I Am Afraid All Hope is Gone For Your Boys

spooky friends. Waterloo, Iowa, January Dear sirs, I am writing you in regard to a rumor going around that my five sons were killed in action in November. A mother from here came and told me that she got a letter from her son and he heard my five sons were killed. It is all over town now, and I am so worried. My five sons joined the Navy together a year ago January third, nineteen forty two. They are on the cruiser U S. S Juno. The last I heard from them was November eighth. That is, it was

dated November eighth, U S. Navy. Their names are George T. Francis, Henry Joseph E. Madison A. And Albert L. If it is so, please let me know the truth. I am to christen the U. S. S. Twassah February twelfth, at Portland, Oregon. If anything has happened to my five sons, I will still christen the ship, as it was their wish that I do so. I hated to bother you, but it has worried me so that I wanted to know if

it was true. So please tell me. It was hard to give five sons all at once to the Navy, but I am proud of my boys that they can serve and help protect their country. George and Francis served four years on the U S. S. Holvey, and I had the pleasure to go aboard their ship in nineteen thirty seven. I am so happy the Navy has bestowed the honor on me to christen the U. S. S. Twassa. My husband and daughter are going to Portland with me.

I remain sincerely Mrs Elita Sullivan, Adams Street, Waterloo, Iowa. My dear mister and Mrs Sullivan, the knowledge that your five gallant sons are missing in action against the enemy inspires me to write you this personal message. I realize full well there is little I can say to assuase your grief. As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I want you to know that the entire nation shares in your sorrow. I offer you the condolences and gratitude

of our country. We who remain to carry on the fight must maintain spirit in the knowledge that such sacrifice is not in vain. The Navy Department has informed me of the express desire of your sons George Thomas, Francis, Henry Joseph, Eugene, Madison, Abel and Albert Leo to serve in the same ship. I am sure that we all take heart in the knowledge that they fought side by side. As one of your sons wrote, we will make a team together that can't be beat. It is this spirit which,

in the end must triumph. Last March, you, Mrs Sullivan, were designated to sponsor a ship of the Navy in recognition of your patriotism and that of your sons. I understand that you are now even more determined to carry on his sponsor. This evidence of unselfishness and of courage serves as a real inspiration for me, as I am sure it will for all Americans. Such acts of faith and fortitude in the face of tragedy convinced me of

the indomitable spirit and will of our people. I send you my deepest sympathy in your hour of trial, and pray that in Almighty God you will find the comfort and help that only He can bring. Very sincerely, yours, Franklin D. Roosevelt. I'm Amy Brunei, and welcome to Haunted Road. In the Naval Park in Buffalo, New York, three majestic ships float quietly in the water, part of a large scale tribute to the United States military and the sacrifices made by soldiers who were wounded or killed in the

name of freedom. Tens of thousands of people tore the ships every year, exploring the corridors where sailors walked, the bunks where they slept, the control rooms where they operated the ships, and the decks where they stood and watched for approaching ships, ready for the battles that lay ahead.

All three of the boats, the U. S S. Croker, the U. S S. Little Rock, and the U S S The Sullivans, were decommissioned decades ago and are no longer in use by the Navy, but many people believe that the sailors who once manned those ships never left. I witness account detail hearing phantom footsteps and mysterious whispers, objects flying across the room, and blurred faces and photos.

Some people report seeing full body apparitions in places where there are no other living people, including the burned face and torso of a man who died tragically in a bombing, the last to parish of five brothers who were all killed in the attack. The second largest city in New York, Buffalo, sits on the shores of Lake Erie, by the origin of the Niagara River. Today, Buffalo, also known as the Queen City, is mostly known for two things. It's intense

snowy winters. The city gets eighty five inches of snow a year, more than three times the national average. And it's intense spicy sauce that has become so popular it's served all over the country. But once, the city of more than two hundred fifty thousand was a booming industrial town which experienced the same economic downturn as many Rust Belt cities that lost manufacturing jobs to corporations moving their

