Titanic Ghosts

[Erin Smith]

while searching the web for Titanic pictures i came across this artical.

Edited to remove copyrighted article - JDT

sorry it's so long, but what do you think?

 

[John Flood]

Hi Erin,

A number of errors straight off! Seventeen workers weren't killed during construction, and there was no way Protestant workers would have tried to sabotage the ship. The 'No Pope' serial number is a myth also. William Stead did not write a book on the disaster 20 years before hand either, to the best of my knowledge.

All the Best,
John.

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

Erin,

Do you have a link to this article that you could post? Full articles are not permitted to be posted here without the permission of the writer, due to copyright issues, only partial articles with a link can be posted. If you do not have a link, I will have to remove it.

 

[Kyrila Scully]

Erin, that is a very interesting article, but having been a long time patron of the Titanic Ship of Dreams exhibit (the correct name, mind you) and occasional participant in the tours, I'm surprised I have not heard these stories first hand. In fact, the closest thing I've heard to ghost stories at the TSOD is this tale:

William Barnes once visited the TSOD and stopped at the gift shop at the end of the tour. At the cash register, he was introduced to a psychic. Seizing the opportunity, he said "So you know that I am Thomas Andrews." To which the psychic replied, "No, I don't see his spirit with you, however, I do see his spirit following THAT man..." She pointed to my friend, Mark, who does a wonderful job performing in the tour as Thomas Andrews.

However, since I live just ten minutes away from TSOD, I shall inquire if the ghost stories are genuine and get back to you on that. Had I seen this post sooner, I could have asked them yesterday.

Kyrila

 

[Kyrila Scully]

I should have mentioned that William Barnes is renown as the author of a book "Thomas Andrews: Voyage into History," in which he claims to be the reincarnation of Thomas Andrews.

Please let's not let this thread now become a forum about reincarnation. I beg you to refrain from the subject.

Kyrila

 

[Kyrila Scully]

OH!!! I should add that the TSOD is holding their annual reenactment tour on April 14th. If anyone would like to attend, please call them for reservations. They're keeping the attendance small this year, so be sure to register right away. I have already confirmed to perform as Renee Harris.

Kyrila

 

[Kyrila Scully]

You can link to information about the Anniversary Tour at www.titanicshipofdreams.com

Kyrila

 

[Kritina Johnston]

"William Barnes once visited the TSOD and stopped at the gift shop at the end of the tour. At the cash register, he was introduced to a psychic. Seizing the opportunity, he said "So you know that I am Thomas Andrews." To which the psychic replied, "No, I don't see his spirit with you, however, I do see his spirit following THAT man..." She pointed to my friend, Mark, who does a wonderful job performing in the tour as Thomas Andrews"

Well, he did express doubts about his own story once...guess he should have listened to those doubts after all.

(And I'm referring only to his case, not to reincarnation. But it's still a wickedly good anecdote).

 

[Steve Santini]

As a side note to the Orlando exhibit...

For those who may be interested, the founders of the Orlando exhibit will be opening a new Titanic attraction in Branson Missouri this summer.

I am happy to report that our artifacts will follow the attraction to it's new home and will be displayed there.

There is a small site on the web about this that I imagine will only grow as construction proceeds.

The site is www.titanicbranson.com

Cheers, Steve Santini

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Jason already beat me to the copyright issues. All I can say beyond that is that this particular article is the usual mix of pop fantasy and mythos interwoven with fact. Hope nobody minds if I take a quick look at a few of them.

1)""90 years. That’s how long it has been since 1513 people lost their lives to what can be attributed to arrogance and folly.""

That particular statement came ex post facto to the disaster and made nice fodder for the church pulpits and the bully pulpits of politics of the time. One has to wonder where any such observations were befor the disaster, but I digress. While I'm willing to conceed that there was a large element of complacency at work, I wouldn't chalk it up to arrogance above and beyond the call. The reality is that Titanic was operated no differently from any of the express liners of the time and using methods regarded as prudent in that day and age. And why not? It all seemed to work for nearly half a century. I don't think one would have an easy time finding arrogance at work. It may have been there in the boardrooms, but the officers and seamen were all too aware of their own mortality and how dangerous seafaring was. (And still is!)

2)"She was a modern marvel, a floating first-class luxury hotel and man’s attempt to prove that he had finally conquered nature."

Disagree. The Titanic's chief claim to fame was her sheer size but the only ones crowing about her marvels were the publicists and the newsies who swallowed the ad man's line. The reality is that she was somewhat restrained in her appointments and in some respects, it can be realistically argued that she was something of a mix between 19th and 20th century thinking. Larger vessels were already being built with much the same superlatives being attributed to them by the pubicists and nobody seemd to mind.

3)and a cock is said to have crowed in full daylight (a bad omen to sailors) as Titanic departed. 17 workers died during construction, two of which are said to haunt Harland and Wolf’s Belfast shipyards to this day. Amid the fury of religious contention in Northern Ireland, Protestant workers were accused of attempting to sabotage the ship. The alleged evidence: Titanic’s hull number 3909-04, which viewed backwards says, “no POPE”, at least according the passion of the Catholic shipbuilders.

Another mix of fantasy and floklore. In fact, the Titanic was notable for reletively few fatalities during her construction. Protestant workers trying to saboutage the ship? I have to wonder what the provenance of that one is. The yard was predominantly Protestant and one has to wonder why they would want to target this one ship while neglecting the others. The fact was that in this day and age, the ideals of craftsmanship were alive and well. These people took enormous pride in their work to the point of leaving their names or initials on the panaling. Why bollux something up when you want it to stand as an enduring testement to the quality of your labour?

 

[Inger Sheil]

quote:

Protestant workers trying to saboutage the ship? I have to wonder what the provenance of that one is.

I've seen it alleged elsewhere (without any supporting evidence) that it was Catholic workers who sabotaged the ship in some as-yet unexplained way.

Perhaps both Catholic and Protestant workers overcame their sectarian differences to arrange to send her to the bottom - an unprecedented joint effort

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Perhaps both Catholic and Protestant workers overcame their sectarian differences to arrange to send her to the bottom - an unprecedented joint effort<<

But who in Ireland will buy a story like that?

 

[Mark Draper]

Hmm, I wonder if any haunt the RMSTI exhibits? I'm not scared of ghosts, and if I met or saw one of Titanic's ghosts I'd be curious.

If I had to pick out someone that would be intersting to contact it would be Thomas Andrews. If anyone saw that movie "White Noise" that film said you can contact the dead by taping yourself in a room all alone, speak out and ask a question. After recording, rewind the tape and you may hear a reply. I know it's weird but some will try anything