03/19/13

3 Hauntings Caused by Parts Retrieved from Fatal Accidents

james dean car crash picture

Today Jalopnik reported that a man on Craigslist is trying to sell “haunted” parts collected from the site of Ryan Dunn’s fatal accident. Dunn, a former Jackass star, died last year in a drunk driving crash that also killed a passenger. The force of the impact obliterated Ryan’s Porsche, and morbid fans collected pieces from the accident. The fellow on Craigslist apparently gathered a box full of parts and now wants to sell them for $300. Why? It seems “weird shit” started happening after he brought the box home.

From the ad:

“A week after the accident I went to the accident and scooped up minor parts I saw lying on the ground. The parts are all remotely tiny, and all fit in a shoebox.

I don’t want them anymore because weird shit has happened since I put it under my bed.

I guess it’s because it’s a weird thing to have, but I was a huge Jackass fan and thought it would be a cool something to have.”

The man didn’t offer specifics, but if his story is true (highly questionable) it wouldn’t be the first time parts from a fatal accident have led to a haunting.

The Curse of the Little Bastard
James Dean, the iconic star of Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, also died in a high-speed crash involving a Porsche (pictured above). The actor died on September 30, 1955, and parts of his mangled Porsche 550 Spyder, a.k.a. the “Little Bastard,” made its way to a few of Dean’s friends and former race associates. That’s when “weird shit” started happening.

In 1956, a Dr. Troy McHenry died after losing control in a car race and crashing into a tree. Another driver,  Dr. William F. Eschrich, was seriously injured in the same race after his car rolled during a turn. McHenry’s car contained the engine from Little Bastard, while Eschrich’s vehicle had Dean’s former drivetrain.

On another occasion, the Little Bastard was in storage when a mysterious fire broke out and damaged the vehicle. No other cars suffered harm, and the cause of the fire remains unknown.

A man named George Barris displayed the crushed body of Dean’s Porsche, and the mangled vehicle eventually appeared at various car shows and community centers throughout California. Legend has it the car harmed many people during its travels, including a high school student who suffered a broken hip and a truck driver who perished when Little Bastard fell off a transport truck. Most of the stories, however, are impossible to verify.

Wikipedia, Jalopnik

The Ghosts of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed in the Florida Everglades on December 29, 1972, killing 101 of the 176 people onboard. EA reportedly salvaged parts of the wrecked aircraft for use on other planes, and that’s when the ghost sightings began. Passengers and crew members reported seeing the ghosts of Flight 401 captain Bob Loft and flight engineer Don Repo on outgoing flights. John G. Fuller’s 1976 book, The Ghost of Flight 401, explores the haunting and inspired a made-for-TV movie by the same name. First-hand accounts of sightings also appeared on the aviation forum Airliner.net (read them here).

Wikipedia

Some say the strange events surrounding the Little Bastard and Flight 401 are nothing but a coincidence. Others aren’t so sure. What do you believe?

Know of a haunted parts tale I missed? Contact me here or email ghostsghoul@gmail.com!

12/24/12

Reader Submission: The Cold Spot

plane_interior

“In 1989, our family flew to California for a vacation. My daughter had been ill with cancer the year before, and was still feeling the effects of the disease, but wanted to make one more trip to Knott’s Berry Farm and Sea World before checking into the hospital upon our return. The vacation itself was lovely, the weather was perfect, everything went like clockwork.

We returned to Phoenix on the same aircraft we had flown to California on, but sat in different seats than on the outwardbound trip. Suddenly, my daughter, who had been suffering chills, got colder and colder. She had already slipped on a heavy sweatshirt purchased for just that purpose, and I wrapped a Mexican blanket we had gotten at Knott’s around her, but she still got steadily colder. The attendant brought a blanket, and helped me wrap my daughter up like a cocoon, but it didn’t help. It seemed forever before we landed in Phoenix. It took several hours for her to warm up. What was odd was that the rest of us, my three granddaughters, my brother and myself, as well as the other passengers, were perfectly comfortable the whole trip!

About three weeks later, my brother flew to Ontario, California on business, taking the same plane. He sat across the aisle from the seats we had occupied and witnessed a lady sitting in the same seat my daughter had, beg for blankets–more blankets, please! She was freezing, although her husband and son on either side of her were rather warm, and said so.

The attendant recognized my brother, and quietly told him she was convinced there was something wrong with that particular seat because anyone who sat there–man, woman or child–complained of being cold, but had no explanation.”

Read more tales of haunted planes here…

Send your creepy stories to ghostsghoul@gmail.com or submit them here!