plants overseas. Though a or a decade long revitalization effort, Buffalo is currently experiencing an economic turnaround and population growth. Planning began in nineteen seventy six for what would be the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. It opened in nineteen seventy nine as the largest inland attraction of its kind in the country. The waterfront park has

three large tourable ships. The U. S S. Little Rock is a guided missile cruiser, the U S. S. The Sullivan's is a Fletcher class destroyer, and the U. S S. Croker is a submarine. In addition, the park features a garden of war memorials, a museum of military history, and several other exhibits, including PTF seventeen, a fast patrol boat from the Nasty class that was used in Vietnam, plus planes, tanks, and a helicopter. It brings in more than seventy thousand

visitors annually. The largest of the three tourable ships at Buffalo Naval Park is the U. S S. Little Rock, which, according to the history of the park, is a guided missile cruiser. The only surviving vessel from the Cleveland Glass of light cruisers in World War Two. The ship is six hundred ten feet long and housed eleven hundred enlisted men at a time, in addition to a hundred fifty

officers and a hundred fifty marines. Originally built as a gun cruiser, the U s S. Little Rock is unusual because it has two bridges as well as admiral's quarters. Designed for a Navy admiral to stay in Built between nineteen forty three and nineteen forty four and commissioned in nineteen forty five, the cruiser was too late to see action during World War Two, but still sailed before being decommissioned in nineteen forty nine. During that time, the ship

saw its first major accident. On October thirty first, nineteen forty seven, a sailor named Donald H. Butler died when he was crushed between the ship and its booy chain. After she was decommissioned, the USS Little Rock underwent a major remodeling starting in nineteen fifty seven, becoming a Galveston class guided missile cruiser in nineteen sixty. As the park's history describes her work, she became a Cold War flagship

of the second Fleet and the sixth Fleet. She patrolled the Atlantic from the Arctic Circle to South America and was a fixture in the Mediterranean Sea. She was a show of force during the turbulent nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies. In July nineteen sixty two, a sailor named Richard Smith died of injuries received in the Missile House Magazine from

a high pressure hydraulic line failure. A few years later, in nineteen sixty seven, the U S. S. Little Rock assisted the U S. S. Liberty when that ship was attacked by Israeli ships and aircraft. She aided in evacuating the wounded and assisted the Liberty with damage control efforts. Eight wounded men were treated in the ship's infirmary. In nineteen seventy five, the U. S. S. Little Rock was the only foreign warship in the official flotilla at the

reopening of the Suez Canal. The next year, she helped to evacuate civilians from Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. That was her last major mission. The U S. S. Little Rock was decommissioned in nineteen seventy six and donated to the Buffalo Naval Park in nineteen seventy seven. Today, spaces aboard the ship, such as the Admiral's quarters, fantail, and forecastle, can be rented for events like parties and weddings, and people can arrange to stay overnight in original enlisted

sleeping compartments. The second tourable boat at the Buffalo Naval Park is the USS Croker, a three hundred eleven foot long submarine that is one of seventy seven Gaeto class submarines ever constructed. Eighty one sailors served on board the boat, which the park describes as part of the most lethal

submarine class of World War Two. Commissioned in nineteen forty four, the USS Croker conducted six war patrols in the Pacific theater, sinking eleven Japanese vessels, four of which were capital or military vessels, and seven auxiliary or support vessels. Its first successful torpedo strike was just seven days into its first patrol. After World War Two, she was converted to a hunter killer submarine with added sonar, radar and quieting capabilities to combat.

After World War Two, she was converted to a hunter killer submarine with added sonar, radar and quieting capability to combat the Russian threat during the Cold War, but was soon outdated with the development of nuclear technologies. The U S S Croaker was decommissioned in nineteen seventy one and arrived at the Buffalo Naval Park in nineteen eighty eight.

