This ghost story is particularly fascinating not just for its remarkable story line but because it did not happen in a faraway, dark castle or an old, Victorian mansion. This haunting occurred in a most unlikely place. The ghost appeared in a sophisticated, swank aeroplane a jumbo jet airliner. It all started when a spanking new aeroplane, the L-1011, was introduced in the United States. It was a new, wide bodied jumbo generation plane, the first of its kind to take to the skies. It was the pride of America's Eastern Airlines. They were the first to have it and Eastern Airlines claimed it was the most quiet, cleanest plane in the sky a master piece of modern engineering. All those who flew it, worked on it and sat in it as passengers agreed with the Airline. But each of these state of the art giant, metal birds came at a huge price a whopping twenty million megabucks a piece. But as expensive as they were, they were not accident proof. On the unfortunate night of 29 December 1972, one such plane code named Flight #401, carrying 176 passengers, all still in the festive Christmas mood, never made it to its scheduled landing at Miami International Airport. Flight #401 crashed just 20 miles from its destination. The metal bird plunged into a swampy wasteland called the Florida everglades. 101 passengers died in the crash. Many of them drowned in ridiculously shallow water because they were strapped to their seats. It was the worst single aircraft crash in American history. And finding the bodies among the wreckage of the plane in the wet, swampy wasteland was painfully slow.
When the bodies were found, many were ripped with strange, long slashes. It was only much later they realised these ribbon like wounds were caused by the edges of the Florida saw grass There were horror stories behind the bodies that were found. One pregnant woman had her fetus pushed so far up from her womb, it ended up in her chest cavity a sight rescue workers had never seen before and struggled to cope with. But the burning question was why the tragedy took place at all. Investigators simply could not pinpoint the reason. And to make matters worse, both the Captain of the plane, Captain Loft, and his second in command, Second Officer, Don Repo, were both killed in the crash. They were the two key technical people who could have shed some light on what happened on the plane just before it crashed. ironically, it was the ghostly events that were to later follow the tragedy of Flight #401 that gave authorities the strongest clues. A few months after the crash, rumours flew among the airlines circles of ghost appearing on Eastern Airlines planes. Pilots and flight attendants as far as Scandinavia were talking about these stories. Although many flight attendants were also killed, the stories were only about two ghostly figures the Captain of the plane, Captain Loft and his second in command, Second Officer, Don Repo. The stories claimed the apparitions of the two men would appear suddenly and disappear just as suddenly. The ghostly figures were clear, solid and identifiable and seen by pilots, flight engineers, flight attendants and passengers alike.
Most of these spooky stories centered around a plane code named Flight #318, although there were a few strange stories about other similar new L-1011s. But most of the stories revolved around one particular area of Flight #318 the galley. The galley area is situated on the lower deck of the plane, where all the food to be served to passengers is stored and heated. It is really a narrow, long corridor with stainless steel ovens on both sides of the corridor. The flight attendants, usually working in pairs, heat up the food and send it up to the rest of the crew using two small lifts that connect the galley to the upper deck of the plane, where all the passengers are seated.Most flight attendants will tell you being assigned to work in the galley is a bonus. Its a quiet, cosy area, with soft lights that come from the lighting panels that spread across the entire ceiling. They work at their own pace, loading up the carts full of trays on to the two, small elevators. Their job id hassle free compared to their colleagues on the upper deck who have to cater to the never ending demands of passengers. But when the ghost stories started to surface, many flight attendants refused to go down and work in the galley alone. many others simply begged not to be posted on galley duty. The company reacted very sternly to all these stories. Any employee who went to the company with a story on a ghostly sighting was promptly bundled off to see the company psychiatrist. The workers were convinced it was the first step to being fired; so most employees who saw anything strange or spooky, despite being frightened and confused, simply refused to speak about it officially. But it still did not stop the ghostly stories from circulating. new, fresh chilling stories would surface every few weeks and spread like wild fire. it got to the point where even the American press started to report the stories in the newspapers.
