Ever since the first tales of adventure were written, and right through to the rise of the movies, writers have loved to thrill and frighten both readers and viewers alike, with tales of skeleton crews, manning doomed ships of the seas and the skies.
The most famous of these are perhaps the Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones (aka 'the sailor's devil') legends, both of which are several hundreds of years old .... but there are always new versions of these stories of skeletons or dead men manning the controls being circulated.
In Bram Stokers 'Dracula' for example .... the ship bringing eponymous Dracula to England, was spotted entering Whitby harbour, with a "dead sailor lashed to the wheel, with a rosary in his hands - and not a soul else on board! Her cargo was apparently no more than a number of wooden boxes filled with dirt". But the idea of the ships of the dead, continues to reappear in popular culture .... pulp horror comics for example.
These tales are usually accompanied by pictures meant to thrill, and illuminate, the lurid copy .... such as this 'newspaper' story.
..... and this has carried on into the modern day cinema ..... lost jungles are a favourite location.
... where the cinema, moved the legend into deep space ......
and finally the 'He Man' TV show, and the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series of films, took the idea from the horror genre, and into mainstream children's toys ..... where it was adapted into many formats.
So why am I prattling on about this?
Well, when something made me think about it (probably another repeat of Pirates of the Caribbean), it occurred to me that there was in fact very little evidence of anything like this being discovered (to my knowledge that was). To clarify, what I am talking about is bodies found, months or years after the their disappearance, in a 'ghost ship or plane' type scenario. I don't mean human remains recovered in the immediate aftermath of organised rescue searches, where bodies would be expected to be in the cockpit etc .... I mean lost planes or ships, turning up years, or decades or more later.
There have been a few skeletons or scattered bones found in deserts since the second world war, but usually away from any crash sites, as crew have died trying to walk to safety through the deserts .... and only one 'ghost ship' (although not with the sailors lashed to the rigging etc that I am aware of). But I did manage to dig up a couple of real stories:
In 1993 Joe Van E's, a logger from British Columbia in Canada flew over to Gilford Island, and while there was told that there was 'old' aircraft wreckage in the forest. It was partially buried, and it had been spotted from the air but never investigated. Driven by curiosity, Mr E's and some of the other loggers trekked over to the location, and after digging back the undergrowth and gravel, found an American registered Fairchild 24W46 light aircraft .... with the pilot's skeleton still strapped into the pilots seat. It was traced, and was found to have gone missing from a flight to Alaska on the 24th June 1959.
In New Zealand in August 2014, a fishing crew pulled in their nets only to find that they had caught a light aircraft .... with the skeleton of the pilot still strapped to his seat in the cockpit. t was later determined to be the remains an aerobatic pilot from New Zealand, Daroish Kraidy, had gone missing with his plane in March 2014, and police believed he had crashed on purpose as he was suffering from depression.
The ship sailed by corpses story is probably more indicative of modern times and the tidal wave of humanity trying to get to Europe from poverty hotspots than anything else ....
For example in May 2006 in Barbados, 70 nautical miles off Ragged Point, an unmarked white ghost ship rolled in the Atlantic swell as the rescue boats approached it. When the coastguard officers boarded it, they made a gruesome find. The boat's phantom crew was made up of the desiccated corpses of 11 young men, huddled in two separate piles in the small cabin. Investigations suggested that the yacht had floated for at least 4 months before crossing the Atlantic. The erstwhile 'crew' were Senegalese 'migrants' trying to get to France, but who had been cut adrift by traffickers and had died of dehydration on the open seas ..... a modern horror story without doubt, but not quite like the older ghost vessels.
In fact, the fact is that its a horror that we have talked about, told stories about, and depicted in endless ways, but is in fact very rare. Perhaps this proves that its the terrors that are virtually unknown, or incredibly rare, and that are from our own imaginations, that make up our real horrors, and that the mundane, no matter how gruesome, can't compete with these images created in our minds.
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| Flying Dutchman Manned By Skeleton Crew |
The most famous of these are perhaps the Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones (aka 'the sailor's devil') legends, both of which are several hundreds of years old .... but there are always new versions of these stories of skeletons or dead men manning the controls being circulated.