All three ships have reports of unexplained phenomena, but by far the ship with the most spookiness attached to it is the U. S. S. The Sullivan's a Fletcher class destroyer, the largest and most important class of US destroyers used in World War Two. The boat, three hundred seventy six ft long, housed three hundred ten soldiers. She has green shamrocks painted on her main deck and forward smokestack in

tribute to the Irish American family. The boat is named after the U. S. S. The Sullivan's is named after five brothers who served on a similar ship in World War Two. The U S S. Juno, George Francis Madison, Joseph and Albert Sullivan were brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, who had asked to serve together on the same vessel. According to All Hands, the magazine of the U. S. Navy, the tragic story of the Sullivan brothers was the greatest military loss by any one American family during World War Two.

On November thirteenth, ninety two, their ship, the USS Juno, was torpedoed by Japanese forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Hit by a torpedo for the second time in less than twelve hours, the ship sank in about twenty seconds. While only ten of the roughly seven hundred sailors aboard lived, many more of them survived. The initial sinking estimates put the number of survivors in the water anywhere from one hundred to two hundred men, but they were left behind

by the two American ships nearby. Those boats fled without searching for survivors, assuming that no one could be left alive and fearful of future attacks. Almost all of the men who hit the water eventually died, primarily from hypernatremia caused by drinking seawater and from shark attacks. Among the survivors was George Sullivan, the eldest brother, who survived on a raft for several days. Another man, Allan Heind, shared that raft with Sullivan and was rescued after nine days

at sea. According to an article published by the National World War Two Museum, Hein recalled how he shared a raft with the eldest Sullivan brother, George, who was desperately calling out for his deceased kin and stricken by inconsolable grief and slowly losing his mind due to lack of water and shock. Four days after Juno sank, George stripped off all his clothes, declared to Hind that he was going below to take a bath, slipped off the raft

and swam away. Hind watched as George swam and suddenly disappeared, another victim of the sharks. According to Dan Kerzman's account of the sinking, left to die, George initially swam from raft to raft, using toilet paper to wipe off the men's oil blackened faces, to see if they were his brothers. Some survivors would later say that they believed either Albert or Joseph had survived the initials sinking, only to perish

in the water. George had apparently told his mother, Alida Sullivan, that if they went down, they would all go out together, a statement which sadly came true in November nineteen forty two. The family was not officially notified of their deaths until January eleventh, ninety three due to military secrecy, although according to a history of Elita Sullivan, one of the survivors had already written to their mother that I am afraid

all hope is gone for your boys. After the victory at Guadalcanal was secured, the Navy acknowledged that the Juno had gone down, but the true horror of the disaster wasn't revealed until after the war was over, when survivors shared their stories. After the death of the Sullivan brothers, their only remaining sibling, sister Genevieve, joined the Waves women accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services, a unit of the Navy.

In nineteen forty three. The Sullivan Brothers became national icons, with recruitment posters of their five smiling faces aboard Juno on her commissioning day over the slogan they Did Their Part, distributed nationwide that same year, then be dedicated the U. S S the Sullivan's, the first ship ever commissioned that honored more than one single person. The boat was launched on September thirtieth, nineteen forty three, with the brother's mother, Alita,

christening the ship. A film version of their story the fighting Sullivan's was released in nineteen forty four. The movie ends with a scene of Alita christening the U. S. S. The Sullivan's and saying to her husband, tom our boys are afloat again. The USS the Sullivan saw action in the Pacific Theater, shooting down eight Japanese planes bombarding Iwo, Jima, and Okinawa, as well as rescuing American pilots and crew

from burning her sinking vessels. She also saw action during the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and was used as a training ship for the sixth Fleet after the Korean War. The U. S. S. The Sullivan's was decommissioned in nineteen sixty five and donated to the Buffalo Naval Park in nineteen seventy seven. With all of that wartime service and tragic history attached to the ships, it's no wonder there are so many accounts of un usual phenomena in Buffalo Naval Park, but at the park those

phenomena are largely considered a normal part of operations. John Browning, the superintendent of Buffalo Naval Parks, set on a local newscast that he wasn't scared of the hauntings. It's just former crew members. We're all shipmates. They're going about their business. I'm going about mine. They leave me alone, I leave them alone. That's the way I look at it. People who visit the U. S. S. Little Rock have said they've heard phantom footsteps and mysterious whispers aboard the ship.