then it started pulsating in a strange way. She was confused but quickly the confusion turned to raw fear, fear of the unknown. Her first instinct was to flee from there. She pressed the lift button again before she turned to her left to keep an eye on the strange formation. The 'cloud' was now the size of a slightly elongated basketball. It was beginning to form into a thicker, much more solid shape. Her mind was now a blur of confusion. She wasn't sure what to do, and the thing was still growing larger. She pushed the elevator button again. This time harder than before and she turned her face away. 'Perhaps,' she said to herself, 'if I don't look at it, it might go away.' Then she pushed the lift button again, still harder than she did before. The lift still did not come. She could still see the shape out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to look and not look at the same time. It was more pronounced than ever. by now she could feel her heart began to thump furiously and the blood rush to her head. She looked again. There was no question about it now. It was clearly forming into a face, half solid, half misty. She could not believe her eyes. Her mouth went dry and her legs began to wobble. but just then she heard the lift door above slam shut. It was finally on its way down. She swallowed hard and tried to steady her nerves. She knew she had to hold it together. The lift seemed to take an eternity to get down to her. But finally it did come. All along she knew she should not look at the strange formation to her left if she wanted to remain sane. but just as the lift reached lower galley level and the door slowly opened, she could not help herself, she shot one last, final look at the figure again.
The three dimensional image had formed a complete, clear face, a face with dark hair, grey at the sides, with steel rimmed glasses. There was no question it was a face, and no question it was wearing glasses. The image was now sharp and clear. Initially she had passed the thing off as condensation. But the evidence was now staring her straight in the face. She let out a gasp of horror and blinked in disbelief. She looked again. Yes, it was still there. The face was looking right back at her. She turned and fled into the elevator. She was so frightened and upset by then, her whole body shook uncontrollably. By the time she got to the upper deck she was bathed in sweat, cold sweat. Yet when she got up there, she was too afraid to tell anybody what had happened. She was afraid people would think she was a nut. It was months before she confided in anyone about what she had seen. She did not know the dead pilot and his second in command. But when she later went through their records, her jaw dropped open when she saw the photo of Don Repo. It was identical to the face she had seen down in the galley. But she wasn't alone in experiencing strange happenings in the galley. Some flight attendants experienced a great, cold shill suddenly come over the normally warm and cosy galley. Yet others felt the strong presence of someone else in the galley when they were actually alone there. But nothing comes close to the experience of a flight attendant when she opened the door in one of the galley oven compartments.
The face of Don Repo stared back at her. On another occasion, a crew of caterers boarded the plane to load on food trays when a sudden commotion broke out and they fled from the plane. No amount of persuasion could get them to go back in. When they were finally calmed, they swore black and blue they had seen a ghost. A uniformed officer standing in the galley simply 'evaporated' before their eyes. In the next few months, more such incidents were to follow. And they were not confined to the galley area. Infact, one of the most eerie incidents was experienced by senior crew members and half a dozen passengers in the first class sectin of the plane. Once again it occurred on Flight #318. The plane was heading from Newark to Miami. The flight crew had followed the routine drill. The normal preflight check was done before take off. The Second Officer completed his walk around and the Captain and First Officer were in their seats in the cockpit attending to flight safety measures. In the cabins, the flight attendants prepared the plane for boarding. The crew of caterers loaded fresh food containers in the lower galley, and finally all was set. Moments later the passengers, almost 200 of them were boarded, directed to their seats, and settled in for a smooth flight on the luxury jet. In the first class section the senior flight attendant, S, was making her routine head count when she found her count was off. She had one additional passenger she shouldn't have had. She went back over the seats to double check and spotted the problem soon enough. There was an Eastern Airline pilot in uniform in one of the seats.
She immediately assumed he was 'dead heading' back to Miami. That was the term airline crew used when a pilot flew a plane to a certain destination, then flew back as passenger on another plane to his original take off station. It was a very common practice, and at times these pilots would ride in the jump seat, the spare seat in the plane used by the airline crew, after sitting in first class for the first part of the trip. But she still had to confirm this. S approached the pilot with her list. 'Excuse me, captain,' she said as she bent over him, 'but are you jump seat riding this trip? I don't have you on my list.' The captain did not respond. he stared straight ahead. 'I beg your pardon, captain,' she repeated. 'I've got to check you off either as a jump seat or first class passenger. Could you help me?' He did not even flinch. He simply continued to stare blankly ahead. S was puzzled by his reaction. She called the flight supervisor, D, to the first class cabin hoping she could clear up the confusion. When D joined her, she too was just as surprised by the pilot's strange behavior. He looked perfectly normal in every way. Yet he seemed as if he was in a daze. It worried both of them. They were at a loss as to what to do. Finally S decided to get the help of the Flight Captain himself. She went into the cockpit and laid out her problem to the Captain. Perhaps he would be able to get a response from one of his colleagues where she couldn't. The Flight Captain raised his eyebrows in surprise when he was told what had happened. He knew there was no record of another Eastern Airline captain listed as a jump seat passenger, and S told him the pilot did not seem to be holding a pass for the flight either.
