menu Home chevron_right
NEWS & CULTURE

True Unexplained Stories of Ghost Ships

Joe Scott | October 16, 2026



Be the first to see my new documentary feature Oldest and Newest Places On Earth on Nebula! Sign up at http://www.nebula.tv/joescott and get 50% off your annual subscription.

The ocean is wide and mysterious, and for hundreds of years, sailors, explorers, and merchants have disappeared beneath the waves or met mysterious ends on their ships. These tales have been passed down and become part of seafaring folklore and superstition. But they all have wild back stories that boggle the mind to this day.

Want to support the channel? Here’s how:

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/answerswithjoe
Channel Memberships: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-2YHgc363EdcusLIBbgxzg/join
T-Shirts & Merch: https://laughsmarter.com
Book of Mysteries: https://a.co/d/0gRx0qvM
Documentary: https://nebula.tv/oldestnewest

Check out my 2nd channel, Joe Scott TMI:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqi721JsXlf0wq3Z_cNA_Ew

And my podcast channel, Conversations With Joe:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJzc7TiJ2nnuyJkUpOZ8RKA

You can listen to my podcast, Conversations With Joe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Spotify 👉 https://spoti.fi/37iPGzF
Apple Podcasts 👉 https://apple.co/3j94kfq
Google Podcasts 👉 https://bit.ly/3qZCo1V

Follow me at all my places!
Instagram: https://instagram.com/answerswithjoe
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@answerswithjoe
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/answerswithjoe
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/answerswithjoe

LINKS LINKS LINKS
https://youtu.be/T-wQmE3jY4c?si=EhfbJkmDnmszUb4W
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Flying-Dutchman
https://spongebob.fandom.com/wiki/Flying_Dutchman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman#Adaptations
https://youtu.be/KpQB-lirq7A?si=fpZqTSj0lAhjMs2H
https://www.historyextra.com/period/general-history/ghost-ships-famous-stories-list/
https://archive.org/details/dontshootalbatro0000eyer/page/70/mode/2up?q=Fokke
https://archive.org/details/sim_blackwoods-magazine_1821-05_9_50/mode/2up
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/red-sunrise-jacob-w/a/flying-dutchman-myth
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00253359.2025.2578096
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtCgZmdzWNE
https://archive.org/stream/cruiseofhermajes01albeuoft/cruiseofhermajes01albeuoft_djvu.txt
https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/trouble-prince-eddy-albert-victor-lost-king-brother-george-v-jack-ripper/
https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/el-caleuche-the-mythical-ghost-ship-haunting-chilean-seas/
https://www.gochile.cl/en/articles/6-myths-and-legends-of-chiloe-southern-chile.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilote_mythology
http://www.historydefined.net/ghost-ship-octavius/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article/in-search-of-the-origin-of-an-antarctic-ghost-ship-the-legend-of-the-jenny-reevaluated/2D88EE4809DBEB54676E3904A48C3A78
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fn5msf/eli5_how_did_ships_keep_warm/
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82014742/1828-12-18/ed-1/seq-4/ocr/
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/756
https://bermudatrianglecentral.blogspot.com/2013/11/ourang-medan.html
https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/ghost-ship-legends-the-mysterious-fate-of-the-ss-ourang-medan-ghost-ship-1940/
https://skittishlibrary.co.uk/the-myth-of-the-ourang-medan-ghost-ship-1940/
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/3zgzv3/pretty_sure_ive_solved_the_mystery_of_the_ss_ourang_medan/
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/PHS/PHS.aspx?phsid=254&toxid=47
https://tragedies-of-the-sea.blogspot.com/2024/08/silvio-scherli.html
https://archive.org/details/Piccolo_1933-02-05/page/n1/mode/2up?q=%22silvio+Scherl%22
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/09/australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-04-21/abandoned-yacht-towed-to-townsville/2528348
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ao21an/the_kaz_ii_mystery_three_men_went_missing/
https://youtu.be/QxBnaMGP2aY?si=kulRa1Ee6CtBLsFC&t=32
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/baychimo
https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/franklin-expedition-canadian-artic-1845/
https://www.hakluyt.com/downloadable_files/Journal/Rondeau_Franklin.pdf
https://maritimearchaeologytrust.org/6829-viiyrz/
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-18823
https://explorersweb.com/exploration-mysteries-baychimo-ghost-ship/
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/12/ss-baychimo-unsinkable-ghost-ship.html
https://abc7chicago.com/post/ghost-ship-fj-king-found-lake-michigan-baileys-harbor-wisconsin-underwater-archeology-association-says/17860463/

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Intro
2:21 – Supernatural Tales
7:54 – Legends
15:38 – Documented History
23:02 – Sponsor – Nebula

Written by Joe Scott

Comments

This post currently has 31 comments.