In Bram Stokers 'Dracula' for example .... the ship bringing eponymous Dracula to England, was spotted entering Whitby harbour, with a "dead sailor lashed to the wheel, with a rosary in his hands - and not a soul else on board! Her cargo was apparently no more than a number of wooden boxes filled with dirt". But the idea of the ships of the dead, continues to reappear in popular culture .... pulp horror comics for example.
 |
| Pulp Comics Took Up The Myth ... |
These tales are usually accompanied by pictures meant to thrill, and illuminate, the lurid copy .... such as this 'newspaper' story.
 |
| I believe that this is the 'National Enquirer', but it could be another US supermarket tabloid .... |
..... and this has carried on into the modern day cinema ..... lost jungles are a favourite location.
 |
| Cheetah Was Surprised They Had Landed At All ..... |
... where the cinema, moved the legend into deep space ......
 |
| Complaints To The Captain Got A Stony Response .... |
and finally the 'He Man' TV show, and the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series of films, took the idea from the horror genre, and into mainstream children's toys ..... where it was adapted into many formats.
 |
| Skeleton Crews Took On A New Meaning In Lego-land. |
So why am I prattling on about this?
Well, when something made me think about it (probably another repeat of Pirates of the Caribbean), it occurred to me that there was in fact very little evidence of anything like this being discovered (to my knowledge that was). To clarify, what I am talking about is bodies found, months or years after the their disappearance, in a 'ghost ship or plane' type scenario. I don't mean human remains recovered in the immediate aftermath of organised rescue searches, where bodies would be expected to be in the cockpit etc .... I mean lost planes or ships, turning up years, or decades or more later.
There have been a few skeletons or scattered bones found in deserts since the second world war, but usually away from any crash sites, as crew have died trying to walk to safety through the deserts .... and only one 'ghost ship' (although not with the sailors lashed to the rigging etc that I am aware of). But I did manage to dig up a couple of real stories:
In 1993 Joe Van E's, a logger from British Columbia in Canada flew over to Gilford Island, and while there was told that there was 'old' aircraft wreckage in the forest. It was partially buried, and it had been spotted from the air but never investigated. Driven by curiosity, Mr E's and some of the other loggers trekked over to the location, and after digging back the undergrowth and gravel, found an American registered Fairchild 24W46 light aircraft .... with the pilot's skeleton still strapped into the pilots seat. It was traced, and was found to have gone missing from a flight to Alaska on the 24th June 1959.
In New Zealand in August 2014, a fishing crew pulled in their nets only to find that they had caught a light aircraft .... with the skeleton of the pilot still strapped to his seat in the cockpit. t was later determined to be the remains an aerobatic pilot from New Zealand, Daroish Kraidy, had gone missing with his plane in March 2014, and police believed he had crashed on purpose as he was suffering from depression.
The ship sailed by corpses story is probably more indicative of modern times and the tidal wave of humanity trying to get to Europe from poverty hotspots than anything else ....
For example in May 2006 in Barbados, 70 nautical miles off Ragged Point, an unmarked white ghost ship rolled in the Atlantic swell as the rescue boats approached it. When the coastguard officers boarded it, they made a gruesome find. The boat's phantom crew was made up of the desiccated corpses of 11 young men, huddled in two separate piles in the small cabin. Investigations suggested that the yacht had floated for at least 4 months before crossing the Atlantic. The erstwhile 'crew' were Senegalese 'migrants' trying to get to France, but who had been cut adrift by traffickers and had died of dehydration on the open seas ..... a modern horror story without doubt, but not quite like the older ghost vessels.
In fact, the fact is that its a horror that we have talked about, told stories about, and depicted in endless ways, but is in fact very rare. Perhaps this proves that its the terrors that are virtually unknown, or incredibly rare, and that are from our own imaginations, that make up our real horrors, and that the mundane, no matter how gruesome, can't compete with these images created in our minds.
Really enjoyed the post, and it really is the fear of the unknown that fires our imaginations. Great pictures and captions.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks. Glad you enjoyed the post.
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