Random Ship Crewmen Describe Creepiest Experiences They've Had Out On Ocean (17 items)

• (#2) They Discovered A Floating Skull

  From Redditor /u/Lake_Throwaway:

  Two friends [and I]... rented a boat on Lake Okeechobee in Florida. We get a 30-foot pontoon boat that had a cover, although there was no cabin or anything under the main deck. It was winter in South Florida so it was cool but not cold, so we decided to just sleep on the boat instead of setting up a camp. We planned on spending three days and two nights on the lake. We spent our time drinking, fishing, and playing games.

  On the second night I woke up, still drunk from our previous activities, but my senses were on overdrive and I just felt aware of something. I was sleeping toward the back of the boat while my friends were at the front. It was eerily calm with no waves in the water.

  We were about 250 feet from shore with land on our port side. I started scanning the tree line looking for... something. Nothing on land, so I scanned the water on the port side. Nothing. So I scanned the water aft of the boat. Nothing. I didn't want to disturb my friends up front, so I scanned the water on the starboard side. That's when I saw it: a skull floating in the water with just the eye sockets and part of the nasal cavity sitting there in the water, looking right at me about 50 feet away.

  An immediate sense of dread took me; it was the most scared I'd ever been in my life. Then an even worse feeling took over: calmness and the sudden urge to jump in the water. I had the notion that I would be at home and at peace if I just jumped into the water. Before I could act on it, I think one of my friends stirred in their sleep because I heard a beer bottle start rolling near the front of the boat.

  This snapped me out of it and the feeling of dread returned. I yelled at them to get up while I moved to start the engines. One didn't respond at all while the other drunkenly told me to f*ck off. I yelled again that I'm not f*cking around, and nothing. I was about to pull the starter on the engine/yell again at my friends when I heard something. I froze and listened closely... a very faint splashing sound was slowly getting closer.

  I forget about yelling at my friends and focused on starting the engine. I pulled and pulled and pulled on the starter, and nothing. In between the pulls, I heard the splashing getting closer but I didn't dare look in the direction of the noise. Finally, the engine started and I punched it out of there. I must have gone 30 miles before I came to a stop to conserve fuel. Until the sun rose and my friends woke up, I spent the rest of the night scanning the waters just in case.

  I had to make up a bullsh*t excuse to explain to my friends why we were so far away from our previous spot. I wanted to tell them, but I doubt they would believe me. When I got home I did some research, and apparently Native American tribes possibly used the lake as a burial ground, plus there are thought to be the bodies of many victims of hurricanes throughout the decades lying in the lake. Fishermen have found many human bones over the years.

  This was over six years ago and I have yet to set foot near any body of water larger than my shower. No lakes, oceans, rivers, water parks, pools, hot tubs, nothing. I don't blame you if you don't believe some random guy on the internet. Many times I tried to write it off as my drunk self seeing things. However, I can't write off the feeling of wanting to jump into the water with something, real or not, that struck me with terror just a moment ago. Thinking about that feeling of wanting to go into the water with whatever was out there chills me to this day.
• (#14) They Came Upon A Burned-Out Boat

  From Redditor /u/sh*tterplug:

  My buddy and I were about 20 miles west of the Lower Keys, in the Gulf of Mexico. We were on his Bertram looking for dolphins and wahoo when we saw a boat in the distance heading our direction. We weren't under power or anything, just drifting and drinking beer. The boat got closer and we saw smoke. It was pretty much a burned-out cabin at that point, but still running. It just idled by.

  We yanked our lines up and ran it down. Luckily, no charred [bodies] (that I could see). I kicked it into neutral... and we decided to see where it came from. On the way we reported its location to the Coast Guard. We drove that general direction for probably 10 miles. Didn't see a single thing. No other boats, no life jackets, nothing. Hopefully the people who were on that boat were picked up safety. It was like something from [a zombie movie]. Just a burned-out boat floating on by...
• (#3) The Sky Was Bright As Day At Midnight

  From Redditor /u/Randy_shackelsFord:

  I was an ABE [US Navy aviation boatswain's mate - equipment] on board a carrier in the middle of the ocean somewhere. We launched the last bird of the night and started wrapping everything up topside. It was midnight, and pitch black out. [We used] only the light from the stars, and the dim yellow tinted lights off the island. My goggles were scratched to sh*t, so everything was just foggy and dark.

  Out of nowhere, it was as bright as day for a few seconds. Caught off guard, I looked up... in the sky and saw a massive f*cking white light with a long... trail of fire. It looked almost like a jet with full afterburners shooting flames, but was so f*cking massive, it just couldn't be a bird. I started thinking it was just a big f*cking [incendiary device].

  [It] eventually went behind some clouds for about five seconds, then we saw it again. This time you could see the fire forming around the front of the sphere-shaped thing. It was so massive in size, and going so fast, it didn't take but a few seconds to go across the whole horizon of sea. Two weeks later in port we saw that a big comet struck Russia. Not sure it's even possible for something like that to stay in orbit for two weeks... but it was definitely a weird thing to see.
• (#6) A Shark Was Looking For A Snack

  From Redditor /u/gtaguy75:

  We did a man overboard drill on the way to Hawaii that included throwing a dummy into the water.

  I went portside to see the experience in less than one minute, and by the time I reached the water there was already an 8-foot shark waiting near the dummy.
• (#12) A Ghost Ship Appeared To Pursue Them Along The California Coast

  From Redditor /u/sodiumcanine:
   
  Offshore from the Northern California coast [it] was foggy and creepy warm for some reason, [with] lots of green glow in the water casting weird shadows.

  I swore I heard and saw a Gold Rush paddle wheeler off in the distance [following] us.
• (#13) They Never Figured Out What Was Next To Their Boat

  From a former Redditor:

  [I] woke up at 3 am to a search-and-rescue alarm (former Coastie). I booked it to the boat, we launched, and ended up cruising along for a few hours. Everything was pitch black.

  One of the crew members was looking over the side at the bioluminescent algae kicked up by our wake and said he saw something big roll over in our wake. We explained it... was probably a shark, and about 15 minutes later a deep fog set in. The fog was reflecting our running lights, so it looked like we were in a hallway or tunnel...

  Everyone got a little more tense. We started keeping a close eye on the GPS, then the fathometer alarm went off. We were in 5 feet of ocean. The alarm stopped. We were in 300 feet, then 3, then 250, then 6 feet. Something was swimming very close to the bottom of our boat.

  It was such an eerie experience. We never figured out what it was, perhaps whales? Or the kraken.

  We got to the boat we were rescuing and everything else was uneventful. There's something wonderful about being on the ocean in the middle of the night, but things can be very strange too.

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