Ghost Ship
The following is not my story. It comes from a fellow I worked with for some time. I called him "Chief" due to his being a retired master chief petty officer.
Chief had served on no less than four different destroyers during WW2. Of those, he had three of them sunk from under him. He told some rather amusing tales, but there were also the ones that were unnerving to listen to.
One of his more unnerving stories came from the sometime during the Vietnam war. Chief recounted how, during one patrol, his ship's radar picked up a large blip off in the distance that seemed to be closing on his ship. It was just outside the limit of control (meaning the point where you're not supposed to go around a carrier) so the destroyer he was on was dispatched to investigate it.
They tried radioing the ship numerous times, but were given no response. Fearing the worst, the captain order the ship to battle stations, and closed on the apparent enemy ship. As they neared it, the watch officer noted that the ship looked dead in the water, and might be just having some radio problems. So they moved to offer assistance.
As they neared, Chief noted that the ship looked to be one of the old Japanese Maru types (meaning freighter) and was listing slightly to port. The ship was heavily rusted, and looked to have not been maintained in years.
As they approached, they called out to the ship, but were given no response. The Captain ordered some crew to board the ship, and upon doing so found it to be abandoned.
The ship looked, as Chief put it, almost pristine inside. Everything was still in place, though it was apparent that the crew had abandoned the ship in a hurry. They were unable to access the holds, but finding that the ship was a derelict, the captain opted to put a few rounds into it and prevent it from becoming a shipping hazard.
As the ship sank, Chief noted that there was a strange feeling that came over the crew. He described it as being a very heavy feeling, like the air had suddenly gotten thicker.
For the remainder of the cruise, the ship Chief was on experienced a number of unexplained problems, which would eventually cause them to end their cruise early and return for repairs.
Chief said that he always believed the ship had been a true "ghost ship" so to speak, and their sinking of it had angered the crew that once lived aboard her. He also said that while he couldn't be certain, it seemed to him that she had likely been attacked by air during the second world war; the crew abandoned her, and left to drift for some fifteen years before being stumbled upon by his ship.