A water tap and a sink is said to turn itself on, and people have reported seeing shadow figures in full bodied apparitions, including a figure dressed in an admiral's uniform who is said to walk the deck. The ghosts of two sailors are believed to haunt the USS Little Rock. One is said to be lonely and often follows female visitors around the ship, and the other one likes to play tricks on guests. People also believe there is a

spectral security guard aboard. According to Haunted houses dot Com, people who are within earshot but not in the same room as their belongings have heard our bags being unzipped, someone rummaging around in their bags, and then zipped again. While some claim that these phantoms are due to injured sailors from the U S. S. Liberty dying aboard the ship, the U. S. S. Little Rock took only eight of the walking wounded, and it doesn't appear that any of

them died. Aboard the U. S. S. Croker, shadow figures have been reported, and female visitors report being touched by unseen hands, especially in the submarines bunk rooms. Visitors have heard instruments playing in radio transmissions, as well as footsteps and disembodied voices, as Haunted Houses dot Com describes them. The disembodied voices maybe the spectral crew still serving their country.

One male spirit is very clear with his voice and interacts with the living like the phantom security guard aboard the U. S. S. Little Rock and unseen Force also zips and unzips bags aboard the U. S. S. Croker, enforcing the submarines strict rules against contraband even in death. Aboard the U. S. S. Croker is a ghost named John who is an angry spirit who pulls people's hair and breathes down next according to those who have experienced

the phenomena. According to Haunted Rooms dot Com, he sometimes even blocks passageways and refuses to let people pass. Stomping sounds on the deck, as well as spectral growls have been attributed to John. Many believe that he was a sailor who died while serving on the U. S. S. Croker, and who resents non Navy people coming aboard his submarine. The most haunted of the three by far, though, is

the U. S S. The Sullivan's. According to Michael Swain's Haunted World War Two, paranormal reports aboard the U. S. S. The Sullivan's started soon after the ship was decommissioned. As he wrote, one of the first documented supernatural reports circulated soon after the ship was retired in nineteen sixty nine. According to one account, workers saw a heavy wrench levitate

off a table and sail across the room. George Sullivan, the eldest brother and the one who survived the longest after the U. S. S. Juno Sank, is said to haunt his namesake boat, searching for his four brothers. According to Haunted Buffalo, it is also said that when you attempt to photograph the Museum of the Sullivan Boys, George will not come out in the photo. It's said that if your camera batteries don't die before you can take

the shot, a mysterious mist will cover his face. Journalist Phil Nye wrote an article on the Haunted Battleships of Buffalo saying, one tour guide reported being below decks and having a porso with a burned, disfigured face approach him at a fast rate of speed. The figure was floating above the ground, and the employee believed it to be the ghost of George Sullivan. It's also thought that his brothers sometimes join him. Some accounts describe five luminous forms

in passageways. Moaning, footsteps, and knocking have been heard aboard the ship at night, and guards work in the night shift have also reported hearing a voice that says, hey you. According to Haunted World War two, other employees say the ghosts on the U s as the Sullivan's, who many presume are one or all of the Sullivan's, can get physical. One worker woke up on the hard deck of the ship. It's certainly not a place to sneak a nap during

his shift. He had no idea how he got there and believed some mysterious and invisible force knocked him unconscious. Sometimes instruments aboard the ship continue to operate even when the power has been shut off. Haunted World War two describe the account of one staff member, Eddie Kirkwood. He claimed that during a party on board the ship, the guests began to thank him for putting on a little bit of an extra show for them. Kirkwood was confused. He had no idea what they were talking about, but

he played along. They then pointed to a spinning radar dish. It made for a pretty cool party effect, they all agreed. Kirkwood, however, didn't consider this naval version of a spinning disco ball entertainment at all. He knew that he had turned off the circuit breaker that killed the power to the radar. An elderly couple on a tour once praised the helpfulness of an officer who gave them directions, only to be told no officer was on board the ship that day.

