18 November 2011
NEWSLETTER

OUR 13TH REUNION WILL BE JULY16-22, 2012

SHERATON NORFOLK WATERSIDE HOTEL

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA

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Please keep your email address up to date with LaDonna
even if you don’t want it posted online.
Please contact LaDonna Bradshaw, bb64members@aol.com. Or (601) 693-4614
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NEW EMAIL ADDITION

Barry Stewart

BM3           5th        Division

1988-1991

 

 

 

 

 

FOLLOWING IS A FOLLOWUP TO THE ARTICLE PRINTED IN THE 7 OCTOBER 2011 NEWSLETTER

 

News Article re: Battleship Wisconsin’s “Paranormal Investigation” for Halloween

 

Battleship Wisconsin: Haunted?

 

Anyone who served on naval vessels remembers the vague feeling of uneasiness brought on by passing through spaces lit for night ops: the red glow just enough to see where you were going, but not enough to remove the shadows. Who’s there? Who’s not? What was that noise?

 

For Halloween 2011, staff and volunteers at Nauticus and the Battleship Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia, invited the public to join them in investigating mysterious sounds and lights that seemed to hint at paranormal activities on board. The tours were based on “leads” left by security logs and police reports, which told of flickering lights, percussive metal sounds and disappearing figures within the ship after hours.

 

Over the course of seven nights, over 270 “investigators” toured the second deck, going places on the ship not open to the public in over 20 years, including the main galley and crew’s mess. Down the darkened passageways and past empty shops and offices, the investigating tours encountered the unexplained and unexplainable. How could a phone ring when the IC systems were inoperative? What made that strange chair appear and reappear in different spaces? The noises! And the shadowy figures suddenly in the midst of the group – where did they come from?

 

The planners took inspiration from other historic ships’ activities of the season, including the successful Battleship North Carolina and Battleship New Jersey experiences. The Battleship Wisconsin experience, however, was certainly unique to the Hampton Roads area and the tours, planned and executed by a team of over 60 volunteers and staff, produced some very satisfying screams over the half hour spent below decks. Plans are already underway for a bigger and better Halloween Haunted Battleship next year.

 

One untapped source of spooky information: former Wisconsin crew. If any former crew has a strange story from his time on board Wisconsin, contact John Elliker, the ship’s project manager, at john.elliker@norfolk.gov – he’s collected a few sea stories, including a real ghost story from Desert Storm (no fooling!), but can always use more.

 

The Halloween “Paranormal Investigation” was the first use of second deck spaces by the public and helped Nauticus focus preparation efforts toward more accessible tours coming in the early spring of 2012. By March, a “Life at Sea” tour will guide visitors through more of the second and third deck living and working spaces, including highlights like the brig, laundry, barber shop, gedunk, and Chiefs’ Mess. By the summer, hopes are high that portions of Broadway, including Fire Room and Engine Room 1, will be available for tours.

 

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FACEBOOK INFORMATION

If you are a Facbook member, you may want to check out the following two Facebook pages;

I Served on USS Wisconsin BB-64                   USS Wisconsin (BB-64) Reunion 2012

Neither of these two pages are association pages. Pages were started by former crew members wanting to rekindle shipboard friendship.

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If you have interesting stories about your time aboard the Wisconsin,
please share them with us. Email them to me at Dombb64@ptd.net

PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PRAYERS,
OUR SICK AND DEPARTED SHIPMATES AND THEIR FAMILIES.
FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS