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Old Whitey: The Haunted Corpse of The SS Kamloops

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The Wheel of the SS Kamloops, submerged under Lake Superior. Image Source: National Park Service

The SS Kamloops has lain at the bottom of Lake Superior for nearly 100 years but visiting divers claim they are not alone when visiting the shipwreck. The body of one of the deceased crew members, dubbed Old Whitey, floats amongst the wreckage of the ship with some divers claiming follows them as they dive.

The SS Kamloops

The Kamloops was built in the UK for Steamships Ltd. of Montreal, Canada. She was smaller than the average boat sailing on the Great Lakes but had the dexterity to maneuver the smaller canals of the Lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.

The main purpose of the Kamloops was to carry manufactured goods from Montreal over to Thunder Bay, Ontario. chief duty was carrying manufactured goods from Montreal up the lakes to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Shipping comes to a halt in the Great Lakes during the winter time due to the harsh icy conditions so ship owners push to get as much freight delivered as possible before winter sets in. The owners of the Kamloops pushed the ship to operate as late into the season as possible and it was one of the last vessels still operating in the beginning of winter in 1927.

The Kamloops last journey began in late November 1927, carrying a cargo of papermaking machinery, tar paper, coiled wire, shoes, piping and consumables. The ship was last seen heading towards the shore of Isle Royale at dusk on the 6th of December while a massive storm raged against the lake. The Kamloops and her 22 crew members were never seen alive again.

When the Kamloops failed to arrive at her destination on December 12 a search expedition was launched. Nothing was found until May 1928 when some fishermen recovered the remains of several crew members on Isle Royale. Five bodies were able to be identified and the remains were shipped to the next of kin. Four others who could not be identified were buried together at Thunder Bay.

In December of 1928 a message in a bottle was found at the mouth of the Agawa River by a trapper. The bottle contained a note from Alice Bettridge, the assistant stewardess of the Kamloops. The message read “I am the last one left alive, freezing and starving to death on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. I just want mom and dad to know my fate.”

The exact cause of the ships sinking remains a mystery to this day.

Discovery of the Wreckage of the SS Kamloops

An artist depiction of the layout of the wreckage of the SS Kamloops. Source:National Park Service.

The SS Kamloops was added to the list of Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes until the 21st August 1977 when her wreck was discovered northwest of Isle Royale. A group of sport divers were carrying out a systematic search for the ship when they discovered the Kamloops lying on it starboard side at the bottom of an underwater cliff. The ship was 260ft deep, its detached smokestack lying a short distance away.

Due to the extreme cold and depth at the site of the wreckage it remains remarkably well preserved. Very few divers are skilled enough to deal with the extreme conditions. Much of the ships cargo is still in its hold almost as fresh as the day it sank. There are also human remains floating about the ship, forever held prisoner by the SS Kamloops and the icy depths of Lake Superior.

Old Whitey

Old Whitey pictured in the engine room of the sunken SS Kamloops

As if it’s not spooky enough diving down to an insane depth in freezing cold waters the Kamloops has one famous corpse who acts as a guardian of the ship.

The body of one of the ship’s crew members floats around in the Kamloops’ engine room. The freezing temperatures have turned his body white as snow causing him to be given the name Old Whitey or Grandpa by visiting divers.

As more divers have visited the wreck of the Kamloops the legend of Old Whitey has grown. Some divers have reported seeing the ghost of old whitey in separate places to his corpse. Some claim to have seen his spirit floating along the deck of the ship or relaxing in the crew bunks.

Other divers claim that the corpse of Old Whitey would float along behind them as they explored, sometimes even reaching out and touching them.

In spite of this spooky behavior none of the divers felt threatened by the presence of Old Whitey. They believed he was happy to have the company after such a long time alone at the bottom of a lake.

Many divers make note of interacting with Old Whitey in their dive logs. They speak of “paying respects to Old Whitey” or “shaking hands with grandpa”.

It seems Old Whitey is happy to make friends with any visitors to his watery grave.

If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy learning about the ghost ship Jenny or the Mary Celeste.

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Ghosts

The Arkansas Dog Boy

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Gerald Floyd Bettis – The Arkansas Dog Boy

A Victorian-era house stands proudly at 65 Mulberry Street in Quitman, Arkansas. It was built in 1891 and is reportedly haunted by numerous spirits including a WWI soldier, an old man, and a particularly terrifying entity known as the “Dog Boy”.

