USS Hornet Museum

The USS Hornet (CV-12) is one of the most decorated ships in U.S. Navy history. Built during World War II, she served in critical Pacific Theater campaigns and later recovered the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 command modules and crews. With a sky-high suicide rate during service and hundreds of deaths from combat and accidents, the carrier earned a dark reputation. Now permanently docked in Alameda as a museum, the Hornet is widely considered the most haunted ship in America.

The USS Hornet (CV-12) was laid down on August 3, 1942, and commissioned on November 29, 1943, becoming one of the most decorated ships in U.S. Navy history. During 18 months of intense Pacific combat, her pilots shot down 668 Japanese aircraft and sank or damaged over 1.2 million tons of enemy shipping, earning nine Battle Stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. In 1969, she recovered the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 astronauts after humanity's first Moon landings before being decommissioned in 1970.

The Hornet's haunted reputation stems from the more than 300 deaths that occurred during her 27 years of service—from combat, catastrophic accidents like snapping flight arrest cables that decapitated at least three men, and suicides. The ship holds the grim distinction of having the highest suicide rate in Navy history. These tragedies left an indelible mark that many believe persists to this day.

The most commonly reported apparition is the "Dress Whites Ghost," a sailor in formal dress whites who appears in the passageways one deck below the hangar deck before vanishing into chained-off compartments. In February 2009, Coast Guard volunteer Bob Eiess spotted a figure he assumed was a coworker, only to watch it disappear into an empty, blocked-off room. Live-aboard staff member Ryan Garrett has witnessed sailor uniforms materialize and vanish on catwalks and near the bullnose. Visitors frequently photograph sailors from the 1940s, sometimes with cigarettes rolled in their sleeves, who weren't visible to the naked eye.

The ship's medical bay is particularly active. On July 4, 2006, visitor Steven Shirk photographed an empty operating room chair that later revealed a figure wearing what appeared to be a pilot's helmet, seemingly restrained. During Girl Scout sleepovers, children have reported two sailor apparitions observing them, with one telling the other, "Watch that one." Paranormal investigator Steve Jackson described encountering an "80% translucent" sailor who called out "I'm here!" from across the break room.

In 2008, the TAPS team from Ghost Hunters investigated the carrier and captured EVPs including a voice saying "help me" in the service tunnels, along with photographs appearing to show ghostly figures. They concluded the USS Hornet is indeed haunted. Throughout the ship, visitors report tables moving on their own, lights and electronics activating independently, sounds of gunfire and shouting, disembodied footsteps, and the unsettling sensation of hair being tugged by invisible hands. BM1 Chris Bartlett, working alone in the focsle in 1995, heard a disembodied voice correct his mooring line placement before glimpsing a sailor in dungarees who instantly vanished.

The USS Hornet Museum now embraces its supernatural reputation, offering overnight paranormal investigation programs where guests sleep in the original sailors' bunks. As docent Bill Fee has noted, "None of our spirits here are evil spirits. They're all heroes." With activity reported since the ship came out of mothballs in 1995, the Hornet remains one of the most actively haunted locations in America.