She sits on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she has been since September 6, 1961 — 729 feet of WWII-era steel, nine sixteen-inch guns, fifteen battle stars, more than any American battleship in the Pacific war. The Japanese announced her sunk on multiple occasions. They were wrong each time. She was commissioned April 9, 1941, fought from the beginning of America’s involvement in the war through its end, and has not entirely stopped.

On September 15, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-19 fired torpedoes at the carrier Wasp. One found the North Carolina — detonating against the port hull abreast of Turret I, two feet below the armor belt, tearing an eighteen-by-thirty-two-foot hole in the ship. Five men died. Three compartments flooded. The crew’s damage control parties stopped the listing at five-and-a-half degrees and she stayed in the fight. North Carolina schoolchildren later saved her from the scrapper with dimes and quarters; she was dedicated as a memorial on September 6, 1961.

In the sick bay, visitors and investigators report sounds that have no evident source — weight creaking on beds, movement in empty rooms, banging from compartments with no one in them. In the lower forward compartments where the five men died, cold spots appear that don’t correspond to air circulation patterns. Throughout the ship, people report phantom footsteps: the specific sound of hard-soled Navy shoes on metal grating, heard in passageways where no one is walking. The ghost hunts have been on the schedule for years.

Story Source: www.wral.com

Address: 1 Battleship Road, Wilmington, NC 28401

Accessibility Rating: Booking Required — Open to visitors but requires advance reservation, ticket purchase, or tour booking.

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What Others Have Experienced

A journalist who participated in one of the ship’s ghost investigation events reported feeling something press distinctly against her spine while standing in the sick bay with her back against the wall and no one near her. The sensation was clear and specific enough to make her spin around. She described it as impossible to explain and far more unsettling than she had anticipated before the investigation.

— from WRAL.com

During a 2018 investigation, paranormal researchers stationed in the sick bay heard the metal bed springs snap and bang loudly on three separate occasions, as if someone were climbing in and out of the berths. The team spent considerable time attempting to identify a natural cause — air drafts, water traffic vibration, settling metal — and were unable to account for the sounds.

— from The Ghost Guild

A participant in one of the ship’s organized overnight ghost hunts reported recording multiple EVP responses throughout the night, with several instances producing what the group described as coherent answers to spoken questions. Dowsing rods showed consistent reactions in specific sections of the vessel. The event hosts and other participants confirmed the captures during the session.

— from Haunted Rooms America

Visitors and staff have repeatedly described a recurring apparition of a young man with fair hair who appears at the end of passageways and then turns and walks away before vanishing. A separate figure — believed to be a sailor killed in the 1942 torpedo attack — is frequently reported in the ship’s washroom, where cold spots and disembodied voices are also commonly noted.

— from HauntedUS.com

A reviewer who completed the nighttime ghost hunt tour praised the guides as professional, knowledgeable, and deeply respectful of the ship’s history. They noted the vessel itself generates a powerful atmosphere of unease that needs no artificial enhancement. The group captured what they considered compelling EVP recordings during their session aboard.

— from TripAdvisor