Lake Bomoseen’s Phantom Rowboat

Even the simplest unexplained activity can cause terror *, especially when the same sight is seen for over a century and a half.

Abandoned industrial site.

In the mid-1800s Castleton, Vermont was a booming mining town with several mills and a quarry.

By the early 1900s, the town had slid into a financial decline. Castleton by the early 1920s was abandoned.

In 1929, the area became Lake Bomoseen State Park. Years before this, the lake already had a firm reputation for being haunted.

Lake Bomoseen at sunset.

The cause for this was connected to three Irish quarry workers that lived in the area during its boom years.

One night, these three men rowed across the lake to visit a local tavern to celebrate and drink.

After they left this bar drunk, they were never seen again. It was believed they must have drowned in the lake, on their way home.

Their bodies were never found. But their rowboat was discovered several days later when it drifted ashore.

This incident would not be remembered today—except for the strange sight it caused.

One artist's depiction of the phantom rowboat.

Ever since the loss of these three men, witnesses have claimed to see a strange rowboat gliding across the lake—especially if there is a full moon.

The boat is described as empty and completely quiet.

People report seeing the oars rowing, but what is creepy, is they don’t see anyone in the boat. Even scarier is none of these witnesses heard a splash as the oars hit the water.

Also strange is there is no ripple on the surface of the water as the rowboat passes.

So are these three men doomed to row this boat for eternity?

*  People don’t need to experience a lot of activity for it to be frightening. 

When I was in high school, every time I was alone at home, a lamp in our den would turn on by itself. It never happened when others were there.

My family had it checked. There was not an electrical short etc. But this pattern of it happening when I was alone in the house—freaked me out.