FACES IN THE SEA
These ghostly faces were believed to be crewmen James Courtney and Michael Meehan, crew members of the SS Watertown. They were sailing on an oil tanker toward the Panama Canal from New York City in December of 1924. They were cleaning a cargo tank of the tanker when they were overcome by fumes and died. As was the custom, their crewmates buried them at sea. The next day before dusk, the first mate reported seeing the two crewmen’s faces in the water for several seconds, then they just faded away. For several days, the crew continued to see these faces in the water which would then just fade away. Once the ship arrived in New Orleans, the ship’s company recommended to the captain, Keith Tracy, that he take photos of these faces, which he did, then promptly locked the camera in the safe until they arrived at port. The film was developed by a commercial developer in New York, who found one of the six photos taken to have the ghostly faces in it. The negative was then turned over to the Burns Detective Agency and found to be untampered with. After the crew dispersed and another crew was put on board, the faces were never seen again. |
