the years, what appears to be Truxtun’s shade has been seen numerous times by many people, one of the most famous episodes occurring in 1964 and involving a Catholic priest who reported interacting with it.
Another ghost who has been identified on board by paranormal investigators is that of Neil Harvey, a sailor who is believed to have fallen asleep while on watch and been summarily sentenced to death by his captain—Commodore Truxtun. The means of Harvey’s death varies from story to story, but in the most widespread one he was tied across the muzzle of a cannon and blown to bits.
Yet another ghost who has been identified on USS Constellation is that of a young ship’s boy, who some investigators claim was stabbed to death by two sailors for unknown reasons.
A number of other named ghosts have been identified on board USS Constellation over the years. Beyond full and partial apparitions of various sorts, just about every other sort of paranormal phenomena has also been reported on board the historic vessel over the years, including orbs and phantasmal sounds.
With little doubt, USS Constellation is the most haunted vessel at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. It is by no means, however, the only one to have paranormal phenomena associated with it, and several others have gained similar reputations.
USCGC TANEY
Launched in 1936, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Taney is notable as being the last ship afloat that fought at Pearl Harbor during the surprise Japanese attack on Hawaii in 1941. That alone would warrant it having a few ghosts aboard, but its period of active service continued for many more years and the vessel was not decommissioned until 1986. USCGC Taney also served as command ship at the Battle of Okinawa and as a fleet escort in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during World War II, interdicted enemy supplies during the Vietnam War, patrolled in support of drug interdiction and fisheries protection, and joined in the search for lost aviator Amelia Earhart.
In chatting with people who work around the Inner Harbor, we learned that after USS Constellation, USCGC Taney is the local vessel with the greatest reputation for being haunted. Many staff of the vessel and visitors alike—especially those participating in overnight programs—have reported constantly catching movement out of the corners of their eyes when aboard and seeing spectral forms gliding across its decks and past its open hatchways.
USCGC Taney the last ship afloat that fought at Pearl Harbor, is believed to be one of the most haunted vessels at the Inner Harbor.
USS TORSK
This submarine had a phantasmal reputation long before any ghosts were seen onboard and was known during World War II as the “Galloping Ghost of the Japanese Coast,” where it preyed on enemy vessels. Commissioned in 1944, USS Torsk was active during the last year of the war and holds the distinction of destroying with its torpedoes the last Japanese warship sunk in World War II. It served thereafter primarily as a training vessel until 1971 and was brought to Baltimore and turned into a museum ship in 1972. During its career, USS Torsk set an all-time record for dives, a total of 11,884.
That record did not come without a price, however, and one of the tragedies associated with Torsk’s service involved a sailor who was left on deck when the submarine was forced to submerge. He reportedly drowned while trying to get back into the diving vessel and, since then, there have been people who believe his desperate spirit haunts the top deck of USS Torsk, forever trying to get back into it.
PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II
Another ship in the Inner Harbor that has a reputation for being haunted is Pride of Baltimore II, an authentic reproduction of a nineteenth-century clipper topsail schooner that sails around the world as a goodwill ambassador for the city of Baltimore. Its predecessor, the Pride of Baltimore, was sunk in 1986 in a legendary white squall in the waters north of Puerto Rico, claiming the lives of four crew members, including Captain Armin Elsaesser.
Today, a monument at the Inner Harbor memorializes these four, who also include Engineer Vincent Lazarro, Carpenter Barry Duckworth, and Seaman Nina Schack. Some people also claim that the spirits of these four former crew members of the Pride of Baltimore now haunt the decks and cabins of Pride of Baltimore II, possibly with the benign intent of helping those who have followed in their footsteps.
There are numerous other historic vessels operating in the water in and around the Inner Harbor, including lightships, tugboats, and the unique local vessels known as skipjacks, and many of them also have fascinating stories associated with them—and reputations for being haunted by the ghosts of former crewmen.
Spotlight on Ghosts: Fort McHenry
Just across the Inner Harbor is Fort McHenry, the object of the battle immortalized in Francis Scott Key’s The Star-Spangled Banner, America’s national anthem. A symbol of freedom when it prevented British invasion during the War of 1812, the fort came to represent oppression to many pro-Southern Marylanders when the Federal government occupied it and used it to help maintain its grip over the local area during the Civil War.
With such history and passions associated with Fort McHenry, it should not be too surprising that it has also long had a reputation for being one of the most haunted sites in a very haunted city. Over the years, all sorts of paranormal activity have been reported at Fort McHenry, including sightings of spectral figures on its earthen ramparts, disembodied voices, footsteps in empty areas, spots of unnatural cold, and furniture that levitates and otherwise moves around. Some investigators have even postulated that the fort’s shape—that of a five-pointed star—has some occult significance and might play a role in the preponderance of supernatural events that have occurred at the site.
A number of specific ghost stories have also been associated with the site and recounted in numerous articles, television shows, and Internet postings.
One of these involves the ghost of U.S. Army Lieutenant Levi Clagett, who, along with some of his men, was killed when a bomb burst not in the air but in their gun emplacement. Numerous people have seen walking along the top of the star point sometimes known as “Clagett’s Bastion” both a spectral figure and a man dressed in a uniform appropriate to the period at times when no costumed people were present in the fort.
Another named ghost associated with the site is that of Private John Drew, a soldier who was reportedly confined in one of the fort’s cells after he was caught sleeping while on guard duty and who, in shame, killed himself. His specter has been seen both in his cell and on the ramparts where he walked his last post, forever trying to correct the mistake that ended his military career and his life.
Some of the most dramatic paranormal events at the fort involve attacks on people by what has been variously described as a woman, a white figure, and an invisible entity that has reportedly done such things as push some people down stairs and knock others unconscious. Some believe this spirit is that of the wife of a noncommissioned officer assigned to the fort whose children died during an epidemic in the 1820s.
One ghosthunting group that recently visited the site and experienced things there is Maryland Tri-State Paranormal. Founder Ana Bruder told me that while they were there, her friend Laura suddenly said, “I feel like I am being watched.” Ana, who is sensitive to the presence of spirits, turned and saw the ghost of a uniformed soldier staring at her friend, just one of several spirits she detected while at the site.
Numerous other ghost stories and episodes of paranormal activity have also been associated with the site.
Many of the accounts of ghostly activity at Fort McHenry were originally reported by park rangers assigned to the site, and that
