The Platte River Ship of Death, Wyoming
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several men claimed to see a sailing ship appearing from the mist on the North Platte River.
The ship, like the mist, came without warning but as each of the men approached the phantom ship with caution it was clear the crew themselves were ghostly figures damned to sail along the river. Their only mission was to give those they appeared to a deadly warning of impending death and it was up to the men to reach their loved ones in time.
The sightings and stories of these men were documented by a psychological research facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and later appeared in several magazines and newspapers in the mid-20th century but did any of it really happen?
PART 1 - From The Mist
Leon Webber
On a clear September afternoon fur trapper Leon Webber and his dog were several days into a month-long hunting trip. Making their way through the brush near North Platte River, something emanating from it caught Leon’s eye. A thick mist started rolling in but it was a mist unlike any other Leon had seen. In the distance, it gathered into the shape of a large ball instead of spreading out along the river.
Wanting to get a better look they ran down to the riverbanks, his dog immediately whimpering and cowering behind Leon. Still intrigued he grabbed a rock and tossed it at the approaching mist, shocked and confused as the rock seemed to bounce off something solid just beyond the mist.
It was then that Leon noticed something emerging from it. It wasn’t long before a large sailing ship broke through, making its way directly toward him on the river banks. Leon became overtaken by a sense of dread noticing the ship was grey and dilapidated, various parts of it covered in a thin layer of frost.
On the deck, a ghostly crew stared blankly at Leon as the ship inched closer with each passing second. Unable to move Leon stood in fear as the crew parted ways revealing a coffin.
The lid of the coffin slid open allowing Leon to witness the body of a young woman lying motionless. His heart sank when her features became clear, revealing her to be his wife. As Leon let out a pained scream, the ship and the mist vanished. Leon cut his trip short, rushing home to ensure his wife was safe but upon arriving several in his small town had already gathered outside of his home, where his wife was found dead earlier that day.
Though Leon tried to tell the rest of his story and the ship that foretold his wife’s death, few believed him and it would be another 25 years before the death ship sailed again.
Gene Wilson
In 1887 near the city of Casper, cattleman Gene Wilson rode up to the river on his horse attempting to round up several of the strays. Like Leon years before, Gene caught a glimpse of a mist forming some distance from him on the river. He commanded his horse to bring him closer but the horse refused, snorting and attempting to turn away.
The mist parted, displaying a large sailing ship that appeared to be anchored down. Later Gene would describe the ship as a “phantom ship” which made his nerves quiver. He hopped off of his horse but before he could tie it down, it turned, running a distance away. Undeterred Gene proceeded forward on foot towards the ship.
Approaching it, he could see the layers of ice covering not just the ship but the nine ghostly men who stood motionless staring at him. It was then he started to hear the heavy sounds of steps coming from the inside of the ship when a spectral captain appeared in front of the men.
His frosted eyes stared at Gene as he made a motion for his men to bring forth a large object covered in a canvas. Four men brought the object in clear view of Gene, one gripped the canvas drawing it back revealing the lifeless body of a woman who had been badly burned.
Gene later wrote, “the face of a woman who seemed to be terribly burned. In spite of the frightfully scarred face, I recognized my wife. Overcome with terror, I screamed and covered my eyes. When I looked again, the ship had vanished.”
Terrified of what this meant, Gene ran back to his horse and sped back to his home. Above the hilltop, just beyond his home, he could see the black smoke rising and when making his way over it, his heart sank, his home was in ashes. Among the embers he desperately searched for any sign of his wife, finding none.
His next thought brought him running to the river about a hundred yards from his home. It was there, that he found the burned remains of his wife. Putting together that his ill-fated wife had caught fire and attempted to toss herself into the river to extinguish the flames.