According to Haunted Buffalo, a group of girl scouts staying overnight on the ship also woke to find that all pictures in the ship's museum had fallen to the ground. Probably not what they signed up for With all those stories, we should probably talk to someone in the know at the Buffalo Naval Park. Up next, I've got Shane Stevenson joining us. He is the director of museum collections at the park, and he's no stranger to the paranormal reports

there that's coming up after the break. All right, So now I am joined by Shane Stevenson, who is the director of museum Collections at the Buffalo Naval Park. So thank you for joining me, Shane. I super appreciate it. Oh, you're very welcome. Amy happy to be here. So before we get started, I'm just dying to know because I watched this in the news over the last few months, what is happening with the U s s the Sullivan's, Like I saw she was taking on water. The pictures

looked really scary, So what's the status there. The pictures didn't make it scary, but the actual event made it scary. So yes, it was all in all a really trying a month and a half two months, but we rustled up many different organizations, the coast Guard, a salvage company, a local marine company, an environmental company, and we all

worked towards a pumping her out. She had sank at our pier which it was about eighteen feet of water, and she had about a million gallons of water on board and about forty thousand gallons of product or oil on board left over from her service uh and from nine. So we all worked slowly and diligently, and we pumped the water out in a way that didn't put any extra stress on her hull, and we were to raise

her and then patch her and repair her. And so right now she's stable, she is upright and floating, and now we're developing next steps for her to secure her for the next fifty or seventy five years. That's amazing. The photo that I saw, I mean, like you said, she was, she was sunk. Just I have such great memories of investigating there with ghost hunters. I was just I was so impressed by just the the collections and these ships themselves, and just I really liked my time there.

And I saw that, my heart just sunk. So I'm really glad that you were able to at least get her floating again. I'm I'm sure there was damage to the collections inside and whatnot, but it sounds like you guys have assembled a great team to kind of get things hopefully put back together. Yeah, thank you. As my job, you know, sometimes vernacularly called the curator, it was my job to pull off all of the artifacts that were

displayed on board, recattle logged them. See if we can get preservation and conservation team here to make sure that they can be preserved as best as possible. So that's what my summer has been. And I've been working with a conservator and You've developed a really strong volunteer program that's all been trained and so we are slowly preserving all that can be preserved from that ship. And thank

you for being here in the past. Oh yeah, I'm always championing the Buffalo Naval Park online, always retweeting all your tweets. I always tell people to go there. Um, I just think it's a really important spot. And so that being said, you know my time there, obviously we were there for the ghosts, but you know, we always try to be very respectful to whenever military history is involved, um in our investigations. But you know, I did have some pretty wild experiences there, which I think a lot

of people report. I think mainly I remember hearing a lot of voices. Adam and I heard many voices. We were in the submarine, which I'm hugely claustrophobia, and every time I go into a submarine, I'm just amazed and how people lived in those for months at a time. And uh, and then I remember also we had a major experience with footsteps going overhead. So are those just kind of things that happened there on the regular? Yeah,

I would say absolutely. The footsteps I have not heard as much, but certainly voices we have heard throughout each of our ships. And it is extremely eerie, as you know, you know, to be here overnight, and when you believe you're the only people on board, you know, it's it

can be a very unique, interesting experience for sure. Well, I think that when we investigate any vessel on water, it does create this kind of host of unusual circumstances and sounds that we're not completely familiar with, and so we have to kind of, you know, take that into consideration as we investigate. But the voices were pretty clear, and it's strange because they do sound just like male voices, um sometimes kind of stern or sometimes I remember I

was hearing some chatter in another room. It sounded almost like they were laughing. And when we investigated with ghost Hunters, it would be Adam and me, a camera operator and a sound person and so you know, it's four of us on that entire ship, and so to hear voices is really eerie. It is your you know, there's some things that you can chalk up amy too, just being a ship that's in water that wrote you know, that moves and rolls and pitches with the wind and the water.

