8 People Shared Their Mysterious Ocean Stories

Many eagerly anticipate the arrival of summer, dreaming of a refreshing swim in any nearby water and escaping their daily concerns. However, others have encountered the less appealing aspects of nature. Consider submarine researchers, scuba divers, surfers, Navy SEALs, sailors, and others familiar with the depths of dark waters; they have all shared some of the most unsettling and extraordinary experiences they had out there.

• Off the coast of New Zealand, I was sailing late one evening when I spotted an old ship in the thick fog. It looked like something from another era, with torn sails and a worn-down hull. I waved and called out; however, there was no response. As I sailed closer, something strange happened— the ship suddenly disappeared into the mist, leaving no trace behind. I don’t usually believe in ghost ships, but that night was something I couldn’t explain.

• One calm night in the Bahamas, I was alone on my boat. Everything was still and quiet. Then, out of nowhere, a massive, glowing light appeared beneath the water, directly under me. It was blinding, illuminating the entire area for just a few seconds. Then, all of a sudden, the light vanished. I tried to make sense of it—perhaps a whale stirring up plankton—but it didn’t feel right. Even now, I can't shake the feeling that it was something far stranger than I’ll ever understand.

• I worked on a pearl boat in the Arafura Sea for about 18 months a few years ago. One of my roles was "keeping watch" in the wheelhouse. Essentially, it was my job to ensure the boat followed the pre-set navigation path and to manually steer it if it strayed off course. My watch was from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.At about 7, I noticed a white cube, perhaps 200 meters off the port side (hard to say without a point of reference). It didn’t show up on the nav/radar system we had, which allowed us to plot and recognize nearby boats. It also wasn’t bobbing up and down with the waves; it was just sitting there on the waterline in the distance.
  
  I took a closer look with the binoculars, and it was so strange to see this white cube just sitting still on the sea. It wasn’t hovering above the water, but as the waves moved, I could occasionally see the bottom of the light, which is how I knew it was a cube. Again, it’s hard to say without a point of reference at sea, but I guessed it was roughly the size of a van. The person who was following my shift came to bring me a coffee, and he saw it too, so I knew I wasn’t just tired and hallucinating. © brutusblack / Reddit

• One night while fishing off the Pacific coast, I noticed a group of fish swimming in the opposite direction. It struck me as odd, but I didn't think much of it and continued with my fishing. About 25 to 30 seconds later, I spotted an enormous great white shark moving toward the fish—I'm talking about a truly gigantic one, larger than any “biggest great white” videos I've seen. Luckily, it pursued the fish and didn't pay attention to me, but its fin became snagged in our propeller, leaving a noticeable mark.
  
  Shortly after, a second large shark appeared and began to clash with the first. They were both in the way of my route back to the pier and to safety, forcing me to stay put. The new shark bit the first one and swam off. Moments later, the water around us turned completely red, and I saw the first shark floating lifelessly. That experience left me too scared to fish for days.

• I have a friend who works on ships, and he said the single scariest thing he ever experienced was looking out a window and seeing a wave that looked like it was 100 meters high pass right by their boat and then suddenly disappear. He knew about rogue waves, but witnessing one that big and that close—then watching it vanish so suddenly—was so creepy and shocking that he was stunned for a minute. © kingbane2 / Reddit

• The creepiest thing I’ve ever witnessed has to be the way my crewmates and I slowly lost our minds. During one particularly nightmarish voyage, everything that could possibly go wrong did, leaving us without food, water, or sleep for an alarming amount of time. It all began with auditory hallucinations. Ships can be quite noisy, and before long, I started to believe those sounds were speaking to me. I heard the laughter of children, a choir singing, and the eeriest of all—a splash that seemed to call my name from the depths.
  
  As if that weren’t enough, visual hallucinations kicked in, making things even more frightening. At one point, I was convinced we were stranded in a desert, surrounded by sand with mountains looming in the distance. Another crew member panicked, insisting we were about to crash into an apartment building. The most unsettling sight was an all-black flying pig with glowing red eyes hovering at the bow. However, the scariest moment came when someone became convinced that we had lost a crew member overboard. This sparked a chaotic argument about everyone’s whereabouts, even though we were all accounted for. That trip was brutal, and the captain’s sheer incompetence put us all in a dire situation. © MAGNAPlNNA / Reddit

• The weirdest thing I've experienced by far was emerging from a fog bank and seeing thousands of giant red Humboldt squid with their tentacles waving in the air. It was surreal—something I will never forget. They looked like a bunch of little aliens. © woolybuggered / Reddit

• I’ve worked in hospitality, including on a private yacht in the Baltic Sea. One late night, far from shore, I assumed everyone else had gone to bed, but I wasn’t feeling very sleepy after a stressful day. I stepped out onto the deck and gazed at the vast ocean. You know that eerie sensation when you feel like someone is watching you? I could swear something was lurking just beneath the surface. Time seemed to stretch on, and I found myself staring, convinced I would see something. Sure, it could have been a fish or a sea mammal, but it felt unsettling, almost wrong.
  
  I wish I had a more thrilling conclusion to share. In fact, I don’t even remember returning to the cabin I shared with two other members of the stew crew. The next morning, I didn’t mention it, but a few days later, I finally brought it up. Most of the crew brushed it off, except for one deckhand who had spent many years at sea. He revealed that he had experienced the same unsettling feeling and had seen similar things several times—but only at night and when he was alone. I still don’t know what to make of it, but deep down, I truly believe it wasn’t just an animal. © Unknown Author / Reddit

In this article, veteran sailors share their incredible journeys at sea, with some narratives that could easily be transformed into captivating films.