This is the time of year when we start to get heavy fog rolling across the plains along the banks of the Platte River.  If you spend any amount of time along the river, be sure to keep an eye out for a ghostly ship of death!

There is a lesser known Wyoming legend that tells the tale of a ghost ship that sails the Platte River and can be spotted between Torrington and Alcova, Wyoming.  The legend refers to the boat as a "Ship of Death” and it is cursed to forever sail upon the sometimes dangerous river waters.

According to witnesses this phantom ship shows itself on the edge of a strange mist that quickly becomes a massive rolling fog bank. As the ship draws closer, those unlucky enough to witnesses it, report that the ship's sails and masts and crew are all covered with frost.

Upon closer inspection, if you should ever get a glimpse of it, you'll notice that the crew stands on the deck supposedly huddled around a corpse lying on a sheet or canvas. The legend continues that the ship always foreshadows the death of someone who will die on the day that it is spotted.

Pay particular attention to the crew, because as the crew steps back the identity of the corpse will be revealed.  The identity of the person being revealed will be someone known by the witness and that person always meets an immediate demise.

Sightings of this eerie vessel began back in 1862 by Leon Weber a trapper in the region. When the crew revealed the body was of Weber’s girlfriend who died later that same day. Cattleman, Gene Wilson spotted the phantom ship in 1887 and saw the body of his wife laid out on the deck. Another tale from around the turn of the century describes an incident where a young Victor Heibe was chopping down a tree on his property along the riverfront when spotted the ship in the fog, on the deck was the body of a dear friend.

One of the most recent sightings was said to have occurred at Bessemer Bend on the Platte River, just west of Casper.  Another recent sighting allegedly occurred six miles southeast of the town of Guernsey, south and east of Casper.

Attempts to take pictures of the phantom ship never turn out as the camera usually produces a photo that is either solid grey in color or shows only a white haze surrounded by fog.

Have you ever seen the phantom 'Death Ship of the Platte River'?  If so, we'd like to hear your story.  Please leave a comment below or you can leave us one on our Facebook page.

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