18. USS Constellation, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland
USS Constellation is a museum ship reputed to be the home of several ghosts, one of whom being the spirit of Commodore Thomas Truxton, one of the heroes of the United States Navy during its brief naval war with France known as the Quasi-War. During that conflict, the French frigate L’Insurgente was captured by Truxton, in command of the American squadron in the Caribbean, with Constellation as his flagship. It was the high point of Truxton’s naval career, and though he later engaged another French frigate, Vengeance, he was unable to capture it and take it as a prize. In 1801 he retired from the Navy. His ghost’s presence on the deck of his ship is extolled by many ghost hunters, who fail to address a central issue. It’s not the same ship.
The Constellation moored in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is the second Constellation, built in 1854, and of a completely different configuration as Truxton’s frigate. While some say that the ship is the rebuilt original Constellation, and others claim that the second vessel was built with timbers from the first, there is no evidence of either being the case. By the end of the twentieth century US Navy researchers had clearly established that few materials, if any, from the original Constellation were used in the second ship. The original was dismantled largely because the ship was rotted beyond the cost of repair. The guns of the second vessel were also completely different. Commodore Truxton, one of America’s legendary seamen, would surely recognize that he was on the wrong ship.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“White House Ghost Stories”. Press Room Fact Sheets, The White House Historical Association. Online
“The Ax Murdered Who Got Away”. Mike Dash, Smithsonian Magazine. June 8, 2012
“The Ghosts of the Dock Street Theater”. Ghost City Tours, Charleston, South Carolina. Online
“Our Spirited Guests. The Friendly Ghosts of Historic Hotel Bethlehem”. Hotel Bethlehem. Online
“Ghost Stories”. Hotel Monte Vista. Online
“The Winchester Mystery House and Other Haunted Places: Why do some places feel as if they are deliberately designed to creep us out?” Frank McAndrew, Psychology Today. January 29, 2018
“Ghosts: Washington’s Most Famous Ghost Stories”. John Alexander. 1988
“The Haunts of Washington”. Sarah Booth Conroy, The Washington Post. November 1, 1981
“Philadelphia Ghost Stories”. Charles J. Adams III. 2012
“A Historically Haunted Philadelphia House?” Lauren Lipton, Positively Philadelphia. April 24, 2016
“The Truth About Portland’s ‘Shanghai Tunnels'”. Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian. January 11, 2017