Moment in Oddity - FLIP Research Vessel (Suggested by: Duey Oxberger)
There was a most unique research vessel invented in 1962 called FLIP, which stood for 'Floating Instrument Platform'. FLIP was designed by The Gunderson Brothers Engineering Company in Portland, Oregon. Technically it was not a ship at all, but a 355 foot oceanographic research vessel. FLIP was operated by Scripps Oceanography of San Diego, CA for the U.S. Navy. The reason why this vessel was named FLIP was because it could be towed out to sea in a horizontal position and then flipped 90 degrees with 300 feet submerged underwater. To accomplish this flipping process, the research vessel's operators would direct water into several ballast tanks. The transition from the horizontal to the vertical positions would take almost 30 minutes to complete. Flip was originally built to study long-range sound propagation for submarine warfare, however, the research platform was also used to gather information on geophysics, meteorology, physical oceanography, marine mammal research and for gathering other scientific data. FLIP was exceptionally impervious to waves. A 30 foot wave would only make the vessel rise a mere three feet in the water column and it could even withstand swells of up to 80 feet. Most rooms in the buoyant end of FLIP were designed with specifications to operate in both the horizontal and vertical positions. Things like bunk beds, toilets and stoves were built on swivels, while sinks and doors were built both in the horizontal and vertical positions. FLIP gathered valuable data for nearly 60 years before being retired in August 2023. FLIP’s unique design made it the only vessel in the world capable of operating both horizontally and vertically and that fact alone, certainly makes it odd.
This Month in History - Cuyohoga River Fire
In the month of June, on the 22nd, in 1969, the Cuyahoga (Kieya HOEGA)river in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire. The fire was blamed upon the extensive pollution of the Cuyahoga River and witnesses stated that the inferno reached heights of five stories high. It called to light the city's ineffective pollution abatement program. The blaze was recorded beginning around noon and took approximately 20 minutes to get under control. A fireboat and three fire battalions battled the fire eventually containing it to a railroad trestle owned by Norfolk & Western Railway Co. with an estimated damage of $45,000, causing the company to close the area to rail usage. A secondary trestle owned by Newburgh & South Shore Railroad Company sustained $5,000 in damages, however that trestle remained open. It was documented that the fire was caused by a buildup of oily waste and trash that accumulated on the river under the two trestles. Cleveland's Bureau of Industrial Wastes investigated, and it was surmised that the blaze was caused by a discharge of highly volatile petroleum derivatives that had a low flash point but still ignited,possibly due to a flare, at the sight of the railroad bridges. At the time of the fire there was national concern over pollution in Lake Erie and the rivers that flowed into it. This occurrence negatively reflected upon Cleveland's reputation precisely due to the Cuyahoga River's documentation of being the most polluted river in the nation. Over the years, the Cuyahoga river has caught fire 14 times, with the most recent blaze having occurred in August of 2020 after a reprieve of 51 years.
Old Sacramento is known as Sacramento's "Front Porch." The entire sector is protected as a National Landmark and for good reason. Much of California's early history is seated here. The town saw immense growth during the California Gold Rush and with that came death as well. Cholera epidemics swept through and fire and floods destroyed the place more than once. Old Sacramento had to be raised eighteen feet to prevent flooding, leaving behind underground tunnels. These tunnels are said to be filled with spirits and several of the historic buildings that still remain have unexplained activity. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of Old Sacramento.
The city of Sacramento is the capital of California. The Sacramento Valley was inhabited by the Miwok, Maidu, Nisenan and Patwin people before trappers, traders and settlers moved into the territory. There were several villages with a few hundred members from each tribe. Spanish cavalryman Gabriel Moraga came in 1808 to survey the Sacramento River, which he actually named. Swiss-born Mexican John Augustus Sutter was assigned the duty of colonizing the area and he built Sutter's Fort and eventually Sutter's Mill. One of his employees discovered gold and Sacramento was off and running during the California Gold Rush. While Sutter definitely is credited with starting a colony here, it would be his son John Sutter, Jr. that would be the more successful and he actually founded and platted out the city of Sacramento. This city would become the commercial center of the California Gold Rush since it was built right along the river. And while being close to the river was great for business, it was bad when it came to flooding, which the city did regularly until levies were built and the city rose considerably above the river with thousands of cubic yards of earth being brought in on wagons in 1853. This was a massive endeavor, especially for business owners. What happened is that the city built these eighteen-foot tall brick walls along the streets and filled in the center with the dirt. Now business owners either had to deal with having this wall in front of their property or they could bring in construction companies to jack up their buildings to what was now the new street level. So now there is an underground tunnel system.
