the officer calculations for longitude were correct, the admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell had them hanged for questioning his authority. local legend is that after the wreck the commander Sir Cloudesley Shovell was punished for his hubris by washing up still alive only to have a local peasant woman strangle him for his gold rings. The Isles of Scilly are drenched in this sort of stuff, with legends of ghost ships and wreckers: the church on the isle of Tresco is built largely of the timber salvaged from wrecks, is called “The wreckers church” by the tourist board, and has a stained glass with the motto “Lord god, we pray that you do not wreck ships, but if thou must, please wreck them here.”
I loved this video so much! I find these kinds of stories so interesting and it was a wonderful way to close out working on the foggy waterfront yesterday! Growing up in a spooky seaside town in Maine, I have a plethora of amazing ghost stories and town myths ranging from different crypids to ghosts and mysteries. My favorite is of an isand off the coast which takes about two hours to sail to called Damariscove Island. I visited recently on a foggy day, hiking a round trip around the island, about two miles. My favorite story is that of Captain Pattinshall (who was Paul Revere's great-grandfather!) Pattinshall was attacked by Native Americans and beheaded, his body being thrown overboard. Supposedly, his dog jumped into the water after Pattinshall and consequently drowned. People claim that their bodies washed ashore the island, causing their ghosts to roam the rocky shores. Many visitors to the island claim to have heard dogs barking, but one of the cardinal rules of the island is that dogs aren't alowed. Other people say that they have seen a man and a dog walking along the shores of the island, for them only to disappear with the fog. Damariscove Island also is home to a Coast Guard lookout, where during WWI and WWII men would watch the waters for U-boats. The trip from the Coast Guard station to the lookout tower isn't an easy one, I can attest to that, but every time shifts changed, the men would complete the trek, often in the middle of the night. These soldiers would often report seeing a woman in white calling for them to join her in the freshwater pond on the island. I've also heard that there's treasure buried in the pond but I can't fully remember the details. There are tons of women in white stories in the area from Ram Island, Burnt Island, and other lighthouses. All these stories can be found in a "Ghosts of the Boothbay Region" book I picked up while in the area. Maine is absolutely packed full of crazy ghost stories(thanks Stephen King) and I think the maritime history and dramatic, rocky coastlines and thick fogs only add to the spookiness!
I served in the Coast Guard and sailed all over the Pacific. Life on the ocean is . . . WILD! Things I saw (UFOs, ghost ships), things I heard (people crying out, ghost ships), things I learned about (rogue waves, ghost ships), and things I was told to fear (calm before the storm, ghost ships lol).
Also, I love the "ships as our home" theory on why ships can be haunted. I bet it's that as well as the fact that, ask any sailor, ships have souls. I don't know how else to explain it! Personalities, quirks, hiccups, traits, talents! It's really wild, but I could tell what ship I was on just based on how it steered.
The place where my parents live has a fish and chips shop called The Frying Dutchman. So everytime I hear Flying Dutchman I immediately hear that. Between this and Jacob Gellar's video on monsters of the deep, the sea is a truly haunted place.
I just absolutely adore this channel~ informative, entertaining, and Kaz is always bringing the best vibes with the sets and costumes. (I hope we will get to see more from Salem, MA in future vids❤️)
Ghost ships and haunted light houses are a cultural staple in Michigan, especially the cruel mistress of lake superior who has the most sunken ships of all the Great lakes.
The Mary Celeste is huge on the east coast of canada. My grandparents camp on the beach where the ship was built, the locals say you can supposedly see her from the shore in the fog/darkness and there’s a lighthouse museum for it there too! The trip is pretty uneventful but cool nonetheless
there is even a rumor of a ghost U-boat. one of the U-Boats from World War One (some times it is a wolf-pack WW2) still sails under the seas making the lives of sonar operators a nightmare. Most likely the operator is getting his own boat and / or a whale - but some operators have sent their ships to find the ghost U-Boat but never finding it.
20:35 Another theory I've read about is that the crew feared their cargo of alcohol was about to explode, so they all got into the lifeboat but kept it tethered to the ship at a safe distance. Then the line connecting the two vessels somehow either broke or was deliberately cut, and the ship just kept on sailing with no one onboard.
I live in California and I visited the Queen Mary in 2019. My tour guide mentioned in the engine room that when he gives tours to children they always ask if someone died down here and it was always by the staircase and there were sightings of a ghost down there by that same staircase...creepy!
Back when I was in grade school, (early '70s,) I read a book that included ghost ships. One had nothing but skeletons on it. On the other, the crew were frozen solid. I have no idea how true those stories were. Another story, not a ghost ship, but creepy all the same, a British warship found a classic message in a bottle. In the letter a ships captain stated that a mutiny had broke out on his ship, and gave the ship's position and speed. The warship found a vessel, and gave chase. After a heroic boarding action, the captain was liberated. The captain then informed his rescuers that he had never sent a message. The message had in fact been sent decades earlier by someone hoping to cause a little mischief.
I was a teenager when I went on a cruise for the first time. At night, middle of ocean, when sky and water merged, I whole heartedly wanted to spot a ghost ship.
I just came back from a visit to St. Augustine, FL, and having visited two different maritime museums (lighthouse and shipwreck focused) I am on a high nautical kick right now. This scratched a serious itch I have right now, I’ve always liked your content but this video just tasted sweeter as I’m still swimming in this state of mind. Thank you!
ghost ships have been one of my biggest phobias since i was 12 (especially paintings of them) but this video is awesome and has such good info on them..thank you :)
Okay I see you with your beautiful and calming intro, let alone the blue aesthetic throughout. You explain things in an easily digestible way, with quick wit and dry humor. I'm obsessed with history and learning any and all things on others cultures, so your niche is A+, haha. Actually, you could probably speak on any topic (even if I'm uneducated or not initially interested in it) and by the end of the video I'll feel like I learned something and potentially have a new interest. While listening to/watching your videos seems to lessen my anxieties and by the end, I feel a little lighter. Cornball rant over, haha, I just enjoy letting people know how (in this case) their content makes me feel. You don't know me, but if no one has told you yet today, I'm proud of you as you should be of yourself! Never know when words can lift someone's spirits. Sending you all the love from boring old PA :)
I wait with baited breath for your new videos to come out. I found you in 2019 when a young relative committed suicide and you had a video about how to talk to children about death. I love how you present death in both it's sometimes horrific manner and then leading us to be ok with processing and coming to terms with death. I also love the history. I love how you present the issues that made deaths happen and, therefore, I take away knowledge.....educational intent. I watched the video in question, the day it came out. It was a horrific and sad event. You made it safe to visit and learn about this event. Thank you for all your videos and good luck in your move!
