Ghostly Sea Shanty

Sea shanties are a type of work song that once was commonly sung to accompany labor aboard sailing vessels. Actually, shanties were chanted more often than sung.

The word shanty or chanty was used first in the mid 19^th century in America. These chants were often used on merchant ships before, during, and after the Civil War.

Shanties reflected the popular music or folk songs of the time. They were sung on board when a task required a coordinated group effort, such as a pulling or pushing action--when weighing anchor or setting sail.

Pulling

African American slave songs that were sung while cotton was being loaded aboard vessels in the South influenced shanties. Here is one example.

Up a loft this yard must go.--refrain

Up a loft from down below.--refrain

Were you ever down in Mobile Bay?--refrain

A-hoisting * cotton by the day?--refrain

* The term "a-screwing" was used in another version.

One writer recounts a shanty being sung aboard a ship he traveled on in 1860.

“Every man sprang to duty--a cheerful shanty roared out and was heard above the gail. The cable held very hard and when it surged over, the windlass, sent the men flying about the deck . . .

The men now soaked and sweating yelled out hoarsely, their chant.”

Another writer’s description also reflects a shanty being chanted during bad weather.

“The wind was whistling through the rigging, loose ropes flying about, loud and, to me, unintelligible orders constantly given and rapidly executed, and the sailors “singing out” at the ropes in their hoarse and peculiar strains.”

Working the capstan

One sea shanty that was sung, The Ghostly Crew, reflects a wide held belief among seamen that if a vessel returns or crosses the spot where at one time sailors on board a vessel fell overboard and drowned--the ghosts of these lost sailors will climb aboard the passing ship.

I’ve tossed aboard on Georges, been fishing in the Bay,

Out south in early summer--must anywhere will pay.

I’ve been in different vessels to the Western Bank and Grand,

Likewise in herring vessels that sail to Newfoundland . . .

One night as we were sailing, we were off land away--

I shall never forget until my dying day--

It was in our dim dark watches I felt a chilly dread

Come over me as though I heard one calling from the dead.

Right o’er our rail came climbing, all silent, one by one,

A dozen dripping sailors. Just wait till I am done.

Their faces pale and sea-wet shone ghostly through the night.

Each fellow took his station as if he had a right.

They moved about before us till land did heave in sight--

Or, rather I should say so--the Light of Tower Light.

And then those ghostly sailors moved to the rail straightaway

And vanished like the misty scud before the break of day.

Then we sailed into harbor, and every mother’s son

Can tell you this same story, the same as I have done.

The trip before the other, we were on Georges then,

We ran down another vessel and sank her and her men.

Those were the same poor fellows--I hope to God rest their souls--

That our old craft ran under that night on Georges Shoals.

Well now my song is ended, it is just as I say,

I do believe in spirits--since that time anyway.

“The Banks” is a large underwater plateau in the Atlantic Ocean, which stretch 1,100 miles from Nantucket to the east and south of Newfoundland. These are the most famous cod fishing grounds in the world.

“Georges Bank” lies off Cape Cod. The “Western Bank” lies southeast of Nova Scotia. The “Grand Bank” lies south and east of Newfoundland.

Here is an effective modern twist on the traditional sea shanty Drunken Sailor.

Edmonton’s Felicia Graham

A former teacher has haunted Westmount Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for almost 100 years.

Felicia Graham

Felicia Graham briefly taught 9^th grade English at Westmount in 1918. She was the daughter of a wealthy farmer, George Graham, from Lindsay, Ontario.

She attended Toronto University College and graduated with a Master of Arts degree. She was a beauty with a fiery personality. She spoke several languages.

So it did not surprise her family when she announced she was moving west to Edmonton for a new adventure. But soon after moving to Edmonton, Felicia realized she had made a mistake.

Westmount Junior High School

She was miserable at Westmount. The reason for this was this position paid her $100 less than her former teaching position at a high school in New Westminster, B.C.

She also felt it was unfair that male teachers were paid more. In September of 1918, she secured a new position at Strathcona High at a salary that she was happy with.

