The USS Constellation is a sloop of war vessel that was commissioned on July 28th 1855 to protect American interests abroad. Built with original pieces from it’s name sake the Frigate USS Constellation, it took sail in 1855 to Malaga, Spain. After a brief stint in Cuban waters she returned to NY and was decommissioned in Boston in 1858. In 1859 she was deployed as the flag ship of the US African Squadron to disrupted the African slave trade by interdicting slave ships and releasing the imprisoned African slaves. She had a long and dedicated service to our country serving not only as a flag ship but also as a training vessel. The USS Constellations final decommission was on February 4th 1955 by the US Navy. Today the majestic USS Constellation has a permanent berth in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
I was thrilled to have arranged an over night investigation aboard this historic ship. We arrived in Baltimore, ready to verify if the ghostly tales associated with the USS Constellation were indeed true or part of the ships folklore! The USS Constellations ghostly tales include; apparitions of officers and crew being seen above and below the ships decks, reports since the 1800’s of phantom voices and music coming from the brig, and the apparition of a boy being seen and heard down in the ships hold. We had a paranormal puzzle to fit together as we investigated aboard the USS Constellation.
Our adventure aboard this magnificent vessel began with an insightful educational tour on the ships history, workings, and its long and proud service to our country. This was followed by an authentic dinner, which consisted of hard tack, stew, dried fruit, and water. After dinner we were treated to traditional flute music played by one of the crew which added to the sea faring atmosphere, and if we were lucky, help stimulate the spirits into showing up for a visit that evening.
After we enjoyed listening to the enchanting music we decided to wait to conduct our audio sessions due to the noise from the inner harbor bars and restaurants, We used this time to take pictures and explore the ship to see where we would set up our equipment. Afterwards we all met back together for several Ovilus sessions.
Our first Ovilus session was conducted in the ships hold. We felt something was making a connection to us as we began to have French spoken over the Ovilus. The words for mother, fell, and hurt kept being repeated over and over in French and English. Traveling up to the surgeons area on the 3rd deck, one of our investigators who spoke French begin asking questions and we continued getting responses in French and English to her queries.
Prior to this session we had taken sometime to ourselves to explore the ship, to take photos, to pick out our hammock and set up our sleeping areas. As we moved thru the sleeping area outside the surgery room one of our investigators related a personal experience to us. Our sleeping arrangements were canvas hammocks all hung in a common area on the 3rd deck. The investigator was reading a book while taking a break in her hammock. As she laid there she heard a spectral scratch from the top of where her head touched the hammock all the way down her lower back. The sound of a fingernail scratching against the canvas hammock was un-mistakable, and not only could she hear it she felt the pressure of the finger as it moved down her back. After hearing about this we moved over to her hammock and continued our session. We asked questions to see if this was the spirit that had slowly scratched down her hammock while she was laying in it, we got confirmation, “yes” it was him.
Once the inner harbor bars and restaurants closed we began our audio sessions. Angela and myself were two of the last ones to stay up investigating. We went down into the ships hold and set up 2 digital recorders, one on a hanging barrel where the apparition of a boy has been seen, the other I held in my right hand. We sat on the far steps towards the back, or aft end, of the ship. We also had a video camera with night vision set up facing the opposite direction focused on the barrel. Angela began to use her pendulum as we conducted our audio sessions, little did we know we were getting EVP answers confirming the dowsing answers to the questions we were asking. We were asking questions about the powder monkey position, which was most often filled by children who were the fastest and smallest on ship. They would carry bags of gunpowder from the ship’s magazines to the cannons, and at times would helped pack the cannons. As we continued to conducted our session we used some of the sea faring superstitions, jokes and vocabulary to stimulate the environment for paranormal activity.
Afterwards Angela and I sat there in the ships hold talking about investigating on some of the other ships in the harbor. We began to talk about investigating on the submarine and not being sure we would want to go on it. On reviewing our audio we discovered an EVP of what sounds like a child saying in a sing song voice, “You want to visit the submarine?” This small voice from the sea gave us a shiver knowing someone had joined in our conversation deep in the hold of the USS Constellation. Along with the rest of the evidence we gathered that night this EVP helped add validity to the claims of a ghostly figure of a boy being seen and heard in the ships hold.
Our whole experience on board this amazing vessel gave us a little taste and a new found respect for the courage and strength that was required for these men and boys to endure life while at sea on board the USS Constellation.
