It almost didn’t happen. My father had a medical situation that nearly canceled the trip planned for an overnight event aboard the U.S.S. Hornet. My father’s situation turned around rather quickly and, at the last moment possible, I suddenly found myself on the road to Alameda and to visit the U.S.S. Hornet on Halloween of 2008.
Arriving about two hours later, the ship swung into view as my TomTom cheerily voiced my arrival using the voice of Kim Catrell.
Hornet dominates the view… An imposing sight with aircraft dotting the deck and with the word “massive” being an understatement. It’s superstructure must have been an object of terror to any enemy who came under it’s unfortunate attention when provoked. It must have commanded respect and even fear when it sailed the seas for the twenty-odd years it traversed the world’s oceans. Having parked and begun unpacking, I met up with the members of Journey Paranormal, who sponsored the overnight event in cooperation with the Hornet Museum staff. After our greetings concluded, we hiked the quarter mile to board the ship.
Once aboard, the smell of fuel, metal and age greeted us. Everywhere, you could see mementos of war and space history associated with CV-12 (Hornet’s) long service record. This ship is one of the “lucky ships” that saw many engagements and almost no damage during is +20 years of service to the country.
We listened to an orientation briefing about the history of the U.S.S. Hornet and then our team leader, Sharon Coyle from Journey Paranormal, presented a short talk about the hunt and the rules to be followed aboard ship. As we listened, I was holding my reading glasses when they suddenly snapped in my hand, Looking down, the frame metal around one eyeglass had broken. The person next to me eyed this and my response was that this was a rather auspicious start to Hornet’s investigating.
Bunking in the sick bay, one deck below our entry point, we immediately sensed a heavy feeling as we entered the medical facility. Many men were either sick here, or died in these halls. The sick bay was composed of a fairly large number of beds and we had our pick of where to stay. I made the choice of a wall cot that gave me good coverage and acoustics for EVP recording with drop recorders and left one running for the duration of the night. Later, another team reported an apparition sighted and I will be analyzing the recording to see if any EVPs were captured during this interaction.
I had a run-in on the aft side of the sick bay. Getting turned around in the darkness, I accidentally left the assigned area and found myself in a hallway that led to a glass door with many models of ships and planes inside. Pushing further in, the room opens to the left to a larger open area.
As I neared the open area, I heard a sudden bang right in the room ahead and to my left. It was unmistakable. I was running infrared video and caught the entire interaction with that and an EVP recorder running in my hand at the same time. I approached the area in question, then felt like I was being watched. After asking if anyone was there, I turned when nothing happened and started back to sick bay.
Just as I began to walk away, another metallic banging noise happened. I turned back and scanned the area. After repeating the question of anyone being there, I began to suspect I was being played around with. I suddenly turned to walk away and this time another loud bang occured and I got a bit unnerved and walked back fast to the sick bay. All the while, I felt like someone was walking right behind me all the way. I reported the occurrence to the group I was with on my return and was told that the area I had the experience in had a past of this kind of thing. The exact spot of the noises I heard was an area where a loading elevator for weapons had accidently killed a young sailor many years past and this spirit seemed to have a mind to spooking visitors just as I had been spooked. My hat is off to him and his sense of humor. He did get my hair on the back of my neck to stand on end!
As for the rest of the evening, there were many interactions and odd events, some using the ovulus, a strange device for spirit communications, and many personal experiences of seeing shadows, hearing whispers and odd noises as we finally slept after many hours of investigation. We finally shut down about 2:30am and on getting to bed, we heard noises in the halls and even sounds of talking and running near the berth I was in. I did leave an evp recorder running in sick bay in a section where I had been given a real headache along with one of the Hornet employees. We both got nasuated after spending time in one of the sections near our berths and had to leave after feeling like something didn’t want us in there. I heard a growl from behind me and decided it was time to leave.
So, before we turned in, we set up video and audio recorders and will have evidence to post as our analysis takes place. At this point, I won’t post conclusions or decide if Hornet is haunted, but I can say that my personal experiences left me scratching my head. Debunking the site was done where possible by looking for alternate explanations for events and will be reexamined in our final report.
We’ll post conclusions and case data soon. Hornet was a once in a lifetime investigator’s dream and I’ll be looking forward to a second visit if fortune smiles on us for a revisit! I wish to thank Journey Paranormal’s exceptionally professional team and great organizational skills for the warm reception and kind treatment and even teaching that took place. I would love to combine our equipment and skills in the future and hope to work with them again!