Local merchant Sam Brannan opened a store near the Sacramento River once the Gold Rush got started. He and several businessmen eventually bought the Sutter family's property, but not by honest means. Sutter Jr. had been very ill and desperate to move south to Mexico. He didn't like the terms of the contract to buy the property, but somehow the businessmen convinced him to do it. He moved and was never paid. Sutter Jr. returned back to Sacramento and Brannan promised to pay him $40,000, which wasn't paid either. Lawsuits ensued and the California Supreme Court got involved and Sutter Jr. would eventually get about $3,500. People, especially miners, flocked to Sacramento and many of the early structures were simply canvas tents on poles. These would be replaced by wood and brick structures and Old Sacramento came together. Many early structures still remain, there are 53 historic buildings, and the Old Sacramento Waterfront is a thriving retail and commercial district.
Old Sacramento Underground Tunnels
There are claims that Old Sacramento is one of the most haunted areas in the world. And the most haunted place in Old Sacramento has to be the underground tunnel system. This area was notorious for crime and murder and all kinds of nefarious activity. Investigators claim that there are spirits of victims of disease, floods and fires in the tunnels. People have claimed to hear disembodied crying and laughing and shadow figures have been seen. One apparition people have see is a woman in Victorian dress. There is also the spirit of a young man who may have been murdered in the tunnels. Ghost Adventures investigated the underground. They captured disembodied footsteps and on a full-spectrum video camera they caught what looked like a large black mass move away from them behind a wall. It definitely was weird. Aaron heard a man say "F you" audibly behind him. The Spirit Box also said, "F you." Zak asked, "Out of Nick, Zak and Aaron, who don't you like?" and "Aaron" clearly came over the box. They also got the name "Laura" and "Help" over the box
Sacramento History Museum
The Old Sacramento area is anchored by a reproduction of the 1854 City Hall and Waterworks Building that now houses the Sacramento History Museum. The original building was the city's first municipal building and not only included the Mayor's office, but the fire department, police department and city jail. The city's water supply was kept in tanks up on the roof. The building later became strictly just the city prison. The building was sold and demolished in 1913 due to damage from the weight of the water and the railroad tracks that curved around the building. Parts of the jail weren't demolished and still exist today. The museum hosts ghost tours annually in October.
The museum has the trunk of May Hollister Woolsey who died at the age of twelve in Sacramento after getting a mosquito bite. May died in a house in Sacramento that eventually became a derelict boardinghouse that was bought by a man named Ed Duffy in 1979. He started refurbishing the house and when he knocked out a stairwell, he discovered a small steamer trunk. Inside the trunk were a satin wedding hat, petticoats, marbles, buttons, spools of thread, Christmas tree ornaments, rubber baby galoshes, sewing kit, ostrich feather, doll-size slippers, a diary and a lock of her hair. Mae's mother was devastated at her loss and contacted a medium to try to talk to her daughter and this medium channeled a letter from Mae that is also at the history museum, although it isn't on display. Mae just basically said she wasn't dead, only gone and for her mother not to be sad and that her mission on earth isn't done yet. Her spirit is said to hang out by her burial in the cemetery and also possibly here with her belongings.
And there is also the spirit of George Nicholas Simmons. He was the last man hanged at the jail. He was a highwayman and when the authorities caught up with him, the blood from a victim he had killed was still wet on his horse's bridle. He was tried at the court, found guilty and hanged December 4, 1863. A tour guide said that guests on his tour captured a few pictures of him telling the story of George outside the museum and there were orbs that seemed to be moving all around his body.
Lady Adams Building
This is the oldest remaining structure in the district. It dates to 1852. This was a wholesale and import house that was started by four German immigrants who arrived in town aboard the Lady Adams. They named their store Lady Adams Mercantile Company because the initial goods sold came in off the Lady Adams. The mercantile went bankrupt in 1861 and was replaced by the Fogus & Coghill Grocery. The building was raised fifteen feet in 1865 and became the Mebius & Company Wholesale Grocers. It was vacant in the 1950s as the area became Skid Row. Old Sacramento was redeveloped in the 1960s and the Lady Adams Building and its next door neighbor Howard House were renovated. When reconstruction was done, the ground floor opened as Evangeline's gift shop and the upper two floors featured a bank-themed restaurant and bar. Today, this is the Evangeline's Costume Mansion, which opened in 2000. The mansion features eight themed rooms and visitors can participate in a scavenger hunt through the two buildings. Names for the rooms include the Gothic Chamber, Renaissance Room, The Saloon, The Lab, The Jungle, The Disco, Storybook Land and The Circus.