But when you have an experience that is real enough to where it actually changes your behavior, then for me, that's what my experience has been. Like I would spent the night on board the various ships multiple times in my working career here and there's a potential moment where I hear something and I actually respond to it, like I called back or I stopped, and that is that's I usually can differentiate pretty quickly, just even unconsciously, when

you're walking through oh that's a creek. That's a creek, and you just keep going. Then when there's something that I actually stop and start talking to and then you realize that you know, there's no one else there, so it changes your behavior. And that's something that's really startling to me, is that I was potentially so affected by it that I called back out or I stopped walking or you know something, you know because of just that

unconscious you know, noise that you just normally here on board. Yeah, Now, were you a believer in ghosts before you took the position at the Buffalo Naval Park. Um, I hadn't quite figured it out yet fully, I mean, ultimately I haven't either, for what it's worth, I think, and some people when I have conversations about this, it's you almost have to go down, you know. Then you have to answer like almost like religion. And I don't know how far you

want to go. But you know, if I say, if I'm a nonbeliever in an afterlife, if I have experiences, then I have to say, oh, well, now I have to start believing in some sort of higher being. Right.

And sometimes people tell me, you know that you don't have to get to that point, but no, I mean, I'd never really had anything on before working here that would have led me to believe like, oh, there's something in the afterlife, right, I mean, And it sounds like you know, you you come at it from like a pragmatic viewpoint, you know, And I'm very similar where even in all that I do, I will never tell people that ghosts are real. Like I know, I've seen and

experience very strange things. I believe it could be the spirits of people who have passed on and are still here for whatever reason. But I don't absolutely know. Yeah, that's always I guess the best way of tackling an amy is uh if and when there's ever definitive proof, you know, maybe some people claim there is definitive, but you know when I started there was I started working

here in two thousand eighteen, you know. There for the people that were on board many years before me, they just say, oh, you know, you might hear something, you might see something, but just know that there benevolent and you're you're carrying on their story and their tradition, and so you're pretty all set. That's a good way to handle it. What was your first experience where you were like, okay, this,

there's something to this. Just using the terminology. Hallways on ships are passageways, right, So so I was walking down a passageway which connected to larger rooms or spaces, and they both have those water type doors on either side, so you have to spin the wheel, unlock one, then you batten it down and then you walk through this little darkened passage way and then you unseal the other one,

and then you walk through to the other space. So for that thirty seconds or whatever that where you're in the dark space, the darken space, I could swear I heard some scratching and like almost like a growl, which was interesting. And again talking just how I mentioned a few minutes ago, it made me alter my behavior, so it didn't sound like a natural thing with the ship moving and creaking and you know, I mean they're seventy seventy nine years old, all of our ships, so uh,

you know in there prone to the elements. But I stopped and I said, you know, in my head, I said, wow, what was that. I didn't have a flashlight with me or anything, so I just kept going. And that would have been my first experience. Have people come to you, like maybe visitors or whatever and described some sort of wild experience they had where you were just left completely

scratching your head. Uh. It is very interesting, and I'm not an expert in it, but there's some people that you know, just reading and researching this, that people you know, have sensitivity and there's a spectrum of sensitivity levels. And I have talked to many people that exhibit or you know, mentioned that they have a sensitivity to spirits or the unknown, so to speak, and they really have very interesting experiences

that I don't have. Right, if they have a sensitivity to it, they will experience stuff almost throughout the whole ship. They say, I don't have anything specific, but it's just talking to people on board. They say, oh my god. You know, I was walking through the Little Rock or the Sullivan's and almost every space that I went into, uh, I felt something. And I say, well, I don't have that sensitivity, so it's just a room to me, so

to speak, or a space or something. But for someone that has that sensitivity, they say, they experience a lot of different things on board. So yeah, I mean I could imagine that. I guess I don't have that sensitivity, but I mean I feel like probably there's a lot of residual energy and that kind of spectrum probably left in those kinds of places. A lot happened there over the years, so it makes sense. Has there ever been an experience either you have had or someone has come