I'll never forget being on a school trip while I lived in South Africa (I now live in the UK) and we went to Durban. My whole grade was ghost crab hunting on the foggy beach and as we were walking along the shore, at around 12am, my group saw a boat tied to a little wooden post. It was a little paddle boat. But once we got closer to the little paddle boat, the boat, the post it was attached to, and the fog, had completely disappeared. Not exactly a SHIP but still close enough. [EDIT: Typos and spelling mistakes]
I'd be over the moon if Kaz did a video on Bela Lugosi for the Halloween season. I've recently been fascinated by him due to watching the original Dracula movies and I'd adore it if there was an in-depth video on him
Loved this episode! I grew up in historic Oregon City, the end of the Oregon Trail, and we have SO many ghost stories and haunted museums out there. I also knew so much about the ghost who lived in my house (if you believe it or not) and have lots of fun ghost stories from that time.
I've never seen one. Was born and raised in Florida, I've done sailing trips up and down the gulf coast... I didn't hear about ghosts ships until I was an adult hearing about and reading ghost stories, myths, and legends.
I went to a fashion design school in Long Beach and our graduation was on the Queen Mary. It was so cool, although we weren’t able to explore the ship beyond the portion rented out for our ceremony. 🥺
I have always been so fascinated by this. You covered the topic so well, tho im no expert lol. I love your videos so much you are so respectful with every topic you do and i love how you site your sources keep up the amazing work 💖slay
Kaz’s content and presentation plus the research that goes into each episode make them so interesting indeed enthralling, and Kaz is quite enchanting. I wonder whether the type of ghost ship that appears as a blazing, lambent light could be the same as the low level luminous phenomena that gives rise to will o’ the wisp on land, and it’s aerial cousin ball lightning, still not understood by science? Also, in tradition ships were thought to possess souls, some would have eyes painted on them to see ahead while I’ve heard tell smashing a bottle of champagne against a vessel non launch replaced the blood of a human meant to transfer their spirit to the ship itself so it became a living thing, well that’s what I heard. Unlike on land though at sea when trouble strikes you can’t just walk away, ships are quite isolating. And yes there’s something mysterious about abandoned buildings, walking through sites thinking about the people who once lived there. Near where I lived was an Iron Age hill fort said to be the residence of Britain’s oldest apparition, that of Icenian queen Boudicca and her daughters, been there at night but no show. I’ve been in Neolithic passage graves and flint mines, the lives, and deaths of those people seem so remote and mysterious yet folktales claim faeries “live” on inside them, possibly ghosts? It would be nice to see Kaz on one of her ghostly missions take a trip further afield, say to UK or Ireland, and visit some of the ancient sites with their local lore.
I read a nonfiction book about British and Irish folklore earlier this year, "Haunted Britain and Ireland" by Richard Jones, which is full of descriptions of mysterious lights in the sky that are attributed to fairies and witches but I can imagine just as well being attributed to ghosts and UFOs depending on the individual witness' cultural background.
I recently stumbled upon this channel and I am hooked. The presentation, your voice and on point fashion drew me in but you're such a great spinner of yarns I keep coming back. Thank you for just being you
I always enjoy your videos, and always learn new things from them; but you sent me down an odd rabbit hole today with "angstlust". At first I was excited to learn a new word; but was a bit let down to discover that it's not a concept that explains the fascination with abandoned places. It's just a German compound word for the pleasure that comes from the combination of excitement and fear, similar to the English word "thrill". It's common use in German is just to describe the rush that comes from doing things like free climbing, base jumping, exhibitionism, or really anything that can be considered "risky".
local legends and superstition in malaysia are also steeped in ideas that the sea is haunted some superstitions that my friend's mom holds is to not pick up objects from the beach because a malicious sea djin could be riding on it and you'd then be bringing it with you or to your home (this belief probably comes from folkloric muslim mythos). on the more local side, there's also indigenous legends/folklore that are still present in songs/performance like Ulek Mayang, the story of seven princess of the sea and the youngest meets a fisherman that she steals away into the ocean; the fisherman's brothers and villagemen ask for help from the local bomoh (witchdoctor equivalent) to help bring his soul back. The seven princesses are traced back to Pleiades, which i think is visible during the monsoon season, though don't quote me on that. really cool vid!
Oddly enough, the prog rock band Rush, has a song on their final album called 'The Wreckers' which is part of an album long story of the album protagonist's life, wherein he is part of a crew that gets drawn ashore by the wreckers, as mentioned in this video.
When I saw your video in my recommendations I just had to watch it. I loved the explanation of the Phanta Morgana as something happened to me that I can't explain in any other way...or it actually was a ghost ship, lol. I live in a small seaside town in Devon, England, in the middle of Lyme Bay and it must have been around 1980/81. I was walking from my home along the sea and it was very foggy when out of the mist came this beautiful full-sailed 18th century galleon for just a few moments before disappearing again. I enquired as much as I could about it and no-one knew anything, plus there was nothing in the local paper and no news anywhere else of a ship like that sailing. Just one of those odd mysteries that I've never had answered. Loved your video, thank you. :)
I saw some footage taken from a maintenance crew that was getting a ship ready to be docked for the winter. The crew worker said he felt like he was being watched despite knowing the workers were above deck. A review of the footage showed in the blink of an eye a man in the shadows holding something with a long handle. The camera moves over the place the man was standing a moment later and it was gone. Even if it was a hoax, it spooked me haha.
Thanks again to Bright Cellars for sponsoring this video and for the limited time offer! Click here bit.ly/BrightCellarsKazRowe to get 50% off your first 6 bottle box!
Me: Wine? No thanks. Whine? 24/7 fam.
Just wanted to say: I never, ever get sick of listening to your stories. You may be a scholar first, but you're also one hell of a storyteller. And, you're adorable! I'm glad you're alive somewhere on this planet with us. Live long, Kaz Rowe. 💜
@@I_am_Irisarc I'm terrible at like, reading tone lol, so if this is sarcastic, apologies for the reply lol. They mean Ned Fulmer, of recent Try Guys cheating infamy
I live in Nova Scotia so you tend to tell me all the scary stories from my town.
To bad they don't have Blue or Pink Lotus wine ...
I find it so amazing that boats are probably one of the oldest things to exist. From Polynesian Voyagers, Ancient Greek/Rome sea battles to medieval times, warships in World War II to now. History is so crazy man.
The urge to float on the big water is ancient
You forgot Vikings, some of the most important boat builders in history. Their longships could traverse both rivers and oceans.