He shrugged to indicate he would give it a shot and followed S out into the first class compartment. There were about half a dozen passengers in the immediate vicinity of the silent pilot, all rather curious about what was going on. The flight captain approached the seat, anxious to sort out the problem so the flight would not be delayed. With both the senior flight attendant and the flight supervisor beside him, he leaned down to address the other captain. Then he froze. 'My God, its Bob Loft,' he said. A hushed silence fell all around. The crew were stunned. Bob Loft was the Flight Captain who went down in the Everglades. Just at that moment something so extraordinary happened, no one that saw it could quite explain it. The captain in the first class seat simply wasn't there anymore. He was there one moment and not there the next. The Flight Captain was so stunned, he returned to the operations office in the airport to tell them about the incident that he himself could hardly believe had happened. There was a long delay. The plane was searched from top to bottom. But the missing pilot simply could not be found. Almost one and a half hours later, Flight #318 finally lumbered down the runaway for take off, its passenger count now checked and balanced, but with a stunned group of passengers and crew on board. A few months after that shockingly eerie event, another hair raising incident occurred. This time the police had to be called in. An eyewitness who appeared on the scene was Captain M.
It was one o'clock in the morning. Captain M had just flown in a Boeing 727 into Phoenix, Arizona. When he pulled up his plane in the airport ramp, he noticed something unusual beside him. There was an L-1011 belonging to Eastern Airlines parked beside him on the tramp. But several police cars had the plane surrounded, their rotating lights whirling around on top of the hood of their cars. That was not a common sight in any airport. Captain M was extremely curious to know why the police had the plane cordoned off. Once he had safely deplaned, he went over to the scene to find out what was going on. He discovered the L-1011 was on a brief stop over in Phoenix. A woman in the coach section had been perfectly quiet and normal during the entire flight. But when the plane approached Phoenix, she suddenly started to scream hysterically. She said a man had suddenly appeared in a seat near her. She insisted she had been looking directly at the seat when it happened. The man had not walked up to it, she claimed. He had just suddenly some into being there. He disappeared the minute she started to scream. The cabin crew could not quieten her down. She was absolutely hysterical from fear. Finally, despite the adverse publicity, they had to call in the police. She had become so hysterical, they had to take her away in a strait jacket, to prevent her from hurting herself or anyone else. There was also the spooky incident, again on Flight #318, involving a trip from New York to Miami. Again, this was witnessed by all the crew on the plane. It occurred just as the plane flew over the fatal crash site at the Everglades. A male voice came over the PA system. He announced customary seat belt and no smoking precautions to the passengers. He seemed perfectly normal and his announcement was exactly the way it was usually said, except for one thing.
None of the plane's crew had made the announcement. Neither was the PA system in use at all during that time. Initially the ghosts of both the Chief Pilot, Bob Loft, and the Second Officer, Don Repo, seemed to appear and disappear unexpectedly. But eventually Bob Loft's ghost stopped appearing. Only Don Repo's apparition continued to be seen. But his ghostly apparition was reported with such regularity, some Eastern Airlines crew started making inquiries. What they gathered was extremely interesting. You see, when Flight #401 crashed in the Florida Everglades, the whole plane was not a write off. Some sections of the plane like the cockpit area and galley remained relatively intact. Other nonstructural equipment like electronic equipment, stainless steel oven units in the galley, even the galley elevators, were salvageable. Mind you, every component that goes towards building one of those fancy planes cost thousands and thousands of mega bucks; so it made sense for parts of the crashed plane that remained in good working order to be used in similar such new planes that were being built. Most of the parts salvaged from the plane that crashed were used to build Flight #318. Coincidentally, most of the spooky, unexplained incidents were being reported on this very plane. At first the authorities at Eastern Airlines denied any such rumors and they tried to hide evidence of this spooky incidents. Each plane has a logbook where every incident, minor or major, has to be recorded by FAA regulations.