to you with that made you at all nervous? One other experience that I've had was probably right when the It's not related to the Sullivans, but we've heard many things about the Sullivan's. I have not experienced them. I have been on board alone at night on the Sullivan's

and I have not experienced anything. But people mentioned, certainly in the mess decks where the crew eight, they can see a face by the what's called the scuttle butt, which would be like the water fountain, and there's some degradation to the face, for lack of a better word, either part of it has been burned. I had not experience that, but that could obviously, that could be a pretty scary experience for someone if they see a face that has been burned with fire is kind of floating

and appearing in front of them. Another experience I had on the Little Rock, and that's why I brought in the Sullivan's, was it was right around when the sullivan sank, and so all of the crew was working on the Sullivan's on the main decks and things like that, and so I was the only person on board the Little Rock.

And again in one of those passageways, I was in my office and maybe about fifteen feet away there's a door, just a regular what we call a panel door, but it looks like a door in your house, right, And it opened and shut, and I did one of those things again change my behavior. I called out, I said, I'm in here if anyone needs me, just thinking that they were walking around, you know, and maybe someone was looking for me. So some you know, a coworker crew. So I called out, I said, you know, I'm in

my office if anyone is looking for me. And then thing So then I get on our rocky talkies and I say, hey, is anyone else on the little rock besides me? And Everyone's like, no, We're all on the Sullivan's doing work. And so I was like, okay, that can catch you off guard, especially when you're completely alone. You're like, okay, if you can move that, what else can you move? Right? And again I don't think of it in those terms of they're moving objects in the

physical world. But it's really tough to, you know, say what else that could have been. I mean, if it more opens and shuts on board, I mean we're probably moving that day. And you know, sometimes the doors move an inch this way or an inch that way based on our swaying and you know, moving starboard deport a little bit, just rocking with the waves, but not something like that. Did you notice an uptake in any paranormal activity when the Sullivan's sank. Did anybody report anything extra

when that happened? I do not have a recollection. That would have been prime time. There was a lot of the responders were down below, you know, surveying and analyzing and stuff. I don't remember hearing any stories from them now. That would have been their first time on board right well.

And also there was It's probably just a flurry of of things you were all doing, you know, It's one of those things sometimes you don't notice the paranormal unless you're kind of sitting in silence for whatever reason, which I assume everyone was working pretty fervently to try to get things fixed at that point. You know what, Amy, that's true, That's absolutely true. Now. One of the areas that was really took a lot of damage was the mess deck, where I say, people have seen their face

that has been burnt. Even today, there's no electricity on board, so someone goes down below, it's dark. I have been down, you know, collecting the artifacts and taking them off board and taking them to our conservation room. But your mind is really focused on other things, and uh, you're scrambling and scurrying, and you know, maybe just at that moment, those moments were not being as sensitive as we may be to that situation. Maybe Kindred Spirits needs to come investigate.

It's a it's a hollow ship right now. And you know there's there's one death from one sailor and in World War two and the family is very involved here and it would be interesting to see, you know, of course with the five brothers, and they're untimely passing altogether. Uh. Certainly, any warship brings that sort of traumatic human experience where things can not go according to plan, I guess so to speak. Yeah, I mean it makes sense. Which of the ships would you say is like the most haunted?

