12 Real Sea Stories That Could Make the Jaws Movie Look Like Comedy

There’s something inherently eerie about the open sea. Maybe it’s the vast, endless horizon or the way the ocean seems to whisper secrets no one was meant to hear. From ghost ships silently drifting through the fog to deep-sea shadows that defy logic, the sea has proven time and again that it’s full of mysteries. We’ve gathered the most spine-tingling stories from those who dared to venture into the unknown.

• Down in the Caribbean, there was a 90 ft commercial fishing vessel sitting on top of a 100’ cliff where it had been tossed like a tubby toy during a hurricane. Hurricanes don’t mess around. © TwinFrogs / Reddit
• Not necessarily at sea, but I worked on a research ship in the Arctic. We were slowly pushing our way through an ice fog, a friend and I were on deck, just watching the ice slowly float by, when a large seal lying on the ice came into view. It was obviously not alive but perfectly persevered.
  Just as the seal started to disappear in the fog, a polar bear appeared, crouched as though it was stalking the seal. It was also 100% frozen. Almost in unison, my friend and I looked at each other and said, “What in the world.” © Luking2thestars / Reddit

• On a drill ship off the coast of Nigeria. One evening, the entire surface of the ocean was covered with jellyfish as far as the eye could see. An hour or two later, they were all gone. © SuperShoebillStork / Reddit
• I spent a summer on a fish processing vessel about 2/3 of the way out on the Aleutian island chain in Alaska. We were buying fish from a large tender, and some of the older hands on my processor boat were grumbling. I asked why and they told me a story.
  Turns out that the year before, there had been a fire on the boat I was serving on, and this fire occurred while they were tied up to the same tender we were buying fish from right now. When the guys on the tender saw smoke coming up from our boat, they removed the lines instead of getting our guys onto their boat. A fire at sea is one of the worst things imaginable.
  Nobody on my processor or boat was hurt, but it could’ve gone the other way very easily. And the guys on the tender would’ve just watched it happen. © palbuddymac / Reddit
• A co-worker once told me a story about a family who went on an extended sailing trip with an 11-year-old daughter. All family members were required to wear their life jackets at all times, with the daughter strongly and vocally disliking it.
  Finally, the trip ended, the boat returned to port, and as the daughter left she loudly declared “Good riddance!”, took off the jacket, and threw it in the water where it promptly sank like a rock. Turns out water had gotten into it and ruined its buoyancy. © Passing4human / Reddit

• Not a worker, but when I was younger, my family took a trip to the Florida Gulf. A couple of cousins and I went deep-sea fishing about 20/30 miles off the coast. I got horrendously seasick and was bench-ridden the whole time, and was taking a nap.
  When I finally woke up, a storm had started to roll in. I remember looking out at the back of the boat and seeing the sky turning an ominous dark gray and the water just turned BLACK.
  The waves were starting to get pretty intense and the captain was all, “Alright, we really need to get back before this gets to a point where we can’t.” I never liked open water, and that experience just made it all the worse. © supr-fukt / Reddit
• Not me, but a guy I worked with. He was dive harvesting in an area where a boat had gone down recently. People were lost. As he moved along the bottom, he saw ahead what looked like the shape of a man in oil-slick rain gear. Reluctantly, he moved ahead.
  As he got closer, he saw the bib pants, boots, and jacket laid out on the ocean floor as if a man was just lying there. Preparing himself for the worst, he came within touching distance and... They were empty. © Longjumping_Smile311 / Reddit
• About 75 miles off the coast of Maine on a 55-foot sailboat. No wind at all, just fog so thick we could barely see the bow, and super silent. Suddenly there’s a disturbance in the water to the side, a giant series of bubbles, and the boat lists and starts sliding into the bubbles.
  It lasted just a few seconds but stopped as soon as it started. We tried convincing ourselves it was just a whale bubble fishing. Didn’t really work. © Capybara_Chill_00 / Reddit

• The only time I was ever on a ship was actually a cargo ship. The trip was very informative. The creepy thing was it was 6 am and the ship blades its horn. We are out somewhere in the Pacific and then slow down over the next 20 minutes.
  I made my way up to the guy that was doing the program, and he was talking to the captain, and the captain was clearly pretty freaked out. This is the absolute middle of nowhere and there’s a tiny coral island with no trees or vegetation, just a load of birds and a cargo container next to a tent. The ship is hardly moving at this point, and the captain calls out over a megaphone to see if anyone is there.
  After a minute, a guy who’s clean-shaven but wearing clothes worn to rags, a deep deep tan, wobbles out of the cargo container. Captain yells out if the guy needs help. He says something, but they can’t hear it.
  A guy volunteered to go out to him on an inflatable boat. He climbs down the rope and gets on the boat. Meanwhile, the guy is just sitting on a bucket. He goes all the way over within 20 feet of the guy.
  They talk for a few minutes and he comes back. Climbs the ladder, and goes to the captain. Captain asks what the guys said. Guy goes, “He said he’s good.”
  Guy gave no info, no plans, had no food but dried fish and some water distilling thing, is out 100s of miles from another living person, has no boat, and says “I’m good.” © joebluebob / Reddit
• My dad was fishing in his wee-speed boat off Vancouver Island. He decided to travel out over the ocean to try his luck, far away from his usual run. He was at it for a few hours when suddenly in his peripheral vision he spotted what he thought was an old man, bobbing up from behind his boat.
  He turned abruptly, but the man was gone. He stared around the near ocean surface for a minute, hoping to never see him again, when gurgling up from the depths appeared the biggest gray-faced sea lion he had ever seen. © peeeeeeeeeeeet / Reddit

• I remember a “ghost ship” being found when I lived in Marathon in the Florida Keys in the 70s. It was actually dragged into the Coast Guard base. It was completely covered in barnacles and seaweed. It was creepy. The story that came out the next few days was wild.
  Apparently, it was found wedged in a mangrove island after a terrible storm, where boaters swore it wasn’t there the day before. When the registration numbers were located, it was determined that it was a yacht that had been declared lost 2 years before with a crew of 4.
  The thing that stuck out to me was that it was declared by the Coast Guard that by the condition of the seaweed, barnacles, and overall structure the boat HAD to have been underwater for the majority of the 2 years. How a huge yacht goes missing, apparently underwater, and then ends up in a mangrove island in 7 feet of crystal clear water having not been seen anywhere in the vicinity, seemingly overnight. © Ok_Recognition_8839 / Reddit
• I work on a deepwater drilling rig. We use a remote-operated sub for all of our subsea work. We are commonly in 6-8,000’ of water.
  The things I’ve seen from the subsea video are wild. Like sea creatures I’ve never seen before in books. It’s crazy to see what lives in water that deep. © D_B_C1 / Reddit

You don’t have to be in the middle of the ocean to experience something creepy. Some people have had shivers going down their spines being at their own homes with their families.