Unwelcome feelings on wrecks

[DOkie]

Maybe this doesn't even belong on this thread, or maybe it's already been discussed, but my husband and I were just talking about the Cedarville (Mackinac Straits). We've been on quite a few wrecks where people have lost their lives, but when we came up from the Cedarville several divers (including us) had a "creepy" feeling about the wreck. It was a serious "you don't belong here, LEAVE" feeling. I was wondering what other stories are out there like this on wreck dives... (I know the orientation of the Cedarville is a little different, but it wasn't that, it was almost like a being watched feeling... Like someone was going to look back out of the windows at you). I mentioned this to the local dive shop when we went to get our tanks filled and he laughed and said that there have been numerous sightings of ghosts on this wreck.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Do people still believe in ghosts? I thought they were just a glitch in the Matrix.

 

[birdwrasse]

i'd go diving there, just to see them! buwhahaha....

 

[captndale]

I once told a fellow diver a story about how two brothers who once owned the local dive quarry had lost their lives under the ice and still haunted the depths of that quarry. Sure enough, on the next dive he saw their ghosts. A little suggestion and a little extra nitrogen...

 

[boat sju]

Maybe this doesn't even belong on this thread, or maybe it's already been discussed, but my husband and I were just talking about the Cedarville (Mackinac Straits). We've been on quite a few wrecks where people have lost their lives, but when we came up from the Cedarville several divers (including us) had a "creepy" feeling about the wreck. It was a serious "you don't belong here, LEAVE" feeling. I was wondering what other stories are out there like this on wreck dives... (I know the orientation of the Cedarville is a little different, but it wasn't that, it was almost like a being watched feeling... Like someone was going to look back out of the windows at you). I mentioned this to the local dive shop when we went to get our tanks filled and he laughed and said that there have been numerous sightings of ghosts on this wreck.

That's interesting. After we dove the Cedarville in the 80s we talked about how erie it was. I think it's just that it seems so "modern". After all it looks like ships that are still in operation and it's so intact. It felt like we were trespassing.

 

[AzAtty]

If you're diving air, I'd say it's a mild dark narc. Or a ghost.

 

[rawls]

Do people still believe in ghosts? I thought they were just a glitch in the Matrix.

There you go again with the profanity SB You can neither create not destroy matter...

I get an eerie feeling when diving the U-352...There are still sailors inside the sub. I can't say I have a feeling that they are looking back at me. It's more like a feeling that they are sleeping and do not want to be disturbed. I choose not to disturb them.

 

[H2Andy]

It was a serious "you don't belong here, LEAVE" feeling. I was wondering what other stories are out there like this on wreck dives...

oh yeah ... i know the feeling well ....

first time i experienced it was snorkeling on the wreck off Georgetown, Grand Cayman (i forget the name).

second time was at the Himla Hooker, Bonaire, on a solo dive

third time was at the Prince Albert, Roatan, on a solo night dive

every single time, i just felt like this HUGE thing was looking at me, and i just wanted to run away (well, swim away) as fast as possible.

it was a comibnation of the size, and of the "other wordliness" of such a chunk of man-made ship sitting there in the bottom of the ocean, like some haunted house or something ...

every single time i had to get a grip, relax a little, and get on with the dive.

all three were awesome dives

(for some strange reason, i've gone diving on several wrecks stateside, including the Spiegel Grove, the Duane, and a bunch of barges and tugs off Jacksonville ... and i've never had the feeling ... not once)

 

[covediver]

I had the honor of diving with the son of a Cederville survivor this summer while doing a photo shoot/research on wrecks in the Straits. Hearing him tell the story was indeed erie. I am reminded of the following passages that I have quoted in my much neglected weblog. I think zero in on what you refer to. I think it is the feeling we get, not any haunting:

I picked up the new book by Professor Trevor Norton, Underwater to Get Out of the Rain. He eloquently addresses the nature of shipwrecks and wreck diving in the following passage from the Lost Ships chapter.

"On land, castles may crumble into romantic ruins, but if they remain reasonably intact we mend the roof then fill them with story-boards and exhibits so that paying customers can shuffle over the ancient but newly swept floors. Sound effects and atmospheric lighting help to create an ambience of ancient times.

Wrecked ships need no such help. They ooze atmosphere and are the eeriest places on earth. The surrounding haze creates mystery and a feeling of discovery. Sometimes snagged nets wreathe hulks in aquatic cobwebs that add an air of witchery. But it is the gloom inside that generates unease. It is impossible to venture into the black heart of a hulk without feeling the below is the darkness something awaits you.

The unease is stoked by the knowledge that wrecks are dangerous places to be. It is easy to become disoriented in a confusion of corridors and decks even when a ship is well lit and afloat, but down here in the darkness amid clouds of silt, it is possible to get lost in the labyrinth where there is no easy escape to the surface. The tenuous artificiality of your existence is emphasized by the precious air expelled with every breath to accumulate as quicksilver pools on the ceiling. The trapped diver is unique among the condemned in that he can see his last breath.

They may also retain the feeling of sudden abandonment. In the cabins of the Hisperia I found a cup with a broken handle, a scrubbing brush beside the bathtub and a lone shoe slowly filling with silt. Down there, these mundane objects became imbued with a poignancy that they could never possess in a museum case. It never occurred to me that they were merely artefacts or souvenirs to be collected; they were still personal items belonging to the crew."

 

[covediver]

oh yeah ... i know the feeling well ....

(for some strange reason, i've gone diving on several wrecks stateside, including the Spiegel Grove, the Duane, and a bunch of barges and tugs off Jacksonville ... and i've never had the feeling ... not once)

Could it be that ships that were placed as artificial reefs dont evoke the same kind of reaction as ones that are unfamiliar, have a strange geometry, or some kind notoriety?

I too have been on the hooker. As I recall, the Hooker was put down as a reef but it does have an odd geometry to it and was notorious as a smuggler.

I never quite shed that poignant feeling when diving a wreck. I was a maritime historian for a while and came to know the feeling well.