There are many reports, especially from employees, about haunting activity. They have been touched and watched items move around. The basement seems to be the most active area. News10 ABC participated in an investigation at the mansion in 2015. Reporter Jeff Maher had a device he called a PX Device that says words that started going off and said "highway." A psychic with the group said that there was a man on the second floor who was throwing around F bombs and saying he wanted some whiskey. A Spirit Box in the basement sounded like it responded "Robert" when asked for a name. It also answered "basement" when asked where they were right now. When the investigators asked for knockings, they got them. A viewer told Maher that she had her hair pulled when she was shopping there once. They used dowsing rods to identify that they were talking to a spirit named Penelope - a psychic said she had a dream about a Penelope - and she had come to Sacramento from Colorado.
The Vernon-Brannan House
The Vernon-Brannan House was built on the site of Sacramento's first post office after it burned down in 1852. Samuel Brannan owned the plot and he sold it to Henry E. Robinson who built a three-story hotel he named the Jones Hotel. This opened in 1854, but was closed within a year. A woman named O.J. Clark took over the building and reopened it as a boarding house she called the Vernon House. Ten years later, Samuel Brannan bought back the property and restored it back to the hotel and opened it as Brannan House. Brannan sold it to Peter Bryding in 1875. Today, the building is a Colderbank office. There is a spirit of a woman in the building. Some think she died in a fire, perhaps before the hotel had been there. People claim to hear her spirit whispering in their ears. One time it was "excuse me." She likes to turn on the upper balcony lights if someone is out on the patio.
Dingley Spice Mill Building
Nathaniel Dingley was born in Maine in 1824 and left for the California gold mines in 1849. He was married four times and had four daughters. He was divorced twice and his fourth wife was in the process of divorcing him when he died in 1897. Dingley was a pioneer coffee merchant who amassed a great fortune from his coffee business and he owned a lot of property in San Francisco and Sacramento. Dingley built the two-story building in 1853 and he lived on the second floor while running the coffee business on the first floor. Dingley got busted in 1854 for having four kegs of blasting powder in the building and went to jail for awhile. The City Recorder decided that a merchant's license did not give Dingley the ability to deal in gunpowder. A special license was needed for that and no amount over fifty pounds was allowed. And this was for good reason since there was such a danger from fire. As a matter of fact, fire did break out in 1867 and the paper reported, "Dingley's spice and coffee mill, on the north side of I street, was considerably damaged... [Dingley's] exertions to save the last mentioned building is worthy of remark. He had but a small quantity of water in the house, but he made every drop of it tell against the encroaching flames. In his efforts to save his house his face got considerably scorched, which will require several days to regenerate the blistered surface; however, he feels satisfied that it is no worse, and thinks his injuries but slight to what his loss would have been in case the house had met the fate of others near him." Dingley was cruel to a daughter he had with mental disabilities. He threw her down the stairs once. The strange happenings in the building are caused by the ghost of Nathaniel Dingley, people say. Since he wasn't a nice guy, the haunting isn't very nice either. Items are thrown off shelves, the lights upstairs turn themselves on and off on their own and there are strange sounds. The feeling in the building can be oppressive.
River City Saloon
The River City Saloon had been located on the Waterfront, but it is permanently closed now. It had touted itself as the last Old West saloon left in Sacramento and the building dates back to the 1800s. The first building was wood and this was replaced by a brick building in 1857. This saloon not only served drinks, but there was a brothel here run by Johanna Heigle. Sacramento newspaper man Parker French bought the saloon and reopened it as Parker French's Saloon. Men had to be careful not to get too drunk or they might get Shanghaied. When Prohibition shut down alcohol, the bar switched to Sasparilla. By the 1960s, the building was part of Skid Row. The River City Saloon moved in in 2008 after a remodel to its original grandeur. The interior featured a 1905 Triple Arch Brunswick back bar from a New York hotel and a pressed tin ceiling. The bar seems to have three ghosts that haunt the place. There is a prankster male ghost who sometimes steals from customers. Another is a child ghost and the third is a mysterious one that entails a hand print that shows up on the mirror behind the bar. Employees claimed that after closing time, things would move around behind the bar. Light fixtures hanging from the ceiling would swing on their own. Reporter Jeff Maher investigated here for News10 ABC in 2015. The PX Device that he used at the costume shop was used here as well and said "story" and "10" which fits with the fact that he was doing a story for Channel 10, so sounded like an intelligent haunting. The dowsing rod indicated that there is a spirit there that died under the age of twenty. Maher caught what he thought was an apparition in a picture that looked like a woman in a dress. He explained that they had earlier contacted a woman who had worked at the brothel and she said her last name was Murphy.
