NEWPORT, Ky. — Kentuckians looking for something spooky to do this Halloween weekend might consider taking part in one of the state’s most highly regarded haunted house experiences. And it’s not even in a house, rather — a boat floating on the Ohio River in Newport, Ky.
While the show will send shivers down nearly anyone’s spine, there is haunted history behind the USS Nightmare.
Chris Tabor and his grandson Joey Cox, who took a tour of the boat the Thursday night before Halloween, said they can attest to the creepiness. They said it was even creepier than they anticipated at times.
Cox, though, in his first haunted house experience, stood tough, making his horror-loving grandfather proud.
“It was great, man. Because I remember being a kid, my uncles would be taking me through, and haunted houses were a bit different back then. It was a really good one,” said Tabor.
More than 35 spirited crewmembers, alongside Hollywood-grade props and animatronics, made their skin crawl during the 30-minute tour of the old ship.
Below the deck, however, the dark history of the ship, along with countless reports of disturbing events witnessed around it, heightened the experience.
Allen Rizzo, the general manager, has been in charge since the USS Nightmare started doing tours 30 years ago.
“I’ve been in here with another guy working on it to do some repair work. And we were pounding on some steel. And we pounded four times, and something pounded back. So we did it again, and sure enough, somebody pounded back,” Rizzo said.
Paranormal investigations have yielded “bizarre, crazy” findings, according to Rizzo.
“The most notable was a mist that appeared and then disappeared on the river,” he said. “And then of course, I’ve got a dozen or so crew members that all have their own stories.”
Despite these tales, Rizzo said he is not completely convinced the ship is haunted. Though he admitted he has softened his stance.
“I’m not a real believer in the paranormal, but when you have something like that happen that you can’t explain, you have to at least include it as a possibility,” he said. “I remember my first haunted house experience. It was then I fell in love with haunted attractions. It was that adrenaline rush.”
The original name of the ship was the William S. Mitchell. Prior to its second iteration as the USS Nightmare, it served as a dredging vessel.
According to the USS Nightmare website, in just 45 years of active service, the boat was responsible for over 112 crew member deaths, earning it the moniker “Death Dredge.”
After it was retired, the ship mysteriously broke loose from a dock and smashed into several bridges along the Missouri River, in what is now called the “Mitchell Massacre.”
The wreckage of the Mitchell Massacre is simulated in one room along the tour, which tells the story of Captain Mitchell and his crew. Walls shake as if the ship is about to fall apart.
It’s just one of many examples showing how the crew has upped its game, and its scares, during Rizzo’s time.
“We used to get by with the old school scares,” he said. “We’ve gotten a heck of a lot more technical. As the kids have our cell phones in their pockets, they’re demanding more and more, a higher class, higher technical product. It’s become more fun.”
After the Mitchell Massacre, the boat was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was then scheduled to be made into a dredge ship museum before it was purchased by BB Riverboats. For every Halloween season since 1998, it’s been docked at Newport’s riverfront for haunted tours.
“For years, I told them it’d be a great haunted house. They laughed at me. And then one day they took it seriously. The next thing we knew, we were in the haunted house business,” Rizzo said. “The haunted house business has exploded in the last 30 years. Halloween is becoming more and more a huge holiday.”
Moments of terror, like the many Cox and Tabor experienced during their tour, are what keep Rizzo going.
“You can see the adrenaline, the enthusiasm on their faces. A little sweat on their brow. The smile on their face. They’re breathing a little heavy. And they can’t wait to tell their friends about their experience,” Rizzo said. “I live for that look on those people as they come off the exit, and I know that we’ve done a great job.”
The grandson-grandfather duo did eventually make it out, unscathed, and with positive reviews.
“It was really fun,” said Cox, who was a boy of few words upon his exit. “I think,” he responded after a few moments of thought, when asked if he thought he’d be able to sleep that night.
For those who’ve witnessed real paranormal activity, as Tabor claims to have, it’s hard to compare the pretend version; though he said it impressed him.
“Oh yeah. We grew up in a haunted house down in Covington on 16th Street. There was a little girl there that haunted it. You wake up, somebody touching your forehead at night. Or windows would slam shut. It was an experience. You live through it,” he said.
As for the future of the USS Nightmare, its figurative captain, who, as opposed to Captain Mitchell, is very much alive, stopped just short of saying he’d go down with his ship. Besides the thrill of a good scare, the ship’s crew members are among Rizzo’s closest friends, and some are his actual family members.
“Steam boats don’t last forever, but as long as she’s afloat, and as long as I can, I’ll be aboard,” Rizzo said.
The USS Nightmare is open for tours this weekend and on Halloween night Monday. It will also be open the first weekend of November. More information is available on the ship’s website.