If you would like to learn more about the history and how to book an overnight investigation check out the USS Constellations website: http://www.historicships.org/historic-ships.html
To hear our ghostly experiences aboard this historic vessel you can go to our website or Podomatic.
www.spiritedhistory.com or http://spiritedhistory.podomatic.com/
www.para-x.com live every Friday night 9PM EST
©LeeAnne Ball, Angela Ghataora Spirited History2010
I was thrilled to have arranged an over night investigation aboard this historic ship. We arrived in Baltimore, ready to verify if the ghostly tales associated with the USS Constellation were indeed true or part of the ships folklore! The USS Constellations ghostly tales include; apparitions of officers and crew being seen above and below the ships decks, reports since the 1800’s of phantom voices and music coming from the brig, and the apparition of a boy being seen and heard down in the ships hold. We had a paranormal puzzle to fit together as we investigated aboard the USS Constellation.
Our adventure aboard this magnificent vessel began with an insightful educational tour on the ships history, workings, and its long and proud service to our country. This was followed by an authentic dinner, which consisted of hard tack, stew, dried fruit, and water. After dinner we were treated to traditional flute music played by one of the crew which added to the sea faring atmosphere, and if we were lucky, help stimulate the spirits into showing up for a visit that evening.
After we enjoyed listening to the enchanting music we decided to wait to conduct our audio sessions due to the noise from the inner harbor bars and restaurants, We used this time to take pictures and explore the ship to see where we would set up our equipment. Afterwards we all met back together for several Ovilus sessions.
Our first Ovilus session was conducted in the ships hold. We felt something was making a connection to us as we began to have French spoken over the Ovilus. The words for mother, fell, and hurt kept being repeated over and over in French and English. Traveling up to the surgeons area on the 3rd deck, one of our investigators who spoke French begin asking questions and we continued getting responses in French and English to her queries.
Prior to this session we had taken sometime to ourselves to explore the ship, to take photos, to pick out our hammock and set up our sleeping areas. As we moved thru the sleeping area outside the surgery room one of our investigators related a personal experience to us. Our sleeping arrangements were canvas hammocks all hung in a common area on the 3rd deck. The investigator was reading a book while taking a break in her hammock. As she laid there she heard a spectral scratch from the top of where her head touched the hammock all the way down her lower back. The sound of a fingernail scratching against the canvas hammock was un-mistakable, and not only could she hear it she felt the pressure of the finger as it moved down her back. After hearing about this we moved over to her hammock and continued our session. We asked questions to see if this was the spirit that had slowly scratched down her hammock while she was laying in it, we got confirmation, “yes” it was him.
Once the inner harbor bars and restaurants closed we began our audio sessions. Angela and myself were two of the last ones to stay up investigating. We went down into the ships hold and set up 2 digital recorders, one on a hanging barrel where the apparition of a boy has been seen, the other I held in my right hand. We sat on the far steps towards the back, or aft end, of the ship. We also had a video camera with night vision set up facing the opposite direction focused on the barrel. Angela began to use her pendulum as we conducted our audio sessions, little did we know we were getting EVP answers confirming the dowsing answers to the questions we were asking. We were asking questions about the powder monkey position, which was most often filled by children who were the fastest and smallest on ship. They would carry bags of gunpowder from the ship’s magazines to the cannons, and at times would helped pack the cannons. As we continued to conducted our session we used some of the sea faring superstitions, jokes and vocabulary to stimulate the environment for paranormal activity.
Afterwards Angela and I sat there in the ships hold talking about investigating on some of the other ships in the harbor. We began to talk about investigating on the submarine and not being sure we would want to go on it. On reviewing our audio we discovered an EVP of what sounds like a child saying in a sing song voice, “You want to visit the submarine?” This small voice from the sea gave us a shiver knowing someone had joined in our conversation deep in the hold of the USS Constellation. Along with the rest of the evidence we gathered that night this EVP helped add validity to the claims of a ghostly figure of a boy being seen and heard in the ships hold.
Our whole experience on board this amazing vessel gave us a little taste and a new found respect for the courage and strength that was required for these men and boys to endure life while at sea on board the USS Constellation.
If you would like to learn more about the history and how to book an overnight investigation check out the USS Constellations website: http://www.historicships.org/historic-ships.html
To hear our ghostly experiences aboard this historic vessel you can go to our website or Podomatic.
www.spiritedhistory.com or http://spiritedhistory.podomatic.com/
www.para-x.com live every Friday night 9PM EST
©LeeAnne Ball, Angela Ghataora Spirited History2010
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