USS Lexington Museum

They called this aircraft carrier "The Blue Ghost" because Tokyo Rose announced it sunk four separate times and was wrong every time. Commissioned in 1943, it later recovered the Apollo 11 and 12 crews before becoming a museum ship in Corpus Christi.

The USS Lexington, known as the "Blue Ghost," was commissioned in February 1943 and became one of the most decorated ships in U.S. Navy history, earning 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during World War II. The Japanese reported sinking her four times--each time she returned to battle, painted dark blue, earning her ghostly nickname. After the longest active service of any Essex-class carrier, she was decommissioned in 1991 and opened as a museum in Corpus Christi in 1992.

The ship's most famous resident spirit is Charlie, a well-mannered sailor with piercing blue eyes who appears in the engine room wearing a vintage white Navy uniform no longer used by museum staff. Many tourists have complimented their "wonderful tour guide" in Engine Room #2, not realizing no such official guide exists. Charlie, believed to be a sailor killed during a 1944 Japanese kamikaze attack, dazzles visitors with his intimate knowledge of the ship and its engines before vanishing without a trace.

The Lexington's wartime history includes notable casualties. Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick died during flight training on the ship's maiden voyage when his plane crashed into the sea. Helmsman Chris Christiansen was struck by a German shell on June 25, 1944, outside Cherbourg. Other deaths include an Army Ranger who died on an operating table in the days following D-Day and two sailors who fell overboard during World War I.

Visitors report sounds of running footsteps on lower decks, voices from empty corridors, and distant gunfire echoing through the metal halls. Quick-moving shadows dart through the passageways--spectral soldiers rushing to man their battle stations. In the old ship's kitchen, guests encounter the smell of cooking food with no source. Small objects like pen caps disappear only to reappear in strange locations. The USS Lexington was featured on Syfy's Ghost Hunters and now hosts regular paranormal investigations through its "Blue Ghost Paranormal Overnight" program, offering investigators access to six documented "hot spots" across the ship.