These reports are usually accumulated in the official logbook over an extended period of time and become a permanent part of the aircraft's record. The logbook remains on the aircraft until it is filled up usually over a period of two or three months. The pilots record the mechanical incidents on one side of the page; the flight attendants do the same on the opposite side. Everytime there was a ghostly experience on the aircraft, it was recorded by the crew. But whenever new crew came onto the plane and looked at the logbook to confirm the rumors they had heard of the incident, they would notice something very strange. the pages detailing the incidents had been removed or a brand new logbook had been supplied. But when the incidents continued and the stories spread to all other airlines and started being reported in the newspapers, the authorities at Eastern Airlines realised they were fighting something too big for them to cover up. They then made a decision that would cost them thousands of dollars. The hard headed businessman at Eastern Airlines reached the conclusion that the appearances of the ghostly images was somehow connected to the fact that those planes were using salvaged parts from Flight #401 that crashed in the Everglades. The technicians working in the stock room were given orders to go through all records to find out which of the L-1011s were using salvaged parts from the plane that had crashed in the Everglades. Then they were instructed to remove and replace all those parts although they were in perfect working order. These included ovens in the galley, lifts connecting the galley to the upper deck and the PA radio system on Flight #318.
It sounds bizarre that a profit oriented company in the most Western of countries would have sacrificed so much money to try and rid their planes of ghosts, but it did happen and it is on record. But at around the same time, someone else was also trying to rid Flight #318 of its ghost but his approach was less scientific. Dick Manning, a pilot from Boston, had known the two dead pilots. Manning was an extremely religious man. He decided to do an exorcism to deliver Don Repo's soul from its anguish and put it at rest. He was convinced what he was prepared to do was the best thing for all concerned, his dead friends, the Airline and the crew working the plane. One night, he found himself flying on Flight #318. He was flying from Miami to Newark and he had over an hour to spare. He decided there and then that was the time to the exorcism. He had confided in only a handful of crew of his intentions. Two female flight attendants went into the plane with him. Quietly and confidently, he told that flight attendants to remain on the upper deck. He was convinced Don Repo's spirit was best exorcised in an area where his presence was strongest in the galley. He made his way down to the galley all by himself. His female colleagues watched him slowly get into the lift and disappear; their hearts beat furiously as they shivered with fear and anticipation at what would follow. Manning had taken only one thing with him, a cup of water. The moment he got down to the brightly lit galley, all the lights overhead started to flicker on and off. It was almost as if the spirit knew what he had come to do and it was fighting him.
But Manning was determined. He knew what he had come to do and come to hell or high water he was determined to see it through. He started to sprinkle the water from the cup all over the galley. A wind begin to blow all around him. He described it as a 30 knot wind, and as a pilot who had navigated tens of hundreds of planes, he would know what he was talking about. The atmosphere around him became chilly; then it grew colder and colder until he felt like he was standing in a deep freezer. His whole body shook from the cold, and it was at that point that he sensed it. A strong presence was in the galley. He couldn't see anything but he felt it beyond any doubt. It was frightening, and any man with lesser convictions might have given up and fled at that point. But Manning continued to sprinkle the water all around the galley. Then a shape began to form at the far end of the galley. It kept fading in and out. But slowly it formed clearly enough for Manning to recognise the features of his dead friend, Don Repo. There was no question in Manning's mind, he saw what he saw. So much so, he started to talk to him. He said, 'Don't you know you are dead? You are dead. You have lost your life. But your spirit remains here, you have not been taken to your rightful place, where you belong.' The apparition did not respond. Manning continued, 'I am calling an angel of light, and he shall take you to a place where you belong...' Then, where the shape of Don Repo was standing, there was a light. A very bright flash of light. It was so blinding, Manning had to turn his face away. When he looked at the spot again where Don Repo had stood, he was gone.
