Spooky Ghost Ships

From shadowy sails just visible through the mist to shipwrecks that aren't as still as you'd think ... ghost ships can be quite frightful. Discover all that these creepy ships have to offer.

Tales about ghost ships have been told for centuries around the world. Explore the truth behind the stories in this fascinating book—but beware: discover at your own risk!

Have you ever seen something mysterious out on the water? Or heard of an eerie ghost ship that appears suddenly and then vanishes without a trace? Learn about famous ghost ship sightings all over the world, and find out what historians have to say about these spooky vessels.

The past is full of mysterious events. How did ancient people build pyramids. What is Stonehenge for? Maybe the explanations for these events are simple ... or maybe there's something strange going on. Explore history's mysteries through closely level text, dynamic imagery, and visual infographics.

A flaming ship appears on the horizon. It sails closer and closer to land, when suddenly, it vanishes! With engaging research, maps, and easy-to-read infographics, this high-interest title explores the spooky history of phantom ships. A special profile tells of a famous example, while diagrams explain the science behind the technology used to investigate these occurrences. Readers will be left wondering, are these ships just a trick of the light? Or do ghosts truly haunt the seas?

On December 4th, 1872, a 100-foot brigantine was discovered drifting through the North Atlantic without a soul on board. Not a sign of struggle, not a shred of damage, no ransacked cargo—and not a trace of the captain, his wife and daughter, or the crew. What happened on board the ghost ship Mary Celeste has baffled and tantalized the world for 130 years. In his stunning new book, award-winning journalist Brian Hicks plumbs the depths of this fabled nautical mystery and finally uncovers the truth. The Mary Celeste was cursed as soon as she was launched on the Bay of Fundy in the spring of 1861. Her first captain died before completing the maiden voyage. In London she accidentally rammed and sank an English brig. Later she was abandoned after a storm drove her ashore at Cape Breton. But somehow the ship was recovered and refitted, and in the autumn of 1872 she fell to the reluctant command of a seasoned mariner named Benjamin Spooner Briggs. It was Briggs who was at the helm when the Mary Celeste sailed into history. In Brian Hicks’s skilled hands, the story of the Mary Celeste becomes the quintessential tale of men lost at sea. Hicks vividly recreates the events leading up to the crew’s disappearance and then unfolds the complicated and bizarre aftermath—the dark suspicions that fell on the officers of the ship that intercepted her; the farcical Admiralty Court salvage hearing in Gibraltar; the wild myths that circulated after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published a thinly disguised short story sensationalizing the mystery. Everything from a voodoo curse to an alien abduction has been hauled out to explain the fate of the Mary Celeste. But, as Brian Hicks reveals, the truth is actually grounded in the combined tragedies of human error and bad luck. The story of the Mary Celeste acquired yet another twist in 2001, when a team of divers funded by novelist Clive Cussler located the wreck in a coral reef off Haiti. Written with the suspense of a thriller and the vivid accuracy of the best popular history, Ghost Ship tells the unforgettable true story of the most famous and most fascinating maritime mystery of all time.

In South Carolina, a man dressed in grey walks along the beach. Is it someone going for a stroll? Or could it be a ghostly omen that warns residents of an oncoming storm? In this title, reluctant readers will explore ghost stories of North America. Creepy images and engaging text pull readers in, and additional special features connect stories to different cultures, highlight scientific explanations, and show the origins of these frightening fables.

The ghost ship The Flying Dutchman has been spotted around the world for centuries. According to legend, this spooky ship is doomed to roam the seas forever, unable to make port. The ship is thought to be a bad omen for anyone who encounters it. Dating back to the 1600s, alleged sightings of the legendary ghost ship continue to this day.