I miss Minoan Crete. 😥
It goes back way further than that, boats (or something resembling them at least) are even older than homo sapiens.
@@gguy3600 hm im curious, you have any more info on this?
this is a story my dad told me. he works on a ship and one misty morning they saw a shadowy ship in the fog that sailed along side them.
but eventually they realized it was just the shadow of their own ship.
the way kaz always got both the facts And aesthetics on point 😳 one of my fave channels to watch
Kaz always has the best and most appropriate drip imaginable for any situation.
Knowledgeable and highly fashionable. Kaz is absolutely hip.
Here I am, shit-posting my total agreement. Let it be known! I have nothing to add.🧐
But yeah, Kaz is pretty awesome.
Yes, she's become my youtube crush. The little things, like lighting change, makes the story so much more.
Kaz has deffo raised the bar for documentary type content. When was the last time David Attenborough dressed as a fish huh?!?!!
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the art, intelligence, care, respect, and creativity Kaz brings to each video!? I’m a new subscriber and I have to say I ADORE everything about these videos! 🤩💙
Totally the quality is insane
Idk sounds more like you are in lesbian with her
@@danceyrselfkleen ... 💀 my guy i think you might be too young for the internet
Kaz is absolutely INCREDIBLE! Im so thankful i randomly found her channel 💓
agreed !
Kaz nailed it with people in the sea being in the perfect headspace to see ghosts.
First there is a slowly growing exhaustion from monotonous work with no days off.
Then there is watchkeeping. If it's a cloudy night, the sea and the sky appear similar, two almost identical colours stretching in all directions. And all you listen to are monotonous sounds of waves/radio static of emergency frequency/hum of the engine.
It's basically a light form of sense deprivation, along with tiredness it makes you see things
I was thinking the same thing. While reading your post, I kept thinking "it could be hypnotizing." I can imagine it being very hypnotic with seeing nothing but sea, sky, and ship for weeks/months, sometimes even longer, on end and the rolling of the old ships without a motor on a windless day/night. Just the thought of that is starting to put me to sleep.
Being born and raised in Cape town, I get a strange feeling of pride every time the flying dutchman is mentioned internationally. It's like having someone from your small town high school become famous!
Not from Cape Town, (I’m from Joburg) but I get so excited too! It’s nice to have something like that associated with our country. Have fun in ur strange weather random Cape Town resident! (I love Cape Town I’m just being kinda strange. Not too sure what this comment was lmao but I just get so excited when I see other South Africans)
Not from Cape Town (Bloemfontein) but it's such a pride thing for me anytime I hear mention of it too
My favorite ghost ship is the Octavius! It disappeared in 1762 near Alaska and reappeared in 1775 near Greenland after having been trapped, frozen and unfrozen in sea ice for over a decade. The story goes that the frozen, preserved bodies of the crew were still onboard, having sailed the Northwest Passage posthumously. The Franklin expedition is also very interesting.
...I'm sorry? You saying I accidently named myself after a ghost ship?
And here I thought I was just stealing my brother's middle name! XD
One of my favourite folk songs is Martin Carthys version of "Lord Franklin"
@@nights_the_nightingale Dudee, your name is Octavius? U probably know this but you share the name with one of the most psycho and greatest emperors of Rome, I love that guy
And where were you when all this took place! Huh? Huh?
This video, when combined with Ask The Mortician’s “The Lake That Never Gives Up Her Dead,” and Jacob Geller’s recent “Fear of Big Things Underwater,” makes for a truly *impeccable* triple feature. 😍 Would HIGHLY recommend the experience! Amazing job as always Kaz! I might be stealing that makeup look to incorporate into my own spooky sea related look later this season, provided you don’t mind of course.
I would like to see Kaz and Caitlyn Doughty do a crossover, but I also fear that, combined, they would be too powerful for mere mortals to safely view.
ahh yes, i've seen both recently and it's an epic trilogy now
I was just noticing that everyone is suddenly afraid of the water all at once. Seconding the recomendation for anyone that hasn't seen all three yet.
you're so right, I have watched all three videos as well and they excellent and informative. I learn't so much. I also would highly recommend watching Ask the Mortician's " The Tragedy of the SS Eastland video if you enjoyed these.
I haven't seen Jacob's vid yet. I also recommend Dark Histories Eilean More mystery video and pretty much anything on the Franklin Expedition.
My dad liked using the Edmund Fitzgerald as a way to get my siblings and I to be cautious out on the lakes as a kid. Mostly because of the storms and the currents... but the part that scared me the most about the story is the idea that the ship and its crew are *still down there*, preserved by the cold and conditions.
I think the ghostliness of the Great Lakes is less in the idea of ghost ships sailing the lakes themselves, and more in the idea of what's lurking below you when you're way out on the water - There's thousands of frozen snapshots in time, mariners still preserved and hovering at their stations - you can imagine them still down there, wandering the decks where no living eyes can see.
"The crew and the captain well seasoned..." a funny but true line from the song!
“Nuke Lake Michigan!” Robert Evans
I absolutely love how artistic each set is! like no other channel matches the vibes you have
The vastness, unpredictability and isolating nature of the ocean terrifies me. Space is like that too but more extreme. We’ll probably have space ghost ship legends one day if space travel continues to advance
One real story in space is of Krikalev who was left on the space station MIR when the Soviet Union fell and came home a lot later than planned
As a sailor myself, I can already tell you that every good sailing story deserves a bit of embellishment.
it's only natural since we get so board while underway
I live in Dallas, which does have a couple of legends, myths and urban stories. Aside from the obvious ones about JFK's assassination, the most well known among the locals are the supernatural stories surrounding White Rock Lake. The Lady of the Lake is said to have been a young woman from the 1920s that drowned in the lake. There are variations on the story, but the consensus is that during night time, she will emerge from the darkness, all wet, and ask an unsuspecting driver to give her a ride back home. By the time the driver arrives at the location (usually somewhere in Oak Cliff) she would disappear, and leave a puddle of water where she had once sat.
I gee up and have lived in Dallas my whole life and I love those types of ghost stories where "a lady needs a ride home and shit"
I grew up in San Antonio and Corpus, but I have a lot of family in DFW and I’ve heard that story. I love those “young lady needs a ride home” stories.
You’re such a great storyteller, I could listen to you for hours… and I have 😂 Seriously, thanks for getting me through a couple bad years. When the world’s too outrageous, I put on your videos and go somewhere else. 💕
I know that this might sound weird but have you ever considered into looking into the history of the queer community in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It’s quite interesting as for a long time they were one of few groups in NI to bridge the Ethno-political gap (everyone says Catholic and Protestant because it’s Politer than Irish and British).