The whole atmosphere in the galley returned to normal. It was no longer freezing cold but warm and cosy like it usually was. Manning felt a sense of deep satisfaction. He knew his mission was accomplished. When he got to the upper deck, the two flight attendants rushed up to him looking really worried. They were concerned because the lights had been going on and off for several moments after he had left. Manning assured them he was alright and that he had succeeded in comforting and persuading Don Repo to go to his final resting place. But the story of the exorcism spread. Manning's supervisor called him in to his office for a chat. He wanted to know if the rumors were true. Manning was not one to lie. He confirmed that he did infact conduct a brief exorcism, but he explained he only had the best interest of everyone at heart, including his dead friend. His supervisor said, 'If I believed, if I really thought that you believed in that, I'd send you down for a psychiatric examination.' Manning reportedly looked his superior straight in the eye and said, 'I believed it. I dare you.' He was never sent to the psychiatrist. More importantly, the reports of ghostly incidents in the galley, cockpit and cabins suddenly stopped after that. For awhile there were strong rumors Flight #318 was sold or had its number changed. But on further investigation these rumors proved unfounded. The plane is still around and it's sill in pretty good nick, comfortably flying hundreds of passengers around the United States without incident.
It was one o'clock in the morning. Captain M had just flown in a Boeing 727 into Phoenix, Arizona. When he pulled up his plane in the airport ramp, he noticed something unusual beside him. There was an L-1011 belonging to Eastern Airlines parked beside him on the tramp. But several police cars had the plane surrounded, their rotating lights whirling around on top of the hood of their cars. That was not a common sight in any airport. Captain M was extremely curious to know why the police had the plane cordoned off. Once he had safely deplaned, he went over to the scene to find out what was going on. He discovered the L-1011 was on a brief stop over in Phoenix. A woman in the coach section had been perfectly quiet and normal during the entire flight. But when the plane approached Phoenix, she suddenly started to scream hysterically. She said a man had suddenly appeared in a seat near her. She insisted she had been looking directly at the seat when it happened. The man had not walked up to it, she claimed. He had just suddenly some into being there. He disappeared the minute she started to scream. The cabin crew could not quieten her down. She was absolutely hysterical from fear. Finally, despite the adverse publicity, they had to call in the police. She had become so hysterical, they had to take her away in a strait jacket, to prevent her from hurting herself or anyone else. There was also the spooky incident, again on Flight #318, involving a trip from New York to Miami. Again, this was witnessed by all the crew on the plane. It occurred just as the plane flew over the fatal crash site at the Everglades. A male voice came over the PA system. He announced customary seat belt and no smoking precautions to the passengers. He seemed perfectly normal and his announcement was exactly the way it was usually said, except for one thing.
None of the plane's crew had made the announcement. Neither was the PA system in use at all during that time. Initially the ghosts of both the Chief Pilot, Bob Loft, and the Second Officer, Don Repo, seemed to appear and disappear unexpectedly. But eventually Bob Loft's ghost stopped appearing. Only Don Repo's apparition continued to be seen. But his ghostly apparition was reported with such regularity, some Eastern Airlines crew started making inquiries. What they gathered was extremely interesting. You see, when Flight #401 crashed in the Florida Everglades, the whole plane was not a write off. Some sections of the plane like the cockpit area and galley remained relatively intact. Other nonstructural equipment like electronic equipment, stainless steel oven units in the galley, even the galley elevators, were salvageable. Mind you, every component that goes towards building one of those fancy planes cost thousands and thousands of mega bucks; so it made sense for parts of the crashed plane that remained in good working order to be used in similar such new planes that were being built. Most of the parts salvaged from the plane that crashed were used to build Flight #318. Coincidentally, most of the spooky, unexplained incidents were being reported on this very plane. At first the authorities at Eastern Airlines denied any such rumors and they tried to hide evidence of this spooky incidents. Each plane has a logbook where every incident, minor or major, has to be recorded by FAA regulations.
These reports are usually accumulated in the official logbook over an extended period of time and become a permanent part of the aircraft's record. The logbook remains on the aircraft until it is filled up usually over a period of two or three months. The pilots record the mechanical incidents on one side of the page; the flight attendants do the same on the opposite side. Everytime there was a ghostly experience on the aircraft, it was recorded by the crew. But whenever new crew came onto the plane and looked at the logbook to confirm the rumors they had heard of the incident, they would notice something very strange. the pages detailing the incidents had been removed or a brand new logbook had been supplied. But when the incidents continued and the stories spread to all other airlines and started being reported in the newspapers, the authorities at Eastern Airlines realised they were fighting something too big for them to cover up. They then made a decision that would cost them thousands of dollars. The hard headed businessman at Eastern Airlines reached the conclusion that the appearances of the ghostly images was somehow connected to the fact that those planes were using salvaged parts from Flight #401 that crashed in the Everglades. The technicians working in the stock room were given orders to go through all records to find out which of the L-1011s were using salvaged parts from the plane that had crashed in the Everglades. Then they were instructed to remove and replace all those parts although they were in perfect working order. These included ovens in the galley, lifts connecting the galley to the upper deck and the PA radio system on Flight #318.