Victor Heibe
The last well-documented sighting of the ship of death occurred on November 20th, 1903. Victor Heibe was near his home at Bessemer Bend chopping wood by the riverbank. A few months prior he had testified in favor of his lifelong friend Thomas Horn who had been accused of murder. Though Victor was adamant Thomas was innocent of the crime, the Cheyenne criminal court found him guilty sentencing him to death.
With no other choice, Thomas Horn and another escaped from jail disappearing into the woods and leaving behind everything and everyone he knew including Victor. But on this day, as Victor gathered the wood, without warning a thick fog materialized around him and the river. At first unable to see several steps ahead of him, he swiped away until he saw a large black shadow approaching.
The mist broke revealing the phantom ship in front of him, Victor stood amazed watching as the ghost crew lined up on the deck staring blankly at him. A familiar voice seemed to echo around Victor, it said, “All right, but I am telling you that you are hanging an innocent man.”
One of the crew responded yet none of the men in front of Victor moved their lips, it replied, “That is not for us to determine. You were tried and convicted of murder.”
A canvas sheet dropped from behind the men revealing gallows and at the end of the cross-arm, a lifeless body swayed rocking back and forth along with the ship. As the body turned, Victor recounted, “It was the face of my dearest friend, he whom I had defended with my testimony in court at Cheyenne only a few months previously.”
Victor shut his eyes at the sight of his dead friend but when he opened them, his friend, the ship, and the mist were all gone. He gathered his items and rode into town desperate to find information on Thomas. To his dismay, he discovered Thomas Horn had in fact been hanged that very same day.
Over the next century, there have reportedly been a few more sightings of the ship, some have warned of incoming deaths while others claimed to have just seen a glimpse of a greyish ship with a ghostly crew disappearing into the mist. But no other account has been as well documented as the first three presented here and maybe there’s a reason for that.
PART 2 - Beyond The Mist
The accounts presented today were originally reported in various magazines and papers in the 1940s and 50s. The accounts claim all the information was collected in the early 20th century by The Cheyenne Bureau of Psychological Research with signed witness statements by the men who saw the death ship.
The problem with this is The Cheyenne Bureau of Psychological Research never existed except in the retellings of these accounts. No newspaper records show any mention of the bureau in any article prior to the late 1940s.
On top of this, the city of Cheyenne did not become a city until 1868 and the study of psychology didn’t come into prominence in the United States until the 1910’s making it difficult to believe there was already a Bureau of Psychological Research in Wyoming at the time of the first sighting in 1862.
In tracing back the story of the death ship, the first mention of it and the bureau were found to be in the very first issue of Fate magazine in 1948 in an article by Vincent Gaddis reporting the details of the sightings. While Fate magazine today is known for reporting instances of paranormal phenomena and investigating and debunking several claims, back in 1948 that was not the case.
Fate magazine would willingly publish articles from writers that were not verified or researched, in this case, they published the article by Vincent Gaddis claiming these sightings of the death ship were true.
If you’ve read some of our previous articles, specifically “The Terror on The Parrier and Ivan Vassili, Russian Ghost Ships”, then the name Vincent Gaddis should sound familiar to you. Gaddis was a writer in the mid-20th century who willfully published and made up stories of the supernatural and passed them along as fact. His 1965 book “Invisible Horizons” retold the story of “The Ivan Vassili” as true despite it being entirely made up by another science fiction writer.
Apart from that, Gaddis was known to have made up several ghost stories throughout his career usually involving the sea and ships, selling them to various magazines and newspapers, making up and coining the now popular term “Bermuda Triangle”.
With no mentions of the death ship, the witnesses, or The Cheyenne Bureau of Psychological Research prior to Gaddis first article of the account, it makes it pretty clear all the sightings never actually happened, made up entirely by the writer. The stories tapped into our desires of wanting a warning of impending death, especially concerning our loved ones then turning into tragedies when the witnesses end up too late to save those destined to die.
But how about you did you believe these ghost stories as is or do you still believe there may be a chance a death ship roams the North Platte River warning passer-byers of impending death?
