When the Ghost Screams(47)

At 11:42 p.m. the plane crashed.

The story could have ended there, as do other aviation tragedies. Though horrible for those who lost loved ones, the fate of Flight 401 would have become a statistic if not for the determined spirits of the pilots who persevered beyond the grave and the writer who told their story.

The late John G. Fuller was a successful journalist and an admitted skeptic when he stumbled upon the amazing events that occurred in the wake of the tragedy.

Numerous employees of sound mind and body began to see the ghosts of the pilots killed in the crash. Pilots, flight attendants, and passengers all witnessed the apparitions of Bob Loft and Don Repo aboard Eastern Air Line’s L-1011s.

In one instance, according to John Fuller, a stewardess approached a uniformed Eastern captain in the jump seat and said, “Excuse me, Captain. Are you jump-seating this ride? I don’t have you on my list.”

When the man did not respond, she politely persisted, but he stared straight ahead as if in a daze. With another attendant and passengers watching the drama unfold, she finally summoned the flight supervisor.

The flight captain leaned down to address the other captain, wrote the author. Then he froze. “My God, it’s Bob Loft” he said. There was silence in the cabin. Then something happened that no one in the vicinity could explain. The captain in the first-class seat simply wasn’t there. He was there one moment—and not the next.



The most frequent sightings were of Don Repo. One attendant saw the distinct image of his face watching her from inside the luggage compartment. Several others reported that he had materialized near the microwave. Some said that his face stared at them from inside the microwave.

The materializations sometimes occurred as a warning when there were safety issues with the plane. At least one witness said Don Repo’s ghost actually spoke to him, advising him of a problem. It was as if the pilots had remained to protect the passengers and flight crews from future dangers.

When they reported the encounters to Eastern Air Line’s management, employees quickly realized it was the wrong thing to do. It was implied that those who so much as believed in ghosts were unbalanced, and their careers were threatened.

John Fuller’s diligent research revealed that expensive parts of the ill-fated plane had been salvaged and recycled. The L-1011s, which received the recycled parts from the death jet, were the only ones where sightings were reported. Much of the activity centered on the microwave oven, which was recovered from the accident sight.

Eastern Air Line bigwigs must have realized the connection between the ghosts and the recycled parts, because they systematically and somewhat surreptitiously removed and replaced the haunted pieces.

When questioned by John Fuller and other members of the media, a spokesman for Eastern Air Lines denied that anything out of the ordinary had occurred on the planes. It was all made up, he contended.

Though John Fuller managed to interview numerous witnesses to the ghostly goings on, almost everyone spoke with him under the condition of anonymity.

As a writer of true ghost stories, this bothers me. I understand that the witnesses were afraid of ridicule and concerned for their jobs, but their unwillingness to stand behind their words detracts from the validity of the account.

I never met John Fuller and have no reason to doubt his words. He was a respected journalist, and he probably deserved his good reputation. But when an author uses so many pseudonyms, discerning readers can’t help but feel niggling doubt.

Eastern Air Lines is no longer in business. Most of those who saw the ghosts of Flight 401 have likely switched careers or retired by now. If they would come forward and stand behind their testimonies, it would lend authenticity to Fuller’s out-of-print, yet incredible book, Ghost of Flight 401.

I have made contact with just one person who knows anything about the haunted recycled plane parts. Leslie Cahier’s son worked in a warehouse, which recycled salvaged plane parts. He mentioned to his mother that there was an abandoned microwave there. It sat beneath a tarp, no good use to anyone. Ask if you can take it home, she urged him. It was just the thing for her kitchen.

When he inquired, the response was quick and chilling. The microwave was not to be removed. It was the very one salvaged from the wreckage of Flight 401, the very one that had prompted the paranormal problems.



Now, thirty years after the fascinating paranormal incidents related to Flight 401, spirits from the sky still walk among us. One of the latest reports of ghosts wrought from plane crashes comes from Africa.

Before they were ghosts, the victims were live human beings with the same needs and wants as the rest of us.

Nkiru Okoli, for instance, was twenty-two years old and expecting her first child. She and her husband, Chukwuemeka, had just finished their honeymoon in Ghana when she phoned her relatives. They had finally arrived back in Nigeria, she told them. They were on the last leg of the trip, about to board a Bellview airliner, Flight 201.