Haunted Airfields
For Halloween, a collection of weird tales about airports and aircraft.
- By Rebecca Maksel
- AirSpaceMag.com, October 25, 2011
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On December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines flight 401 took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport carrying 160 passengers. The new Lockheed L-1011 Tristar—Eastern Air Lines named its fleet “Whisperliners”—was headed for Miami, Florida. It crashed into the Florida Everglades, 18 miles from its destined runway, killing 77 people on board.
A Web site created by survivors, rescue workers, and journalists summarizes the NTSB’s crash investigation, which decided that the crash—the first of a wide-body aircraft, and the deadliest in the United States at that time—was a result of the flight crew’s failure to recognize that the autopilot had been deactivated.
The site notes that “although there is no factual evidence to support the claim, legend has it that after the crash investigation, surviving avionics and galley equipment was salvaged from the crash site…” and were fitted into Lockheed’s production line. “Not long after,” the site continues, “'ghosts’ of [Captain Robert Albin] Loft and [engineer and second officer Donald Louis] Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew members on other Eastern Tri-Stars…. An account of the paranormal happenings even appeared in a 1974 issue of the US Flight Safety Foundation newsletter.”
We called the folks at Flight Safety, hoping for a copy of this frequently mentioned report, and were told, “as far as we can determine, this cite does not exist. It’s popped up around the internet, but we can’t find any reference to it in our archived materials.”
John G. Fuller wrote the 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401, which later became a TV movie starring (of all people) Ernest Borgnine and Kim Basinger.
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Comments (4)
While I'll admit that I'm a fan of ghost tales and that I like to watch or read them with as little light as possible at night, I'm also chilled to the marrow in broad daylight by these stories of "Haunted Airfields"--even the ones that might simply be--as you so eloquently put it--"a wild ghost chase." Thank you so much for getting into the--uh--spirit.
Posted by Diane Williams on October 28,2011 | 09:51 AM
The two murals mentioned actually depict the children of the world, dressed in authentic native costumes of approximately 26 countries, overcoming the forces of evil and destruction. The positive panels are roughly twice the width of the dark and depressing panels, and are bathed in light and bright colors, showing dancing happy children. In "In Peace and Harmony with Nature", the artist's mother is depicted on the far right dancing in a bright red swirling dress, because, he said, she wasn't allowed to dance in life.
The gargoyles are seated in Samsonite suitcases (made in Denver), one in each of the two baggage claim areas. Gargoyles are not evil, but are protective and are in the baggage claim areas to protect your luggage. They were some of the last artworks to be installed. Had they been in place earlier that baggage system would have worked like a charm! The title of the work, "Notre Denver".
Posted by Marilyn Shaw on November 26,2011 | 08:35 PM
The Hornet story reminded me of when I was younger and had gone to hang out with my then-girlfriend and another couple by a lake near our town.
I went to releive myself and was approached by a young girl who looked to be about 12-15 wearing a flower print dress. She had long hair that looked wet and no shoes. I was embarassed that she had caught me "mid stream" and offered a "hi" to her. She was just staring and she faded from view.
I was totally freaked out and ran back to the van. Thru some research I later found out that a young girl had drowned in the lake back in the 1920s.
Posted by Stan Sikorski on July 14,2012 | 06:58 PM
I read on another website the DIA was built to be shaped like a swastika and had unknown languages written on the floor. They even said the languages may be alien.
Posted by swagdaddy on December 26,2012 | 10:14 PM