Fred D'Aguiar's book Feeding the Ghosts does an excellent job recounting a woman's experience aboard a Middle Passage ship.
The idea of thousands of souls, bones, bodies underneath the sea still haunts me today. Such a good book.
The 'floating ship' illusion happens pretty often where I used to live on the Isle of Wight - we'd always say it's quite easy to see why they thought they were ghost ships 🚢 (also worth noting the IOW is a VERY haunted island)
Yes, they do believe the Titanic encountered a “coldwater mirage,” the weather was just right for it along with the moonless night. Always enjoyable video Kaz!
The story of the Flying Dutchman that's most widely known in the Netherlands is that it was meant to set sail on Easter, but this being a day of rest and of god it shouldn't. The Captain being stubborn said they would anyway, 'storm or no storm' so they set out and ended up in a horrible storm, supposedly sent by god to punish them.
I've always had a fascination with Davie Jones's Locker. The sheer amount of human dead in there is insane. Thousands upon thousands of sailors for millennia all in the same resting place. Pretty interesting to think about
I think about that a lot too. I also think about how my government asked the navy to push migrent boats back into the ocean. I wonder if there will ever come a time when people will push shipwrecked navy personal back into the ocean and face minimal backlash. RIP little Ahmed and the countless others.
I'm surprised you didn't mention St. Elmo's fire! It happens in really specific conditions and is actually a kind of electrical phenomenon like lightning, so it happens a lot during storms on the pointy metal ends of the ships masts and rigging and such, which could have been confused for a ship with ghosts lights!
It's also been known to happen on things like church steeples (metal rod and all), which would understandably make people think it was a divine happening kind of thing.
The Ghost Ship that I'm most familiar with from my home town, isn't on the ocean, it's the Tombigbee River, and she's called the Eliza Battle. A steamboat that carried passengers and cargo, caught fire and wrecked, with many of the people burned or drowned.
The lore is that if you see her, disaster is sure to follow, and I've known a couple of people who claimed to have seen it. She rolls down the river in flames, and supposedly you can hear people screaming, and then poof, it's gone.
While I readily admit to knowing people who've claimed to have seen it, keep in mind, there is 1 stop sign and 4 buildings in the entire town, so telling a yarn on the front porch of the general store, is not uncommon either.
Interesting that there isn’t a similar phenomenon in Polynesian sea faring. Also, other natural events like Auroras, bioluminescence, and all kinds of fun light refractions can cause all kinds of optical illusions. And just something as prosaic as passing an unmapped island at night would be enough to freak a drunk crew out. 👻⚓️
The way you made the lighting and wardrobe so on theme gave me a lot of dopamine. Thank you for teaching us such interesting history once again.
Also, thank you for still telling people to wear masks, it really means a lot as a disabled person who has lost a lot of trust in folks who have stopped doing so. We're still in a pandemic, and bc of all the people not masking a lot of new variants are here. Stay safe folks.
Because you’ve tackled so many amazing and shall I say, ‘niche’ topics, I would be so obliged to hear your take on the lesser known history of Columbus, the Caribbean and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. So very few people know that it was Caribbean Native Americans to first encounter Columbus and experience slavery alongside the Africans imported to the islands. I adore your channel and would be so grateful to hear this untold story from the perspective of someone I admire so.
Speaking of first to America, what about the vikings and portuguese who did trading with the natives there way before Columbus or the english! Oh, and the three japanese fishermen who accidentally ended up on the west coast of america in a storm at sea, durring Japans Isolationist period.
@@chloepainter4064 - yes, that is very true, although it’s worth noting that there was little to no socio-cultural impact with those contacts. They arrived, explored, traded and were pretty much forgotten.
I’m referring more to the impact of Columbus and other Spanish and European conquests of the 15th and 16th century which lead to mass slavery of Indigenous and African people in the Caribbean (pre-dating slavery in the USA).
I’m always disappointed that mainstream education never mentions that it was the Caribbean Natives who were first contacted by Columbus and his men, not Northern Native Americans. It was also the origin of the Trans Atlantic slave trade (a century before the first slaves were brought to Virginia) and that is never mentioned either.
@@Wildflower687 just recently an Italian manuscript was discovered that was written nearly 2 centuries before Columbus was born and mentions that the people of Northern Europe swore there was another landmass to the east of Greenland. It is starting to look like, at least among sailors, the idea of another landmass spread way further than was originally thought
Isn't it weird that you write a comment about Carribbean Natives encountering Columbus and you get not one but multiple replies about vikings/ other euro contact unrelated to the topic?
@@smrtfasizmu7242there is documented ocean voyage between South America and various islands in the Pacific for a long time before any documented european ocean travel, so that's not as impressive as you might think. People had maps and navigation skills for a long ass time before vikings came along
An interesting and somewhat obscure myth relating to haunted ghost ships is the legend of the Klabautermann! It's described as a water spirit/kobold that helps fisherman and sailors when they fall overboard or sends a warning when danger is to come. But if anyone is to see it, then that ship is doomed to sink.
The most famous representation of the myth is in the manga series One Piece, where, in that series, it becomes more a spirit of the ship itself given life thanks to a crew who cares deeply for it, and there's a whole emotional sequence that many cite as the scene that made them sob over a fictional boat.
Thought you might like to know that little tidbit!
Very cool video btw!! Your vids are always super interesting!!
omg I was gonna mention that too!! and yes I did cry about a fictional boat
Okay but I loved the dramatic reenactment of the Salem ghost ship 😂😭 **chef's kiss**
I remember an old Ted Ed video about ghost ships. Some "ghost ships" are perfectly real! Sometimes, when a ship is abandoned after a collision and it takes on water, the water only fills until it hits equilibrium. It can keep floating on its own, still buoyant because the water didn't become too heavy. The same abandoned ship can be seen multiple times in different places years apart because of ocean currents. Scientists were able to track some current systems by charting abandoned ships!
Speaking of the Queen Mary, for a long time they had a Halloween event called Dark Harbor where the characters were based off the actual ghost sightings. It closed when QM did/for covid…and now I don’t know when/if it’s coming back, because rn the dock has been taken over by…wait for it…Shaqtoberfest. Which is exactly what it sounds like.
I heard of it at the Midsummer Scream con panel and wanted to go SO bad…BUT ALAS
Shaqtoberfest sounds like I'm trying to get hammered at a beer tent while a bunch of wanna be thug teens wing basketballs around blasting sh.tty music and I'm about to lose it!
