A Titanic Haunting
Hi History Lovers!
In the… spirit of Spooky Season, I’m including a short video clip from my recent talk on Irish ghosts at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan, a collaboration with Andrea Janes of Boroughs of the Dead. The clip sets up the story of the Irish and British ghosts associated with the sinking of the Titanic, many of whom are thought to still reside in New York City.
In the early morning hours of Monday, April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic, the pride of the White Star Line and advertised as unsinkable, struck an iceberg off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The luxury ocean liner did indeed sink, taking 1,503 passengers and crew members with her to the bottom of the North Atlantic.
Among the dead were Isidor Straus, the German-born co-founder of the R.H. Macy & Co. department store in Herald Square, and his wife, Ida, who famously refused a seat in one of the lifeboats to stay with him, and John Jacob Astor, accounted one of the world’s richest men.
Also lost were scores of Irish immigrants, many of whom had boarded at Queenstown (today, Cobh) as steerage passengers.
Seven hundred and five survivors were rescued by the Cunard liner Carpathia and taken to New York. Four days later, on April 19th they were brought to their berth at Pier 54 at Chelsea Piers near West 13th Street. The injured were taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital for treatment. The others, including 100 surviving crew members, mainly British sailors, were quartered at a seamen’s hostel: The American Seamen’s Friend Society Sailors Home and Institute, a six-story red brick Neoclassical building overlooking the Hudson on the corner of West and Jane Streets. Designed by William A. Boring, the architect of the U.S. immigration station on Ellis Island, the Society opened its doors in 1908 as an evangelical Christian organization offering sailors a wholesome environment and a clean room for just 25 cents a night.
Today, we know it as The Jane Hotel, and it’s considered to be one of the most haunted hotels in New York City.
We can only imagine the terror and tension of those sailors as they anxiously awaited news of their missing mates, praying for a miracle. Four days after the ship sank, it was clear that no more miracles would be forthcoming. The surviving crew members held a memorial service in the assembly room, today the hotel ballroom. There they cried and prayed and sang hymns, including “Nearer My God to Thee” and “Rock of Ages,” with Miss Josephine Upham, an Episcopal missionary, playing the piano.
For some survivors, the respite at the hostel only worsened their suffering. To this day, the rooms at The Jane are tiny and narrow, just about 7 by 7 feet, with windows not much bigger than portholes and bunk beds like berths, recreating the claustrophobic feeling of being quartered aboard the sinking ship. Several of the Titanic sailors were so traumatized by the tragedy that they went “mad.” (Today, we would say the surviving sailors suffered from PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). One man hanged himself.
Though their pay was stopped the day the ship sank, the crewmen were required to remain onsite at the hotel for the duration of the U.S. government inquest, 18 days, from April 19 to May 25, 1912.
But there are those who claim that certain troubled crew members and passengers NEVER left The Jane, at least not in spirit.
Over the years, hotel staff and guests have reported strange happenings that they believe to be hauntings. Cold spots that appear and disappear. An elevator that periodically goes up and down on its own. Transparent figures in turn-of-the-century clothing that walk the long halls sobbing and moaning.
One guest reported being awakened by a man crying outside her room. When she opened her door and looked out into the hallway, no one was there. But the crying continued. Unable to sleep, she looked out into the hallway again. That time, she saw the face of a weeping sailor staring back at her from the hallway mirror. But of course, no one was there. Needless to say, she checked out first thing in the morning.
Professional mediums brought in over the years have diagnosed what is called a “residual haunting” – an energetic image that replays in the same spot again and again. The specters in the scene seem unaware of the living people around them. In the case of The Jane, the collective energy of all the grief and sorrow from the Titanic tragedy seems to have left a lasting imprint on the hotel.
But what of the site of the sinking? Can the sea itself be haunted?
Ships passing by the Titanic wreckage site have reported seeing orbs — transparent balls of light energy attributed by some to spirits or spiritual energy. The crew of submarines sailing nearby have reported hearing strange signals and interference on their radios, including SOS messages that have no verifiable source. (The Titanic was among the first vessels to use the distress signal SOS, which was new at the time. It used it interchangeably with CQD – Come Quick, Danger – which was the old signal).
In 1977, Second Office Leonard Bishop of the SS Winterhaven gave one of his passengers a tour of his ship. The passenger was soft-spoken with a British accent and an unusual attentiveness to detail. Something about the man struck Bishop as off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what seemed out of place.
A few years later, someone showed Bishop a photograph of Captain Edward J. Smith, and Bishop said, “I know that man, I gave him a tour of my boat.”
His companion laughed and said, “Impossible! That man was the captain of the Titanic.”
Happy Halloween! Happy Samhain!
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Sources for this newsletter include:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-mullinville-news-the-mullinville-new/157443150/
https://www.irishstar.com/culture/nostalgia/places-new-york-city-directly-29982229
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-jane-hotel-new-york-new-york
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/may/27/titanics-trail-tears-20120527/
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/white-star-line/
https://titanicexhibition.com/nyc/
https://www.ranker.com/list/haunted-hotels-in-new-york-city/anna-lindwasser
https://www.newspapers.com/image/26042400/
“Titanic’s Seamen at Prayer Service. All Deeply Moved, Many Weeping, After Giving Thanks for Their Rescue.” The New York Times, April 20, 1912, page 8. Via newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/image/26042400/
Fascinating and haunting history.
Happy Hallowe'en! Happy Samhain!