The Eagle Theater
The Eagle Theater was California’s first theater. The original building was just canvas and wood with a tin roof. The flood of 1850 wiped out the theater. The Eagle Theater that is in the district is a reconstruction. The original went through several owners and bankruptcies in a short period of time. All members of the town would come out for plays. Tickets were sold at the saloon in front of the theater. The parks department put together several accounts and put together this history of the theater, "Seats were rough boards, apparently without seat-backs and possibly sitting atop tree stumps or packing crates. General lighting was provided by three multi-candle chandeliers, while stage lighting most likely was achieved with oil lamps placed directly in front of the stage. Entrance was through the saloon although visiting ladies and genteel men could be spared the indignity of passing through this rowdy space by sitting in the "boxtier" gallery (loosely akin to a balcony), accessed via an outdoor ladder staircase next to the main entrance." Today, the theater offers docent and video programs on the history of Old Sacramento.
Many people believe that the former director at the theater from the 1970s is the spirit here. Items get moved around, as do chairs. Ghost Adventures investigated here and interviewed a woman named Sue. She said that a person on a tour had seen an actor on the stage and he looked away and didn't see the man, so he asked Sue where the man had gone and Sue was like, what man? Later, Zak asked the spirits if they knew Sue whom he talked to earlier and the Ovilus answered "Possibly." Zak saw a shadow move in a corner. When Zak asked if the spirit could show that he was there, a rocking chair started rocking on its own.
The Delta King
The Delta King is a paddlewheel riverboat located on the Old Sacramento Waterfront near downtown and the Golden 1 Center. The riverboat was built in 1925 in Glasgow, Scotland and Stockton, California. It ran between San Francisco and Sacramento for 14 years from 1927 to 1940. The Delta King made these trips with its sister ship, the Delta Queen (which is also haunted). These were some party boats featuring live jazz, gambling, drinking even though Prohibition was on and there was fine dining. A famous suicide took place on the steamship in 1932. If you've listened to our recent Phantasmal Crime about the death of Paul Bern, you heard that Bern was common law married to a woman named Dorothy Millette. As a brief recap, Bern had left Millette and moved on to movie star Jean Harlow and married her. Bern ended up dead, some say by suicide, some say murder. Millette could've possibly been the murderer. Whatever the case, she had mental health issues and ended up on the Delta King on September 6th, 1932. She jumped overboard and her body was found washed up in Walnut Grove a week later. Millette wasn't the only suicide though. A month before, a man wearing a blue suit and a black necktie, with a key to Room 104 in his pocket, jumped off the steamship and drowned. He was never identified. Other deaths on board include a dairyman named Leroy Deskin who jumped overboard in 1933. His body was never found. Another man hanged himself in his cabin in 1934. There was also poison and heart stimulants in his cabin. The man had registered under a pseudonym, so he was never identified.
Once the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge were completed in 1937 and 1938, the need for the riverboats disappeared. Both of the Deltas were basically out of business. The U.S. Navy drafted both riverboats, painted them gray, and used them during World War II as troop transports. After some time, they became naval barracks and towards the end of the war, they served as hospital ships. The Delta Queen was purchased by the Green Line Steamers of Cincinnati and run along the Mississippi River. She was fitted with her twins steam engines meaning the Delta King had to be towed anytime it was moved. Many plans for the steamship fell through. There was an idea to create a floating Chinese restaurant. Another idea put forward the idea to turn it into a floating Ghirardelli Square. So the Delta King was shuttled around between California and Canada. In Canada, it served as a rooming house for workers at an aluminum manufacturing plant.
The Delta King was partially submerged in San Francisco Bay by 1984. Brothers Ed and Charlie Coyne bought the neglected steamship and towed it to the Pacific Drydock Co. in Oakland. The original steel hull was stripped and completely restored and then it was towed to Old Sacramento Waterfront and given a complete historical renovation under architect Walter Harvey. The whole process of getting the Delta King back to its former glory took five years. Much of the original woodwork was preserved. The steamship was rechristened and reopened in April of 1989. This now serves as a hotel and restaurant. There are 44 rooms, which have either city views or river views. The restaurant is named the Pilothouse Restaurant and is the original grand dining room of the steamship. There are also wedding packages available. And then there are the ghosts, Apparently there are several ghosts.