Shaqtoberfest sounds like a Shaq themed temporary museum that displays the dude's every single known detail, even the shaq fu game is playable there
Shaqtoberfest sounds like a beergarden where I can sample a variety of good German beers while schmoozing with Shaq himself and listening to him regale us with his tales of love and life and straight ballin'.
I’ve lived in Rhode Island all my life (northern Rhode Island to be a little more specific) and I have literally never heard the history of block island, nor have I ever been to the island because the ferry ride is too expensive. I love when my little home state shows up in random places on the Internet
SAME AND SAME. I get so excited when someone mentions Rhode Island.
Like northern RI is really different than Southern!? Is there central too? I'm ribbing. I was wondering what it's like now ,Block Island, do people live there? What are the dimensions of RI in miles?
This video reminded me of "Tugs," a children's television about the life of tugboats in the 1920s. The show does a spectacular job at depicting the nuances (both good and bad aspects) of a life in the harbor. Night shots in the show are beautiful, eerie and atmospheric all at once. I highly recommend it to anyone that is interested.
There is one from the 80's? I watched that when I was a little one. Your comment just fired up memories I have not thought about for a long time.
I live in Tennessee and my favorite local legend is the bell witch, I have a grandma who has seen her first hand and i have as well. She's the only ghost to have a murderer blamed on her. My family has all agreed to not talk about her out loud and we all keep quite about her.
Oh my God, have you really? I have always been obsessed with the Bell Witch story since I first heard it in high school. Funny enough, it's not a local legend for me, because I grew up in Massachusetts actually - I've been to Salem and done the historical tours Kaz discusses in this video several times.
If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear any further information on these sightings you and your grandmother have had. I am endlessly fascinated with the legend, and the fact that it's the only known case of a ghost committing murder as you said. The shapeshifting animals involved in the situation are super strange as well. Reminds me of how different paranormal phenomena sometimes occur together or in close succession, Bigfoot and UFO/alien sightings being a common example (a big thing in my neck of the woods these days - I live in Washington state near Mt. St. Helens now).
My very first thought when I hear "ghost ships" is Fata Morgana! Optical illusions without scientific explanations would be especially spooky at sea, and I'd probably think there was something weird going on if I saw ships or entire cities floating above the horizon too.
You're historical, cultural, and mythological videos are immensely informative and equally entertaining with the one on Sarah Winchester and her not-so-Mystery House being my top favorite at the time of this writing. I'm about to watch this latest one but the subject of ghost ships is most mouthwatering, pun intended.
I appreciate how you put so much effort into the aesthetic of your videos: the lighting, the costumes, the graphics and music…wonderful
THE CALLOUT TO NED FULMER IS REALL I SCREAMED. that was Smooth, Very smooth I love your videos lmao
LIVED IN MASSACHUSETTS MY WHOLE LIFE NOONE SAYS PEABODY LIKE THAT THEY WERE 1000% MESSING WITH YOU LOLOL
seconded lol. either they straight up lied or they were trying to explain it as kind of rhyming with puberty but yeah no that's not it lol.
Was coming here to say the same thing!😂 Definitely only heard it said Peabody like pea body or pea-bah-d they were def messing with someone that doesn't know how to say mass names😂
Really enjoyed this one! How has no one else mentioned the amazing CGI ship yet? Legendary skills. 😝
Truly top tier. 😂
You’re the full package, Kaz!! Another great video. The drowned sailor vibes were immaculate.
Thank you for highlighting Mr. Burroughs. I'm an relative of his on my moms side. It is interesting to hear about his story through you. ❤️
Australian, which means I am a lowkey around the ocean all of the time with a cultural relationship to the sea, and also someone whose family who owns a vessel and has subsequently been around a lot of sailors, ship construction and repair crews, and nautical-themed madness. Got behind the helm for the first time and was instantly hooked for life lmao.
One of the things that I find interesting is that there is a great deal to be said for the Mary Celeste, of course, but I find the difference between people on land and people who sail. The Mary Celeste is terrifying, as a concept, perhaps because of its utter reality, as it said. But I find it wrong to say it's scarier in one setting - sailors themselves. Most sailors I know to be far, far more terrified about the Flying Dutchman. Because of the simple difference, if you find the Mary Celeste, it's already happened, it's done and whilst it proves that sailors aren't lying to land dwellers, to a sailor, the danger has for the most part passed, even if there is sensible wariness as a whole to not attract the same fate. But if you run into the Flying Dutchman? Your doom is upon you and you can never escape. That is the difference I think to a lot of people if you are not at sea, that doesn't seem so scary, does it? We dismiss sailors quite easily, even if compassionately, for their superstition. Especially now that they make up such a small part of any given population, that real fear in them is often dismissed. So what does the Flying Dutchman scare the person who has never faced down the horror of a storm at sea, the lack of rations, or the worst of all, the endless, mindless Dulldrums where some go mad?
Also in regards to the ships as haunted vessels of human life, this is something that is often lost to the modern world. Historically, each ship is singular. Each ship is conceived of, and constructed as, a singular individual creation that is the work of hundreds if not thousands of people as time goes on. From the engineer who drafted to the hundreds of people nailed in planks of wood. It is both an experiment, and a proof of old concepts which hold so much hope inside of it. It stands not only as a testament of itself but all the ships that came before it. Until recently, no two ships were ever truly the same, the occasions when two or something three would be constructed the same was so rare that they tended to gasp that its sister ships!! and you had to know them. They had terms used to describe them as infants with growing pains, they talked about weathering the issues of the wood needed to swell with water to fully seal the boards so it wouldn't leak in the future, and that if you sailed it in this period of 'infancy' the ship will sink, that they will be in her 'prime', a period of many years where everything is good as it can be, and they cut through the water clean. Then there is old age. The point where the crew, the captain and the engineers in the shipyard know she's not well, she's sickly and her time is ending. That there is no patching to be done, no repairs will hold her together anymore. It is time for her to go. They develop an almost funeral and mourning process, but also a relief and joy at a life well and long-lived.
And last and most important, the naming of the ship. "You have to christen it." I think about that a lot. You *christen* a ship. The same way we christen an infant, which is the process of blessing a soul and commending it to God to be recognised in various Christian faiths, but as far as I am aware forms of this exist for other religions in the world for their own respective faiths, I can just speak of this to the western phenomena of ghost ships. The whole process is not a figurative process like a house, it's very, very literal. We give the ship a soul before we put it to sea. It's a serious act. You don't just name a ship, you commend it up beyond the sums of its parts. It has to be chosen especially, it's got to be a different name to any of the other ships in the harbour where it's being put to sail. It requires individuality and soul then. You don't just rename it either. If you want to rename it, you have to have a ceremony. You have to say goodbye to the old ship's name, have a party, drink and pour it out for the ship. It's like sending an old friend off. If you don't do this process, the ship will resent you. The old soul will never leave and whatever it carries with it, will hang around.
