Ghosts Galore!
This week I have a story about a ghost ship, a ghost who wasn't, and justice from beyond the grave.
Ghost Ship
This story of a mysterious disappearance takes place in 1942. It concerns a blimp used by the Navy for tracking submarine activities along the West Coast.
On August 16, 1942, Lt. Ernest Cody, accompanied by Ensign Charles Adams, left the San Francisco Bay area at 6 a.m. They were flying the blimp to Farallon Falls - approximately 30 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. An hour later, Cody reported seeing a possible oil slick on the water's surface and indicated that he and Adams were going to investigate further. This was the last communication ever received from the two men.
At noon that same day, the blimp was observed by a group of people on the beach in the San Francisco area. A witness stated that it was "drifting with its motors off". The blimp eventually came to rest on a street in Daly City. (It collided with a house and two cars on the way down.) Would-be rescuers found the door propped open and the gondola empty; the throttles were set to "Idle". Parachutes and a life raft were safely stored in the cabin, but two life vests were missing.
A search involving both planes and surface ships was conducted, but no bodies were ever recovered. Despite being referred to as a "ghost ship", the blimp's gondola was refurbished and used by the Navy for training purposes.
The Ghost That Wasn't
A New York woman called authorities after hearing a voice coming from behind the walls of her building calling for help. Emergency crews freed a man who had apparently become trapped in the chimney of the building, located on Manhattan's West Side. He was taken to hospital for treatment and will be charged with burglary.
Justice from Beyond the Grave?
In Taipei, a 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing his 22-year-old girlfriend. The man had originally claimed that after the couple had broken up in December of 2004, the young woman jumped from a bridge to her death.
The case was re-opened last year at the request of the young woman's parents, who claimed they had been visited by her ghost, who insisted that she had been murdered.
