Slightly Odd Fitchburg

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. I share them and you can get in on the fun by liking my page at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following me at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the haunting story! DID YOU KNOW the USS Salem is hella haunted? Commissioned in 1949 as a heavy cruiser for the U.S. Navy, the USS Salem wasn’t just any ship. It was the flagship of the Sixth Fleet which is, you know, fancy. This 717-foot-long hunk of ship patrolled the Mediterranean during the Cold War. Although the Salem never saw combat, it had its fair share of dark moments. It served as a floating hospital for victims of a devastating 1953 earthquake in Greece. Hundreds of wounded and deceased were brought aboard, beginning a spectral legacy that ghost hunters just can’t ignore. The ship was decommissioned in 1959, but its story was far from over. In 1994, it became a museum, and that’s when the weirdness began. Visi...

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. I share them and you can get in on the fun by liking my page at  Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg  and following me at  Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the haunting story! DID YOU KNOW that Georges Island has a Civil War ghost? Yeah, so on a cold December night during the Civil War (the one where the blues fought the greys), Fort Warren on Georges Island became the setting for a tragic ghost story with some light crossdressing thrown in. The tale goes that Melanie Lanier, the wife of a Confederate soldier imprisoned there, disguised herself as a man and snuck onto the island to free her husband. Unfortunately, her plan was foiled, and she was captured. She probably stuck out as the only man who didn't smell like rat urine and sepsis.  Anyway, the legend says Melanie was sentenced to death by hanging, still wearing the black mourning dress she was forced to change int...