I wonder then if when faced with a reflection of our individuality and mark upon the world, we reject the idea of it being swallowed so completely as the sea does to ships and in the case of these famous ghost ships. Unlike a house which can remain as ruins, the lay of its shape found by archaeologists even centuries later - the ship is gone. Whilst we know where some are, as many have been lost completely. There can be no gravemarker for them, no note except the stories we in turn keep alive of them. So in a rejection of the sheer pointlessness of it all, we tell stories of the Noah's Dove, or the Flying Dutchman, or embellish things like the Mary Celeste to try and drive home the fear and tragedy of a life lost and forgotten.
But thoughts that your very wonderful video provoked!
I absolutely love this channel! I found it a month or two ago and wow! I'm a big history nerd so seeing all these videos about different time periods is just so great. I like how Kaz dresses to match the era and cracks jokes at the appropriate times. I've watched nearly all of them while drawing, keep it up Kaz!!
In Turku, Finland there is a docked ship called 'suomen joutsen' in english it translates to 'Finland's swan' and it was used to teach sailors a LONG time ago. I have visited the ship twice. First was when I was 6. I felt so uneasy inside the swan that I almost throwed up. Second time was when I was 12 and actually cared about the history of the ship. I remember clearly a certain picture that shows at sea burial. The picture showed an open casket, something we finnish People dont do anymore. It really gave me the chills.
idk how widespread this was in the Great Lakes region, but everyone knew of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I'm pretty sure we had a bit of 4th grade class set aside to listen to this sea shanty about the shipwreck. I don't remember any specific ghost stories, just visiting a bunch of lighthouse museums as a kid, which included the bell recovered from tbe Edmund Fitzgerald wreck
My favourite ride in the Efteling (an amusement park in the Netherlands) is De Vliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman).
It's very interesting to learn more about ghost ships.
In wondering how there are ghost ships and trains, I wonder if it is either one of two things. One, that they are farriers of humans in our lives and like how you said about our homes ‘vessels’ for our souls in the afterlife. Or second, that often times, particularly in the instance of ships, they are personified-named, talked about like a mistress, taboos about them must be honored or things go wrong, and so much human energy is put into them and these taboos and beliefs and personifications for many many years, decades or longer. On top of having the energetic tie to crew and passenger in the instance of say a ship wreck that manifests a ‘ghost’ from that collective energy.
Kaz Rowe, as I live and breathe, you are both treasure and trove. Your delightful intellect and willingness to ferret out and share such colorful bits of history make me giddy.
hundreds of years from now, people will tell the story of a ghostly visage who continues to post interesting and educational videos to a long-forgotten platform, and a spectral crew of likers and subscribers who continue to support them. spooky
Absolutely loved this and didn't expect you to cover slave ships but glad you did. as a descendant and scholar of the Transatlantic slave trade one fact that haunts me is that slave ships could be spotted because they were always trailed by sharks -- the extent of death was so great that it altered the ecosystem around it
I adore how much work you put into the vibes of this one. Lovely!
here in Chile there’s a famous ghost ship, the Caleuche, that visits Chiloé and near by islands and supposedly takes men that round the streets at night.
When i was a little girl we went as a family to Chiloé, and i was so scared not because the extensive mythology of the area, i was specifically scared of that ship. I was so scared that the ship would take my dad. Nothing really happened, but years later, in school, our teacher explained to us that the ship was a common excuse for drunk men to disappear a few days of hangover, and i, as a naive child , feared the ship because i didn’t realized my dad was a drunk BDJFKFKDKFKFKFK
I found a book of haunted sea stories based in the Oregon and Washington coast. Some were quite amazing. There was one about a father and her daughter that was particularly impactful. She ended up haunting some lookout on the Oregon coast. The book is called creative I know.
I've always loved walking along the shore when it's particularly windy out with maybe decent showers, but just super windy and cloudy is best. It just feels romantic like I'm the wife of a sailor currently at sea. I wait for her on the shore looking out at the white caps, praying for her to come home. Bonus points if I can get a long scarf to blow around with my hair down. I grew up along the Salish Sea in Bellingham. I probably like the wind so much because it's so windy there. The water isn't super wavy because the ocean is kinda far away, and there's the San Juan Islands in the way breaking up any ocean waves. I miss living near the ocean.
Thank you for including your sources, that description box is damn THOROUGH. Amazingly researched video as always
Oh I love this. Always always love a good spooky seaboat.
Lighting here is damn awesome.
I stayed on the Queen Mary and although I didn't "see" anything, when we were touring the swimming pool I had a weird experience. The tour guide told us not to go up the stairs to the balcony and just to walk around pool side. After a time I became aware of a child running and laughing in the balcony and I turned to my friend and rolled my eyes and sighed saying "we weren't supposed to go up there and someone is letting their kid run around!" After I said it that I realised I couldn't hear the kid anymore and I never saw anyone coming down the stairs from the balcony! Make of it what you will. I couldn't sleep in my cabin that night!
Just got here from the "Ask a Mortician" video on the wreck of the SS Eastland (which youtube in it's infinite wisdom is trying to bury) and yeah, there is something uniquely sad but fascinating about shipwrecks that makes me (and other people I guess) want to believe in haunted vessels. Great video, the local story to my area is the very real Isles of Scilly mass wreck of 1707, which was such a disaster for the Royal navy it directly lead to the invention of modern mechanical watches, as the navy pumped a fortune into trying to find a reliable way to calculate longitude. The ships were sailing with dead reckoning, and when a number of common sailors smelt people burning Kelp (for alkali ash used in glass manufacture) when they were supposed to be far from shore, they questioned if the officer calculations for longitude were correct, the admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell had them hanged for questioning his authority. local legend is that after the wreck the commander Sir Cloudesley Shovell was punished for his hubris by washing up still alive only to have a local peasant woman strangle him for his gold rings. The Isles of Scilly are drenched in this sort of stuff, with legends of ghost ships and wreckers: the church on the isle of Tresco is built largely of the timber salvaged from wrecks, is called “The wreckers church” by the tourist board, and has a stained glass with the motto “Lord god, we pray that you do not wreck ships, but if thou must, please wreck them here.”