To me, I would say the Little Rock, our cruiser USS Little Rock is certainly it's the large. It did have the most, uh, sailor deaths on it, and it was only I think three during her service, but Sullivan's was one. USS Croker had some injuries, but no sailors passing or perishing on board. So the Little Rock with three sailors during her service perishing on board, and even

we had someone passed when he was visiting. He was an old Little Rock sailor and he was spending the night on board and unfortunately had a heart attack on board and passed away while he was in his bump. Wow, that's I mean, that's kind of a full circle moment. Now, do you guys do ghost tours or anything still or nighttime tours? Well? I think with the COVID pandemic that really slowed that sort of event on board. Um, but we're slowly bringing it back. Yeah, for those that are

interested in being here. One of the things that we believe can cause hauntings is sometimes just objects themselves. You know. Sometimes things will be brought from other locations that might have some sort of tragedy associated with them. Um. Is there anything like that on display there that might have come from someplace that could maybe have some energy with

it that might be causing some of your activity. That is a great question and one that I would be hard to come right off the top of my head. I know, certainly we have diaries of men that had bad experiences during World War Two. We do have a POW uniform from Vietnam that's on display. For those that

are still m i A from the Vietnam conflict. They create bracelets, and so we have bracelets on display with their names and the last date of when they were not missing and when they were still with their platoon or whatever. So I believe those few items in the Vietnam exhibit can probably have that bad essence to it.

I think we found that a lot with places that display a lot of kind of military memorabilia, you know, depending on where it came from or you know, sometimes it's not necessarily the location, it's the items themselves, and so you know, maybe just over time as things happen, maybe pay attention to where or what they might be around. And maybe it's not even something associated with someone who served on the ship. It could be someone completely different.

That is uh. That definitely excuse my thinking in a different direction, which I hadn't considered before. So I appreciate that. Yeah, I should see, you know, around our Vietnam exhibit, you know, we have a jacket from someone that was killed the local. We have a jacket from the local nurse that was killed. Right off the top, we have three or four items of people that perished in Vietnam that are on display their personal effects in their items. So I'll try to

be more sensitive to that. I always thinking outside the box, like what else could it be? You know, because sometimes we're investigating places that don't really have a lot of death or tragedy associated with them particularly, but like we'll have a ton of activity going on, and so it's kind of our job to narrow it down. You know, look what else happened in the area, or are there items here that it could be our emotions running high for other reasons. You know, there's all sorts of theories

out there. So but that being said, if people want to visit the park, what should they do? Is it open year round or they are better times to visit or yeah, sure, thanks Amy. We are open because we're in Buffalo. Were only open for a spring, summer, and fall, so we usually open up, you know, the last weekend in March, and we run right through about Thanksgiving, so around roughly around the last weekend in November, and then

we do shut down for the winter. Our website is Buffalo Naval Park all one word dot O r G or dot org Buffalo Naval Park dot org, and they can purchase tickets online, they can search through some photographs and really learn about our park right from our website, and certainly we're on social media with Facebook and Instagram and our YouTube Channel as well, so I remember being there and it was very cold, so that's kind of uh,

it's kind of the m O with our shows. We go usually when things are kind of off season, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was winter when I went there, because I have a picture of me standing on the little rock in a great, big winter coat,

so that makes absolute sense. It could have been in the fall when we're beginning to wind down, and yeah, the the ships themselves get as hot, and what for those areas that are not heated or air conditioned, they get as cold as it is outside or they get as hot as it is outside, depending on the season. So very much worth of visit. I highly recommend it to everyone. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me, and we'll have to chat offline and

maybe we can arrange a visit soon. I think that'd be really great. Great. Thank you so much, Amy. I'm happy to be here and I hope your viewers and listeners enjoy it. Investigating places like the Buffalo Naval Park is tricky because you want to get to the bottom of the haunting, but you also want to be incredibly respectful of the people who served and sacrificed so much for our country. I urge anyone investigating a location steeped in military history to do your due diligence before doing so.

Remember this is not a novelty. Most likely, any spirits you encounter feel they are still performing what they consider to be a sacred duty. Nevertheless, seeking spirits are not I highly encourage a trip to the Buffalo Naval Park. I really enjoyed my time there, and I know you will too. I am Amy Bruney and this was Haunted Rode. Haunted Road is hosted and written by me Amy Bruney, with additional research by Taylor Haggerdorn and Cassandra day Alba.

This show is edited and produced by rema El Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thayne and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. Haunted Road is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Learn more about this show over at Grimm and Mild dot com, and for more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.