It sounds bizarre that a profit oriented company in the most Western of countries would have sacrificed so much money to try and rid their planes of ghosts, but it did happen and it is on record. But at around the same time, someone else was also trying to rid Flight #318 of its ghost but his approach was less scientific. Dick Manning, a pilot from Boston, had known the two dead pilots. Manning was an extremely religious man. He decided to do an exorcism to deliver Don Repo's soul from its anguish and put it at rest. He was convinced what he was prepared to do was the best thing for all concerned, his dead friends, the Airline and the crew working the plane. One night, he found himself flying on Flight #318. He was flying from Miami to Newark and he had over an hour to spare. He decided there and then that was the time to the exorcism. He had confided in only a handful of crew of his intentions. Two female flight attendants went into the plane with him. Quietly and confidently, he told that flight attendants to remain on the upper deck. He was convinced Don Repo's spirit was best exorcised in an area where his presence was strongest in the galley. He made his way down to the galley all by himself. His female colleagues watched him slowly get into the lift and disappear; their hearts beat furiously as they shivered with fear and anticipation at what would follow. Manning had taken only one thing with him, a cup of water. The moment he got down to the brightly lit galley, all the lights overhead started to flicker on and off. It was almost as if the spirit knew what he had come to do and it was fighting him.
But Manning was determined. He knew what he had come to do and come to hell or high water he was determined to see it through. He started to sprinkle the water from the cup all over the galley. A wind begin to blow all around him. He described it as a 30 knot wind, and as a pilot who had navigated tens of hundreds of planes, he would know what he was talking about. The atmosphere around him became chilly; then it grew colder and colder until he felt like he was standing in a deep freezer. His whole body shook from the cold, and it was at that point that he sensed it. A strong presence was in the galley. He couldn't see anything but he felt it beyond any doubt. It was frightening, and any man with lesser convictions might have given up and fled at that point. But Manning continued to sprinkle the water all around the galley. Then a shape began to form at the far end of the galley. It kept fading in and out. But slowly it formed clearly enough for Manning to recognise the features of his dead friend, Don Repo. There was no question in Manning's mind, he saw what he saw. So much so, he started to talk to him. He said, 'Don't you know you are dead? You are dead. You have lost your life. But your spirit remains here, you have not been taken to your rightful place, where you belong.' The apparition did not respond. Manning continued, 'I am calling an angel of light, and he shall take you to a place where you belong...' Then, where the shape of Don Repo was standing, there was a light. A very bright flash of light. It was so blinding, Manning had to turn his face away. When he looked at the spot again where Don Repo had stood, he was gone.
The whole atmosphere in the galley returned to normal. It was no longer freezing cold but warm and cosy like it usually was. Manning felt a sense of deep satisfaction. He knew his mission was accomplished. When he got to the upper deck, the two flight attendants rushed up to him looking really worried. They were concerned because the lights had been going on and off for several moments after he had left. Manning assured them he was alright and that he had succeeded in comforting and persuading Don Repo to go to his final resting place. But the story of the exorcism spread. Manning's supervisor called him in to his office for a chat. He wanted to know if the rumors were true. Manning was not one to lie. He confirmed that he did infact conduct a brief exorcism, but he explained he only had the best interest of everyone at heart, including his dead friend. His supervisor said, 'If I believed, if I really thought that you believed in that, I'd send you down for a psychiatric examination.' Manning reportedly looked his superior straight in the eye and said, 'I believed it. I dare you.' He was never sent to the psychiatrist. More importantly, the reports of ghostly incidents in the galley, cockpit and cabins suddenly stopped after that. For awhile there were strong rumors Flight #318 was sold or had its number changed. But on further investigation these rumors proved unfounded. The plane is still around and it's sill in pretty good nick, comfortably flying hundreds of passengers around the United States without incident.
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