I loved this video so much! I find these kinds of stories so interesting and it was a wonderful way to close out working on the foggy waterfront yesterday! Growing up in a spooky seaside town in Maine, I have a plethora of amazing ghost stories and town myths ranging from different crypids to ghosts and mysteries. My favorite is of an isand off the coast which takes about two hours to sail to called Damariscove Island. I visited recently on a foggy day, hiking a round trip around the island, about two miles. My favorite story is that of Captain Pattinshall (who was Paul Revere's great-grandfather!) Pattinshall was attacked by Native Americans and beheaded, his body being thrown overboard. Supposedly, his dog jumped into the water after Pattinshall and consequently drowned. People claim that their bodies washed ashore the island, causing their ghosts to roam the rocky shores. Many visitors to the island claim to have heard dogs barking, but one of the cardinal rules of the island is that dogs aren't alowed. Other people say that they have seen a man and a dog walking along the shores of the island, for them only to disappear with the fog. Damariscove Island also is home to a Coast Guard lookout, where during WWI and WWII men would watch the waters for U-boats. The trip from the Coast Guard station to the lookout tower isn't an easy one, I can attest to that, but every time shifts changed, the men would complete the trek, often in the middle of the night. These soldiers would often report seeing a woman in white calling for them to join her in the freshwater pond on the island. I've also heard that there's treasure buried in the pond but I can't fully remember the details. There are tons of women in white stories in the area from Ram Island, Burnt Island, and other lighthouses. All these stories can be found in a "Ghosts of the Boothbay Region" book I picked up while in the area. Maine is absolutely packed full of crazy ghost stories(thanks Stephen King) and I think the maritime history and dramatic, rocky coastlines and thick fogs only add to the spookiness!
I served in the Coast Guard and sailed all over the Pacific. Life on the ocean is . . . WILD! Things I saw (UFOs, ghost ships), things I heard (people crying out, ghost ships), things I learned about (rogue waves, ghost ships), and things I was told to fear (calm before the storm, ghost ships lol).
Also, I love the "ships as our home" theory on why ships can be haunted. I bet it's that as well as the fact that, ask any sailor, ships have souls. I don't know how else to explain it! Personalities, quirks, hiccups, traits, talents! It's really wild, but I could tell what ship I was on just based on how it steered.
Congrats. The “Bed Bulmer” bit made me spit out my coffee all over my embroidery.
The place where my parents live has a fish and chips shop called The Frying Dutchman. So everytime I hear Flying Dutchman I immediately hear that. Between this and Jacob Gellar's video on monsters of the deep, the sea is a truly haunted place.
I just absolutely adore this channel~ informative, entertaining, and Kaz is always bringing the best vibes with the sets and costumes. (I hope we will get to see more from Salem, MA in future vids❤️)
Ghost ships and haunted light houses are a cultural staple in Michigan, especially the cruel mistress of lake superior who has the most sunken ships of all the Great lakes.
The Mary Celeste is huge on the east coast of canada. My grandparents camp on the beach where the ship was built, the locals say you can supposedly see her from the shore in the fog/darkness and there’s a lighthouse museum for it there too! The trip is pretty uneventful but cool nonetheless
there is even a rumor of a ghost U-boat. one of the U-Boats from World War One (some times it is a wolf-pack WW2) still sails under the seas making the lives of sonar operators a nightmare. Most likely the operator is getting his own boat and / or a whale - but some operators have sent their ships to find the ghost U-Boat but never finding it.
20:35 Another theory I've read about is that the crew feared their cargo of alcohol was about to explode, so they all got into the lifeboat but kept it tethered to the ship at a safe distance. Then the line connecting the two vessels somehow either broke or was deliberately cut, and the ship just kept on sailing with no one onboard.
I really appreciate how much heart,soul and research Kaz puts into their content.Absolutely adore these videos💞
I live in California and I visited the Queen Mary in 2019. My tour guide mentioned in the engine room that when he gives tours to children they always ask if someone died down here and it was always by the staircase and there were sightings of a ghost down there by that same staircase...creepy!
Absolutely LOVED this ahhh! Also the aesthetic+set is immaculate ✨
also I’m screaming at the Ned part ksnfksjdd
Back when I was in grade school, (early '70s,) I read a book that included ghost ships. One had nothing but skeletons on it. On the other, the crew were frozen solid. I have no idea how true those stories were. Another story, not a ghost ship, but creepy all the same, a British warship found a classic message in a bottle. In the letter a ships captain stated that a mutiny had broke out on his ship, and gave the ship's position and speed. The warship found a vessel, and gave chase. After a heroic boarding action, the captain was liberated. The captain then informed his rescuers that he had never sent a message. The message had in fact been sent decades earlier by someone hoping to cause a little mischief.
Haven't heard of the skeleton one, but I believe it was either The Octavius or Schooner Jenny with the frozen crew.
The intro of this video like... hypnotized me.
I mean i'm sure the weed didnt help.
I'm sure the cider didn't help either.
I was a teenager when I went on a cruise for the first time. At night, middle of ocean, when sky and water merged, I whole heartedly wanted to spot a ghost ship.
I just came back from a visit to St. Augustine, FL, and having visited two different maritime museums (lighthouse and shipwreck focused) I am on a high nautical kick right now.
This scratched a serious itch I have right now, I’ve always liked your content but this video just tasted sweeter as I’m still swimming in this state of mind.
Thank you!
awesome video Kaz!!!! Have you seen the new Interview with the Vampire/thought of doing a video on Vampires this October? I feel like you’d love it ❤
ghost ships have been one of my biggest phobias since i was 12 (especially paintings of them) but this video is awesome and has such good info on them..thank you :)
Okay I see you with your beautiful and calming intro, let alone the blue aesthetic throughout. You explain things in an easily digestible way, with quick wit and dry humor. I'm obsessed with history and learning any and all things on others cultures, so your niche is A+, haha. Actually, you could probably speak on any topic (even if I'm uneducated or not initially interested in it) and by the end of the video I'll feel like I learned something and potentially have a new interest. While listening to/watching your videos seems to lessen my anxieties and by the end, I feel a little lighter. Cornball rant over, haha, I just enjoy letting people know how (in this case) their content makes me feel. You don't know me, but if no one has told you yet today, I'm proud of you as you should be of yourself! Never know when words can lift someone's spirits. Sending you all the love from boring old PA :)
I just discovered your videos a few days ago and have watched them all! I love queer history/history in general. I love you Kaz!!!