But before she could begin this new position, the Spanish flu hit Edmonton. By October of 1918, all the schools were closed. Almost every family in Edmonton was touched by this epidemic.

The schools were used as makeshift hospitals during this outbreak and many female teachers were recruited to act as nurses.

When the schools were finally reopened in January of 1919, Felicia Graham did not report for duty. She was never seen alive again.

High Level Bridge

It was determined the last time she was seen was in November of 1918. She was spotted wearing a fur coat walking across the High Level Bridge.

Lamarchand Mansion
apartments

She had left the luxury apartment building where she lived--the Lamarchant Mansion--heading for a south side shelter where Edmonton victims of the flu were.

A witness saw her cross the bridge and stop in the middle, she then just disappeared. Did she jump? Or was she already dead, and it was her ghost this witness spotted?

Felicia’s father refused to believe his well-educated daughter would have taken her own life. He thought she had just left the city for a new adventure.

George Graham

He offered a reward of $500 for information leading to his daughter’s whereabouts. He published it in newspapers across Canada and in New England. There were many leads, but none of them led him to Felicia.

At the time, several theories to explain her disappearance were put forth. Some felt she had just left the city without notifying anyone. Others thought she might have left in shame--finding herself burdened with an unwanted pregnancy.

Some wondered if she had become ill with the flu and died but her family verified she had gotten the Spanish flu and recovered.

One theory even connected her to a local serial killer. James Watson lived in the Arlington apartments that were located between the Lamarchand Mansion apartments and the High Level Bridge.

He later preyed on wealthy women in California. He robbed and killed these women, dumping their bodies in a river. Could he have met Felicia when he lived in Edmonton?

To this day no one knows for sure what happened to Felicia Graham.

But many believe her ghost haunts the last school she worked at--Westminster Junior High. * She is seen wandering the school’s hallways, and her boots are heard clicking as she steps into her old classroom.

Others claim she haunts her apartment located at the Lamarchand Mansion. She is seen near this building as well.

Witnesses also report seeing her ghost walking along the riverbank near the Shaw Conference Centre.

Westmount Junior High School 

*  Another ghost is said to haunt Westminster Junior High. His name is Harold and he supposedly jumped from the school’s bell tower.

Time Slips: Phantom House and Vanishing Hotel Room

Time slips is a phenomenon where a person or persons witness scenes or objects apparently from another time period--predominantly in the past.

One case of a phantom house being seen happened near Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, England in 1926.

Bradfield St. George
church

Ruth Wynne had moved to the area recently to teach school. Wanting to explore her new home Wynne and a 14-year old pupil, a Miss Allington went for a walk from Rougham Green rectory toward Bradfield St. George church.

It was a cloudy day as the two women walked through a farmyard toward the road. Opposite them was a high brick wall and iron gates through which they saw a large Georgian house surrounded by tall trees.

Miss Wynne was surprised because no one had mentioned such a grand house being in the neighborhood. The two women unconcerned then proceeded to their destination the church which was only 300 feet away.

They returned home via a shortcut so they did not pass the stately house again.

It was a year later when both women walked the same footpath through the farmyard to the road but this time they where astonished to see there was no wall, iron gate or grand house.

Instead the area was overgrown with trees, weeds, plants and ponds. The two never saw the house again. They did research but where perplexed to find there was no record of a Georgian mansion existing in the area.

No one has been able to explain what the two women saw.

Another, more fanciful time slip story involves a mother and daughter whom are traveling together. This well-known legend is called The Vanishing Hotel Room.

They were returning from India and stopped at a hotel room in Paris. The mother fell ill so the daughter heads out to get some medicine for her mother.

When she finally returns to the hotel after hours of searching she does not recognize anyone and both the hotel room--they were staying in--and her mother have vanished.

In a classic ending it is stated the daughter never finds her mother or finds out what happens to her.

In another twist to the ending it is stated the daughter after a long investigation finds that the hotel management upon finding the mother has the plague has her moved from the hotel in order to avoid a public panic.

This story is cited in several books as a “true supernatural story.”  But this story is a classic example of folklore.

