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Tag: ghost ship

  • Ohio River Ghost Ship: Where Did It Come From?

    The Ohio River is full of history and mysteries and while you may find a lot of things on and alongside the river, a ghost ship doesn’t seem like something that would be a common discovery. Several kayakers found the ghost ship while out exploring and decided that they just had to explore it.

    Although the ghost ship itself was amazing, the history and stories behind it are even more interesting. The boat was towed to the tributary where it was recently rediscovered because it belonged to the landowner. Before finding it’s fate in the Ohio River, the boat played several important roles.

    The ship was first used as a sight seeing boat in New York City. It would take riders up and down the Hudson River, showing them all the popular attractions and landmarks. When the United States entered WWI, the ship was repurposed for war. It was also used in WWII.

    Thomas Edison used the ship to experiment with communications technology and it even appeared in the music video for Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach track. The ship was finally retired in the 80’s when it was towed to the Ohio River tributary.

    Over time the once great ship was reclaimed my nature and although much of it is still intact, the remains of the ship are covered in rust and hidden by plants.

    To the locals who are familiar with the tributary where the ship is located, the ghost ship is just a fun landmark and something that many people have already explored. Those who are just learnign about the ship are excited to hear more about it.

    Once the kayakers who found the ship posted photos, many people began to ask about the location of the ship, hoping to explore it themselves. Local warn that the property owners do not like trespassers and have been known to chase them away with shotguns. Nonetheless, visiting the Queen City ghost ship will become a quest for amateur explorers and adventurers. Hopefully visitors will be respectful of the ship and property owners.

    What do you think of the Ohio River ghost ship?

    Image via YouTube

  • Rat-Infested Ghost Ship Has Likely Sunk

    Rat-Infested Ghost Ship Has Likely Sunk

    There’s a ghost ship teeming with inbred cannibal rats on a collision course with the British coastline!

    Or maybe not.

    Speculation had recently emerged that the Lyubov Orlova, an abandoned ship that has been floating aimlessly across the Atlantic for the past twelve months, was set to run aground somewhere along the western coast of Great Britain. Ordinarily, this might only be of local concern, but somewhere along the line, someone decided that the rats that had been on the boat when its human owners let it go had spent the past year inbreeding themselves into mutancy and having to survive by eating their own. Hence the headlines warning of “inbred cannibal rats” and the like.

    And while someone over at SyFy is undoubtedly trying to rope Tara Reid into another Sharknadoesque campfest (Ratnado!), the Welsh can now breathe easier—experts are claiming that the Lyubov Orlova has likely sunk and the rats themselves in Davy Jones’ locker (Pi-rat-nado!).

    “Our professional belief is that it has sunk,” said Chris Reynolds, agency director of the Irish Coast Guard. “We’ve discussed it with the UK and Norway and Iceland and we’re all pretty happy that it has probably sunk.” The UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency has also issued the statement that “has received no sightings of the former Soviet cruise ship ‘Lyubov Orlova’ since April last year and there is no evidence to suggest it is still afloat. Any ‘ghost’ ship entering European waters is highly likely to be reported due to the large number of vessels passing through the area. We would then act accordingly.”

    The 300-foot ship was built in Yugoslavia in 1976 and was used mainly to tour Arctic and Antarctic waters. In 2010, its owners at the time ran out of cash and abandoned it in Newfoundland, where it was sold for scrap to the Dominican Republic. It broke loose before the Dominicans could haul it off and has been floating freely ever since. It is reputed to have a salvage value of $1 million dollars.

    For what it’s worth, the ship has been afloat since last January, and the female brown rat—the most common rat in the world—can produce 5 litters per year with as many as 14 ratlets per litter. You can go ahead and do the math, but, suffice it to say, that was potentially a lot of mutant cannibal rats. Depending, of course, on how hungry they were.

    Killer biting rat image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Cannibal Rat-Infested Ghost Ship Headed For The UK?

    Adrift in the North Atlantic Sea swirls Lyubov Orlova, an unmanned Yugoslavian-built hulk cruise ship with a crew of cannibalistic rats.

    “She is floating around out there somewhere,” Pim de Rhoodes, a Belgian salvage hunter who seeks Lyubov Orlova, told The Sun. “There will be a lot of rats and they eat each other. If I get aboard I’ll have to lace everywhere with poison.”

    There have been no reports concerning the ships whereabouts since March of last year when two beacons sounded and found two of the ship’s six lifeboats. Those in charge of patrolling North Atlantic waters aren’t so sure where the vessel currently resides, despite

    With key words like “could” and a “strong chance”, some news sources speculate the ship may soon wash ashore in the U.K. Yet, despite unnamed experts speculating the arrival of the rat infested ghost ship, those patrolling the seas are unsure of its location.

    “Normal coastal surveillance activities are carried out which are aware of the issue of the vessel,” the Irish Coast Guard said in a statement. “There is no further action required by Ireland and there are no reports and sightings.”

    The U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency echoed similar words: “We have received no reported sightings of the vessel since April last year, but we will respond accordingly.”

    The Russian-registered ship was originally created in 1976 for cruises of polar explorations of the Antarctic and Arctic Circle; an L.A. times’ Travel article described the ship as a cozy, comfortable, ice-reinforced vessel that offered any passenger exposure to the coldest parts of the world.

    On September 25th, 2010, Lyubov Orlova was impounded in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, due to a dispute over $273,000 in back wages, according to the International Transport Workers Federation.

    The former crew of 49 Russians and two Ukrainians were left unpaid for over four months, thus deserting their ship where it remained in Canada until 2012; the Dominican Republic made a deal to scrap all 1,526 tons (1,420 tonne) of the vessel.

    As if becoming aware of its final sailing, the vessel broke free in Caribbean when high waves of up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) caused the towline to the tug boat to snap.

    Lyubov Orlova, named after a beloved 1930s star of Russian cinema, is worth an estimated $1.1 million, perking the interests in salvage hunters.

    Quartz reported that sailors discovered the existence of at least seven other ghost ships in the last 15 years.

    Pictures via WikiCommons