I wait with baited breath for your new videos to come out. I found you in 2019 when a young relative committed suicide and you had a video about how to talk to children about death. I love how you present death in both it's sometimes horrific manner and then leading us to be ok with processing and coming to terms with death. I also love the history. I love how you present the issues that made deaths happen and, therefore, I take away knowledge.....educational intent. I watched the video in question, the day it came out. It was a horrific and sad event. You made it safe to visit and learn about this event. Thank you for all your videos and good luck in your move!
I went on the Queen Mary ghost tour in 2003. It was an amazing experience. I can definitely believe it’s haunted.
I'll never forget being on a school trip while I lived in South Africa (I now live in the UK) and we went to Durban. My whole grade was ghost crab hunting on the foggy beach and as we were walking along the shore, at around 12am, my group saw a boat tied to a little wooden post. It was a little paddle boat. But once we got closer to the little paddle boat, the boat, the post it was attached to, and the fog, had completely disappeared.
Not exactly a SHIP but still close enough.
[EDIT: Typos and spelling mistakes]
I'd be over the moon if Kaz did a video on Bela Lugosi for the Halloween season. I've recently been fascinated by him due to watching the original Dracula movies and I'd adore it if there was an in-depth video on him
I love Christopher Lee but Bela Lugosi was the best Dracula.
Loved this episode! I grew up in historic Oregon City, the end of the Oregon Trail, and we have SO many ghost stories and haunted museums out there. I also knew so much about the ghost who lived in my house (if you believe it or not) and have lots of fun ghost stories from that time.
This video was the perfect mix of research and open mindedness. I love it sm!!!
I've never seen one. Was born and raised in Florida, I've done sailing trips up and down the gulf coast... I didn't hear about ghosts ships until I was an adult hearing about and reading ghost stories, myths, and legends.
I went to a fashion design school in Long Beach and our graduation was on the Queen Mary. It was so cool, although we weren’t able to explore the ship beyond the portion rented out for our ceremony. 🥺
I have always been so fascinated by this. You covered the topic so well, tho im no expert lol. I love your videos so much you are so respectful with every topic you do and i love how you site your sources keep up the amazing work 💖slay
I'm watching this on my rest hours at sea in a gale force 8 wind storm, perfect background for this vid! Love your channel!! ❤️
Were have you been my whole life, Kaz? I've watched all your videos in a row, and I LOVE THEM.
as someone from a long line of seafarers nautical myths have always been my absolute fav. amazing vid!
Kaz’s content and presentation plus the research that goes into each episode make them so interesting indeed enthralling, and Kaz is quite enchanting. I wonder whether the type of ghost ship that appears as a blazing, lambent light could be the same as the low level luminous phenomena that gives rise to will o’ the wisp on land, and it’s aerial cousin ball lightning, still not understood by science? Also, in tradition ships were thought to possess souls, some would have eyes painted on them to see ahead while I’ve heard tell smashing a bottle of champagne against a vessel non launch replaced the blood of a human meant to transfer their spirit to the ship itself so it became a living thing, well that’s what I heard. Unlike on land though at sea when trouble strikes you can’t just walk away, ships are quite isolating. And yes there’s something mysterious about abandoned buildings, walking through sites thinking about the people who once lived there. Near where I lived was an Iron Age hill fort said to be the residence of Britain’s oldest apparition, that of Icenian queen Boudicca and her daughters, been there at night but no show. I’ve been in Neolithic passage graves and flint mines, the lives, and deaths of those people seem so remote and mysterious yet folktales claim faeries “live” on inside them, possibly ghosts? It would be nice to see Kaz on one of her ghostly missions take a trip further afield, say to UK or Ireland, and visit some of the ancient sites with their local lore.
I read a nonfiction book about British and Irish folklore earlier this year, "Haunted Britain and Ireland" by Richard Jones, which is full of descriptions of mysterious lights in the sky that are attributed to fairies and witches but I can imagine just as well being attributed to ghosts and UFOs depending on the individual witness' cultural background.
I recently stumbled upon this channel and I am hooked. The presentation, your voice and on point fashion drew me in but you're such a great spinner of yarns I keep coming back. Thank you for just being you
I always enjoy your videos, and always learn new things from them; but you sent me down an odd rabbit hole today with "angstlust".
At first I was excited to learn a new word; but was a bit let down to discover that it's not a concept that explains the fascination with abandoned places. It's just a German compound word for the pleasure that comes from the combination of excitement and fear, similar to the English word "thrill". It's common use in German is just to describe the rush that comes from doing things like free climbing, base jumping, exhibitionism, or really anything that can be considered "risky".
local legends and superstition in malaysia are also steeped in ideas that the sea is haunted
some superstitions that my friend's mom holds is to not pick up objects from the beach because a malicious sea djin could be riding on it and you'd then be bringing it with you or to your home (this belief probably comes from folkloric muslim mythos). on the more local side, there's also indigenous legends/folklore that are still present in songs/performance like Ulek Mayang, the story of seven princess of the sea and the youngest meets a fisherman that she steals away into the ocean; the fisherman's brothers and villagemen ask for help from the local bomoh (witchdoctor equivalent) to help bring his soul back. The seven princesses are traced back to Pleiades, which i think is visible during the monsoon season, though don't quote me on that.
really cool vid!
Oddly enough, the prog rock band Rush, has a song on their final album called 'The Wreckers' which is part of an album long story of the album protagonist's life, wherein he is part of a crew that gets drawn ashore by the wreckers, as mentioned in this video.
Whoever told you that's how to pronounce Peabody lied to you. It's actually pronounced PEE-buh-DEE
I was on the fence about subscribing, but this video was so aesthetically pleasing, informational, and entertaining. Had to push that big red button!
GHOST SHIPS LET'S GO
When I saw your video in my recommendations I just had to watch it. I loved the explanation of the Phanta Morgana as something happened to me that I can't explain in any other way...or it actually was a ghost ship, lol. I live in a small seaside town in Devon, England, in the middle of Lyme Bay and it must have been around 1980/81. I was walking from my home along the sea and it was very foggy when out of the mist came this beautiful full-sailed 18th century galleon for just a few moments before disappearing again. I enquired as much as I could about it and no-one knew anything, plus there was nothing in the local paper and no news anywhere else of a ship like that sailing. Just one of those odd mysteries that I've never had answered. Loved your video, thank you. :)
Ghost Trains are wondering why nobody has seen them in a while.
I saw some footage taken from a maintenance crew that was getting a ship ready to be docked for the winter. The crew worker said he felt like he was being watched despite knowing the workers were above deck. A review of the footage showed in the blink of an eye a man in the shadows holding something with a long handle. The camera moves over the place the man was standing a moment later and it was gone. Even if it was a hoax, it spooked me haha.