The History of 65 Mulberry Street, Quitman

The house where the spirit of the Arkansas Dog Boy is said to reside. Photo: Jason Roberts Online

Quitman is an old town in north-central Arkansas. During the Civil War, many men joined the Army there. Until 1870, Quitman was a busy place where people traded goods, and it was a key point for those traveling across the state. It had large, beautiful houses and buildings.

The Garrett family built a beautiful house there around 1890. After living happily there for a few years the Garrett’s sold the house to the Jackson family. Benjamin Jackson lived there with his wife, who died young. Their son, Joseph, was born in 1898, fought in WWI, and died young too.

In more recent times, the Garrett House got a bad reputation because of the Bettis family and it’s now known as the Bettis House. Floyd and Alline Bettis moved into the big house in the early 1950s.

After many years without kids, they had a son, Gerald Floyd Bettis, in 1954. People who knew Gerald said he was a naughty kid. “His parents were good people, but Gerald was a troublemaker,” Holabird said. Gerald liked to collect cats and dogs, which is why he got the nickname “Dog Boy.”

The Dog Boy of Arkansas

Gerald, the Dog Boy, would torture stray animals for fun. Neighbors could hear the animals cries and were incredibly unsettled.

Gerald was desperate for attention as a child and was constantly showing off and behaving strangely. He never moved out of his parents home and as her grew older he allegedly imprisoned his elderly parents in their own home, at times being abusive.

When Bettis grew up, people in town say he was very tall, about 6’4″, and heavy, almost 300 pounds, much larger than his old parents. It was often said that he physically abused his father, and there’s even a story about him throwing his dad out of an upstairs window when he was a teenager. His dad, who was in his 70s then, managed to hold on to the window ledge until the police arrived.

As an adult, Gerald sold plants, including marijuana, from a sunroom he built, leading to his arrest based on his mother’s abuse testimony and his illegal activity. He later died in prison from a drug overdose. After his mother’s death, the house was inherited and then sold to Tony Weaver, whose family experienced repeated paranormal activity in the home.

The Hauntings at 65 Mulberry Street

Karen Shillings, founder of The Central Arkansas Society for Paranormal Research (CASPR),became interested the house after speaking with the Weavers about their paranormal experiences.

Weaver’s wife told Shillings that she would switch off all the lights when she went to work at night, but they would be on when she came back. She first thought someone was breaking in, but then weirder things happened. Once, a handful of pennies fell down the stairs from upstairs all at once, right in front of her, Shillings said. After half a year of these things happening, she was really scared and didn’t want to live there.

Tony Weaver also saw strange things. Once when he was working on the house, he saw a man who looked like a soldier from World War I in the living room. But when he went for a closer look, he was gone.

Another couple, Quinton and Stephanie White, lived in the house in 2003. They saw strange things like the toilet flushing by itself. One evening, Quinton heard a noise upstairs, and when he checked, some wooden boards that he had stacked were all standing up straight. They only lived there for a few months.

Weaver still owns the house and tries to sell it, but hasn’t been successful. He says strange things keep happening. Once he lost his glasses and medicine after complaining about not being able to sell the house. He also said that if people the ghosts don’t like come in, they will feel cold and their hair will stand on end.

One woman who wanted to buy the house said her daughter, who is sensitive, felt very sad in the house. Another time, a chair reclined by itself and stayed like that while people were looking at the house. A dog refused to go into the house.

Ed Munnerlyn, who was fixing up the house in 2007, also has had spooky experiences. He said he feels uncomfortable, like someone is watching him, and he thinks he has seen ghosts. He also believes he saw the ghost of the Dog Boy, who was a big, scary-looking man. Sometimes he feels like a cold wind is blowing on his neck and hears noises, but can’t see anything. He believes the ghosts are letting him know they’re there.

The CASPR Investigations into the Dog Boy of Arkansas and other hauntings

Mr. Creep’s Crypt covers the story of the Arkansas Dog Boy

In 2005, Shillings and her ghost research team visited the house two times. “The first time, we felt areas that were colder by 10-15 degrees than the rest of the house. We used a special tool that measures electrical energy, and it found something we couldn’t explain,” she said.

Shillings also said that they sensed a ghost in the kitchen, and one of them felt like he was touched. “We saw a face looking at us from upstairs when we were outside, and we all saw it, but no one was upstairs,” she added.

The second time, they brought along a spirit medium, who made contact with what seemed like the ghost of Gerald Bettis. This ghost was angry and told them to leave.

