photo from:An Experience of Phantoms, by D. Scott Rogo, 1974.

This photo was taken in 1924 by Captain Tracy from the deck of the S.S. Watertown. The difference with this photo is that the person taking the photo saw the apparitions and then took the picture. He then locked the camera with the film inside in the safe. When the film was developed, a few frames showed just water, but one photo distinctly shows two faces.

These two heads had been appearing to the crew of the S.S. Watertown ever since two of the sailors, after dying in an accident onboard, were vuried at sea. The faces appeared the day after the burial, and continued to appear while they sailed. Many crew members and captain Tracy were frequent witnesses to this. The heads appeared the whole time they sailed the Pacific, which is the ocean the men were buried in. (off the coast of Mexico).

The heads would always appear about ten feet apart, about 40 feet from the ship, and appeared to float on the waves. They always appeared larger than living heads, and they would appear for brief periods of about 10 seconds at a time, fade, and then reappear. When the ship entered the Atlantic Ocean, the apparitions were no longer seen.

The pictures were taken during the second voyage, after the ship had returned to port in New Orleans. This was at the request of the shipping company.

On the third voyage, the faces appeared less often. After that, the crew changed, and there were no sightings of the faces.Although the photo was taken in 1924, it was not published till 1934, in the company magazine. At that time, an investigation into the events was begun, but the crew was dispersed, and the first mate and the captain that had taken the photo had died. To top it off, the company had lost the original photo. Some people believe this was an optical effect, and the faces are suggestion. Maybe - but how could the same effect recur day after day, and be seen by so many witnesses? That's what makes this photo so intriguing.