  1. @Unbound_Selrahc

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    The statement of “no ship has been lost there since gps happened” in regards to the Bermuda Triangle is just false and misleading. There have been many disappearances, but the number has dropped dramatically since gps and satellite tracking, etc etc.
    However, even with all those modern implementations, all manner of craft can have issues in the triangle and its rarely coincides with weather or whatnot like a lot of the older stories about the location.

  2. @Arc115YT

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    Calling your ship the "Terror" or the "Erebus" is just asking for trouble lmao

    Erebus in particular; in Greek mythology, Erebus is the personification of darkness. It is also the name of the first area of the underworld that the dead must pass through after dying.

  3. @johnscanlon2598

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    the crew of the octavious could have used seal and whale oil to stay warm , if they had the means to get them which i’m sure they would have , edit , a human body would burn a long time as well ,

  4. @Elcore

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    19:58 This explains why when Donnie smashes the big "Diet Coke Now" button on his desk, a perfectly chilled can of Diet Coke materialises from the ether in front of him, humming calmly until the one who wishes to pay with his soul grasps it with his tiny fingers.

    My ghost ship desk is from a weak Filipino oil tanker that split in half due to corruption. I can make it conjure half a cursed pot noodle on a good day bro. Its mana is f*cking weak compared to that ice prison Victorian sh*t, homes.

  5. @kereenaEm

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    In my Estonian heritage, there’s the legend of the White Ship (Valge Laev). This mystical vessel supposedly appears to those in despair, promising a journey to a better world. Many who seek it never return, yet the tale endures as a symbol of hope, escape, and the yearning for something beyond the ordinary.

  6. @markrook6085

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    The Spanish galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos, carrying a large cargo of beeswax from Manila to Acapulco was blown off course by a storm in 1693 and wrecked along the northern Oregon coast near Manzanita. It was missing for over 300 years before chunks of beeswax, porcelain, and other items found washed up on the beach confirmed it’s identity, in 2022.

  7. @takeyourpick4855

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    Canadian here with maritimer heritage!
    I always go to visit a monument dedicated to the Caroline – a ship that was found beached in Baxter's harbour, Nova Scotia with 5 frozen bodies on board in the early 1800s. It was a ship that lead a life of misfortune. My family has a house nearby, from which we hike along the shore to read the monument at least once with every visit. I have always wondered what it was about the ship that made it so unlucky, as well as what befell the people on that tragic voyage that lead to such a tragedy.
    Unfortunately, it was a small ship and not very famous, so there's not a lot more to the story, but it's personal to me and my family, and it will always be my favorite ghost ship.

  8. @RevPirateDan

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    There was a book about the expedition of The Erebus and The Terror.

    It is a very rare combination of fact and fiction.

    On the one hand, it is very much based on the actual expedition.The characters — not just the officers, but all of them — bore the same names as the actual crew complement. And where facts were available from their earlier lives, they were in the book, including noting that Lieutenant Graham Gore of the Erebus has previously sailed on the HMS Beagle. Yes, with Charles Darwin.

    On the other hand, in the books, the crew are stalked and many killed by a giant polar bear spirit / demon. Which evidence suggests did NOT happen.

    Back on the first hand, everything but the supernatural stuff was excruciatingly well-researched (I've never read a fiction book with an acknowledgments at the end that included what was essentially a page-long bibliography. In the book, the canned emergency rations were largely contaminated with botulism. We don't know if that's true, but the company that we know supplied those cans IRL was accused (and, I think, convicted) of providing multiple other expeditions (who lived and returned with the proof) with contaminated cans.

    And, in fact, though the book was written in 2007, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror were eventually FOUND in 2014 and 2016 respectively, pretty close to where author Dan Simmons had them, in the book, abandoned to be crushed by the ice and swallowed in Wilmot and Crampton Bay and Terror Bay. (You can guess which shipwreck is where, it's not a trick.)

    Not normally the kind of book I read, but I really enjoyed it and, if the above sounds at all interesting to you, I recommend it. (Honestly, in a book where I'd expect the supernatural part to be the most interesting to me, it was largely the least interesting to me, much to my surprise.)

  9. @shelby8101

    October 16, 2026 at 11:20 am

    I read The Terror over the course of a week sitting on a beach in St. Lucia. It was so odd to be reading about these freezing temperatures while sitting by the ocean on sunny days. I always associate The Terror with my awesome trip 😂

Leave a Reply





This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play