Guests and employees claim that spirits tip over glasses and glasses get broken randomly, drain batteries and bounce balls. A chair from the theater was found in the elevator and the theater had been locked at the time. One of the spirits is male and he appears wearing a light shirt, dark pants and a hat. This ghost tends to walk along the lobby wall, but before he goes through the office door, he turns, walks away and disappears. There is also the spirit of a little girl aged around 10 years old. She appears wearing a long dress and she has dirty blonde hair and sometimes she is bouncing a ball. Her disembodied giggling is heard and sometimes her footsteps are seen in the morning dew on the deck. Staff claim that when investigators ask what her name is, she can't remember and it is believed that she was raped and murdered by a crew member. A former crew member named Pierre is said to have lost his life in the engine room and his spirit remains. The theater rooms are probably the most haunted areas of the ship, although Room 436 gives them a run for their money.
The blog Haunted Honeymoon reported, "Some strange occurrences happened in our stay. While we were talking to staff members in the lounge a glass cracked in the hands of one of them when she put ice in it. The glass was not warm when she did this. While we were having breakfast in the Pilothouse Restaurant a menu tilted, fell over, and knocked into a glass which broke. The wait staff came over to clean and reset the table and the same menu tipped again, and broke yet another glass. Our full camera battery also drained over the course of one night."
Paul Dale Roberts wrote on the blog True Ghost Tales (dot) com, " The employees that I interviewed on this gorgeous riverboat are Greg Costenson - Beverage Director, Alice Briggs-Ben, Stacey Sorokowsky, Karen Macias - Guest Receptionist. Greg has never seen a ghost, but he has heard all kinds of stories about the ghosts on this boat. While I was interviewing Greg, HPI Paranormal Investigator Debbie Talani was trying to gather some photographic evidence of paranormal activity on the boat. Debbie had an unusual situation happen while taking pictures. She took a picture of one of the employees of the boat and when she looked back at the picture, he was no where in the photo. This was quite odd! On this night, I had a date who does not want to be identified with this story and I sat her down at the bar, while I conducted interviews and Debbie did some lone scouting investigation...Greg brought over an employee named Alice Briggs-Ben and she tells me that patrons have heard a little girl playing or a man walking. Patrons have seen a little girl going down the hallway, or heard her singing...'ring around the roseys'. In the Suspect's Murder Mystery Theater and the Delta King Theater, there are stories of many entities that hang out in this area of the boat...
Another employee Stacey Sorokowsky tells me that one time at 2am, she went downstairs and she was locking up inventory, when all of a sudden the air in the room chilled with coldness. That was her only paranormal experience, but she was told by the server that he actually saw the little girl ghost. Now Karen Macias has been an employee for 8 years and she has experienced the presence of the little girl ghost 3 times and the man ghost 3 or 4 times. She has seen the man ghost with her peripheral vision, she saw him walk one way and then back another way quickly. She has heard the little girl laughing. One time a patron told her to keep the little girl from playing in the hallway, because he couldn't sleep, he didn't know she was a ghost. After 10pm is when the paranormal activity usually starts according to Karen. Karen tells me that there are more ghosts in the theater. Unfortunately, there was a play going on. Debbie and I, could not investigate this area. Debbie's digital audio recorder would not work for her tonight, so we couldn't pick up any EVPs. Karen shows me a book that Stan Garvey wrote about the boat, called 'King and Queen of the River'. This book details the history of the Delta King. The book was published in 1995. It's a hard book to find. In this book, I learn that the wood was cut in Scotland and assembled & launched to Stockton, where the boat was built. I asked Karen how old does she think the girl ghost is? Karen thinks the girl is anywhere from 7 years old to 9 years old. One employee saw barefoot footprints of the little ghost girl show up on the floor. He freaked out and quit his job instantly. I asked Karen what does the man ghost look like and she describes him as wearing a dark cap, white shirt and dark pants. One time Karen thought the man ghost was mad at her and he shifted all of her papers on her cabinets to the left hand side of one cabinet."
Sacramento is a city with many haunted locations and the Old Sacramento Waterfront seems to have a cluster of them. With a rich history dating to before the Gold Rush and an entire network of underground tunnels, it's not surprising. But are these locations really haunted? That is for you to decide!
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