They took video footage of strange things like balls of light moving through the wall and flashes of light that couldn’t be explained. However, Shillings said that the most impressive footage is lost and they haven’t been able to find it, which troubled her.

Have you heard of any stories similar to the Dog Boy of Arkansas? Let us know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this article you might be interested in other hauntings such as the story of the Sallie House or the Entity Haunting.

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Ghosts

Tomino’s Hell: The Cursed Japanese Poem

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An excerpt of the cursed poem, Tomino’s Hell

According to the legend of Tomino’s Hell, if you read the poem aloud you will become cursed.

The Legend of the Cursed Poem: Tomino’s Hell

Tomino, was a young boy living in Japan in the early 1900s. Tomino reportedly lived his life with a severe physical disability that confined him to a wheelchair.

He enjoyed writing poetry as a way of helping him cope with the overwhelming emotions he had connected to his disability. Upon composing a rather grisly poem, Tomino’s parents were anything but pleased. This reaction was not surprising given Japan’s tendency for strict cultural norms, and the fact that the poem dove into some pretty intense details.

To discipline him for his chilling verse, Tomino’s parents confined him to their basement without food. In time, due to the harsh conditions of the damp and frigid cellar, Tomino tragically passed away from bronchitis.

The legend goes that Tomino’s spirit lingered within his disturbing poetry. Anyone who dares to recite his poem out loud risks invoking a curse upon themselves, causing bad fortune and despair.

Victims of the Curse of Tomino’s Hell

The curse of Tomino’s Hell Poem became famous when people began to suffer unfortunate events after reading the poem aloud.

In 1974, a movie was released called “To Die in the Countryside”. It was written and directed by a man named Terayama Shuji. He got a lot of ideas from Tomino’s Hell Poem for his film. People started saying that he died because of the poem.

There were also rumors throughout Japan about some college kids dying after they read the poem.

The legend spread, claiming that if you read the poem aloud you could have a bad fall, lose your voice forever, get really sick suddenly, or even have a car crash.

Back in the 1980s in Japan, it became fashionable to record friends while they read the poem aloud. This fad took off and it was said that reading the poem aloud didn’t usually cause any problems.

It appears that the curse has an unpredictable nature. It could even be part of a mysterious pattern that we don’t fully understand yet. These days in Japan, even the older and wiser folk avoid talking about the poem, worried that it might bring them bad luck.

If you would like to try it for yourself, here is a version of Tomino’s Hell translated into english by David Bowles:

Tomino’s Hell

Elder sister vomits blood,
younger sister’s breathing fire
while sweet little Tomino
just spits up the jewels.

All alone does Tomino
go falling into that hell,
a hell of utter darkness,
without even flowers.

Is Tomino’s big sister
the one who whips him?
The purpose of the scourging
hangs dark in his mind.

Lashing and thrashing him, ah!
But never quite shattering.
One sure path to Avici,
the eternal hell.

Into that blackest of hells
guide him now, I pray—
to the golden sheep,
to the nightingale.

How much did he put
in that leather pouch
to prepare for his trek to
the eternal hell?

Spring is coming
to the valley, to the wood,
to the spiraling chasms
of the blackest hell.

The nightingale in her cage,
the sheep aboard the wagon,
and tears well up in the eyes
of sweet little Tomino.

Sing, o nightingale,
in the vast, misty forest—
he screams he only misses
his little sister.

His wailing desperation
echoes throughout hell—
a fox peony
opens its golden petals.

Down past the seven mountains
and seven rivers of hell—
the solitary journey
of sweet little Tomino.

If in this hell they be found,
may they then come to me, please,
those sharp spikes of punishment
from Needle Mountain.

Not just on some empty whim
Is flesh pierced with blood-red pins:
they serve as hellish signposts
for sweet little Tomino.

Who really wrote Tomino’s Hell?

Buzzfeed Unsolved covers the legend of Tomino’s Hell

After a little bit of online research we have found that Tomino’s Hell was actually written by a man named Saijō Yaso and published in 1919. Saijō Yaso was a popular children’s author at the time. He wrote Tomino’s hell during a difficult period in his life shortly after the passing of his father. Whether he intended to create a cursed poem or just express the negative emotions he was feeling is unknown.

Have you ever read Tomino’s Hell aloud? Did anything spooky happen? Tell us about it in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article you might be interested in other curses such as Rudolph Valentino’s cursed ring or the curse of the Passion of the Christ movie.

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