USS Yorktown

This WWII aircraft carrier earned 12 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation before being decommissioned in 1970 and becoming a museum at Patriots Point. The ship's wartime service left more than just memories aboard.

The USS Yorktown (CV-10) is an Essex-class aircraft carrier that served in some of the most brutal naval engagements of the Pacific Theater during World War II. Commissioned on April 15, 1943 -- named in honor of the original USS Yorktown sunk at the Battle of Midway -- the Fighting Lady, as she became known, participated in operations across the Pacific from 1943 to 1945, earning eleven battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. She later served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War before being decommissioned in 1970. In total, 141 men died aboard the Yorktown during her years of service. The United States Navy donated the carrier to the Patriots Point Development Authority in 1974, and she has been a museum ship at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant ever since.

The paranormal activity aboard the Yorktown has been documented extensively and is considered some of the most credible in the Charleston area, given the number of independent witnesses and the controlled environment of a museum ship. The most common report is phantom footsteps echoing through empty compartments and corridors deep within the vessel. Visitors and museum staff hear distinct, purposeful footsteps -- the cadence of sailors walking their rounds -- from areas of the ship that are confirmed empty. The footsteps often come from above or below the witness, as if the crew is still moving between decks on duties that ended decades ago.

Disembodied voices are frequently reported throughout the carrier's labyrinth of corridors, engine rooms, and crew quarters. Staff members have heard conversations, commands, and even laughter from compartments that are sealed off from the public. The ghosts aboard the Yorktown are said to be quite talkative, with some witnesses describing clear, audible speech that fades before the words can be understood.

The most dramatic accounts involve full apparitions identifiable as members of the ship's crew. Museum staff have reported seeing figures in World War II-era Navy uniforms walking the passageways and disappearing around corners or through bulkheads. One of the most well-known incidents involves a Boy Scout troop in the 1980s who participated in an overnight camping program aboard the Yorktown. Throughout the night, the scouts reported seeing life-like figures in World War II sailor uniforms patrolling the halls around them -- figures that walked with purpose, acknowledged no one, and vanished when followed.

The ship's lower decks -- particularly the engine room, the sick bay, and the areas near the brig -- are considered the most active locations. Shadow figures have been observed moving through the machinery spaces, and investigators have recorded electronic voice phenomena in areas where casualties occurred during combat operations. Cold spots appear and disappear in the steel corridors, and visitors have reported the smell of diesel fuel, gunpowder, and cigarette smoke in compartments that have been clean and empty for decades.

Today Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum offers ghost tours of the Yorktown almost every night of the year, providing exclusive access to parts of the vessel that are off-limits during regular museum hours. A book by Bruce and Kayla Orr, Ghosts of the USS Yorktown: The Phantoms of Patriots Point, documents decades of paranormal encounters aboard the ship. For the 141 men who died aboard the Fighting Lady, the ship may still be their duty station -- a vessel they served on in life and, it seems, have never left.