In a previous post the story of two English married couples in 1979 who stayed at an old-fashioned hotel in southern France on their way to Spain is shared. On the way back, the hotel that appeared to be from another era is no longer there.

Bold Street

The Bold Street, Liverpool time slip stories are also shared

In this post the Palace of Versailles time slip story is briefly mentioned. Both these stories are considered by some to be more credible and can be found here.

The Paul Bern-Jean Harlow House

Jean Harlow

Howard Hughes helped the young starlet Jean Harlow shoot to fame in Hollywood in the 1930s. He hired her to be the star of Hell’s Angels that was being converted to a talking picture.

Harlow quickly became Hollywood’s original “Blonde Bombshell.” On film, she eluded a smooth, sexy attitude.

Jean, who never dated her fellow actors, shocked the Hollywood community when she became romantically involved with Paul Bern, an MGM executive. Bern was short, slight of build and 22 years her senior.

Paul Bern and Jean Harlow

In several accounts of their courtship it is stated that Harlow pursued Bern and not the other way around.

The couple married in 1932. Rumors began to spread that their relationship was a tumultuous one.

Just four months after their marriage, Bern alone at the house that he had given to Harlow as a wedding present, was found dead by the butler. Jean had stayed overnight at her mother’s house.

Bern's body

He was found nude and lying on the floor dead from a bullet wound. He had bled all over Jean’s white bedroom. His body was drenched in Harlow’s favorite perfume.

A suicide note was found in the bedroom. Later one employee, Davis the gardener stated it was not Bern's handwriting. Bern's secretary, Mrs. Harrison, said she felt it was a murder.

There was also a female bathing suit and two wine glasses left with a blood spot at the edge of the swimming pool--so it appeared Bern had entertained someone at the home after he had sent Jean to stay with her mother a second time in just two days.

Curiously, Harlow was not called to testify at the inquest into Bern’s death. Right after the murder, the police were told she was “too hysterical” to undergo questioning. 

Several accounts state Harlow supposedly tried to commit suicide after she heard the news.

The butler after discovering the body actually called MGM before the police, so the studio execs Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg arrived first to the scene.

At one point Mayer even took the suicide note--in an attempt to protect Harlow, but the man in charge of the studio’s public relations, Howard Strickling convinced him to turn it over to the police.

The official version.
Click to enlarge

Quickly, rumors spread that Bern had not committed suicide but had actually been murdered by his unstable ex-girlfriend, Dorothy Millette, who he still supported financially. She committed suicide after his death.

Was it a suicide, or was it murder? This remains a mystery.

Tragically, Harlow died just 5 years after Bern’s death in 1937 at the age of 26 from uremic poisoning. Rumors after stated that Bern had beaten her and injured her kidney causing it to fail five years later.

Bern-Harlow House

Subsequent owners of the Bern-Harlow house all have felt the ghosts of both Bern and Harlow haunt the place.

Sharon Tate

In one well know sighting Sharon Tate saw what she believed to be the ghost of Paul Bern. A struggling actress at the time, Tate was dating a Hollywood hairdresser, Jay Sebring.

Sebring had bought the Bern Harlow house in the mid-1960s. He was the real-life character that Warren Beatty’s character was based upon in the film Shampoo.

Tate staying in Harlow’s old bedroom awoke to see the apparition of Paul Bern. He was not aware of her and instead wandered around the room apparently in search of something.

She quickly left the room. As she walked down the stairs, she stopped halfway down. She was shocked to see Sebrings' apparition now tied to the stair rail.

He was bleeding from several slashes to his throat and appeared to be struggling to stay alive.

Jay Sebring

After this, when Tate and Sebring were murdered by Charles Mansion’s followers in 1969, many stated that Tate’s sighting was a premonition--a warning of what was to come--because when the murdered Sebring was found he was tied to a stair rail.

The Bern Harlow house still stands. It is located at 9820 Eastern Drive in Benedict Canyon, Beverly Hills.

The following brief video talks about the Bern-Harlow, Tate-Sebring stories, and the hauntings.