Haunted Hearts on The Haunted Majestic

The Paranormal Investigative Team (PIT) will offer three paranormal ghost hunts of the Haunted Majestic grounds and barges beginning at 7pm,9pm,and 11pm on February 10, 2024.

Tickets can be purchased at the ticket booth from 6:30pm to 10:45 pm on the night of the tour. You can also purchase your ticket online at:
https://app.hauntpay.com/events/haunted-hearts-paranormal-ghost-hunt-2024?fbclid=IwAR1IfrRE0M7XhuuXXVQ0MrNfXW_xKWVI0EHpG_s2BLQXdi3zmDFpoIPas9Q

Tour guides will take you on a walk-through and give you information on the history of the property. This will last approximately 35-45 minutes. After the walk-through, you will be allowed to roam in the public access locations of the vessel and conduct your own investigation quietly. PIT will also be conducting some research as well and you are welcome to join us, but you're not required.

• 90-minute ghost tour
• Use of ghost hunting equipment (can be rented with ID, supplies limited)

The History of Haunted Majestic
(1912-present)
The Haunted Majestic is a floating seasonal haunted attraction located on the Ohio River at Majestic Landing near Huntington, West Virginia. The attraction is comprised of a common two-story structure that covers two inland river barges which are permanently moored side by side. The vessel has a haunted history that dates back more than a century.

Sand Dredge Barges
(1912-1942)
The barges began service as separate sand dredge barges built in 1912 by the Majestic Steamship Line during the great canalization of the Ohio River. As a result of the River and Harbor Act of 1910, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was required to maintain the Ohio River channel deep enough to allow for cargo transport. During the next 16 years, the barges were used to haul sand and mud which was dredged from the river bottom. It was during this service that the barges reportedly picked up more than just sand, possibly the remains of a massive Native American burial ground that contained hundreds of graves that had been hidden from view by the Ohio River’s water. Bad fortune hampered the barges throughout their service as many employees of the steamship line reported seeing ghosts and hearing chants as the barges were moored during nighttime hours. This dredging effort was completed in 1928 and the barges were used sparingly until the onset of World War II. The barges were considered haunted by the Majestic Steamship Line’s captains and were only used as a last resort when needed.

Hospital Ship
(1942-1978)
The barges, originally named Davy Crockett and Mark Twain when constructed, were renamed at the onset of World War II when they were leased by the U.S. Navy to transport and treat injured soldiers during land invasions. The barges were moored side by side and a common two-story hospital structure was built atop both barges. They were renamed the Douglas Lee (1924-2009) and the Eugene Morris (1919-1978), after active military veterans serving in World War II. Both men were from West Virginia, the home base of the Majestic Steamship Line which owned the barges.

During the war effort, the floating structure was towed to the English Channel between England and France where it served as a military hospital ship serving Allied soldiers injured during the European Campaign. It is reported that more than 300 servicemen died on the vessel during its three-year war service, many of whom paranormal investigators believe may not have fully left the vessel after their deaths.

Following the war effort, the barges remained a single unit and were stored in a naval shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. The barges also saw action as a hospital complex during the Korean and Vietnam wars as well, being towed abroad during both conflicts to serve the U.S. armed forces. The vessel earned the nickname “the ship of death” due to the astonishingly high number of soldiers who perished on board during the span of three foreign wars. The reported hauntings grew more common as time passed and after an official government inquiry into reports that the vessels were riddled with spirit activity, the Navy terminated the lease and returned the barges to the Majestic Steamship Line in 1978.

Restaurant and Landing Barges
(1982-2018)
The company had since changed hands many times and had ceased business as a steamship line many years earlier. Its heirs eventually sold the vessels to a business group in Kentucky. The unit was moved to Covington, Kentucky where it was remodeled in 1982 and served as a restaurant until 1996. At that time the barges became home to a paddlewheel tour boat company in Newport, Kentucky where they served as administrative and catering offices for the company until retired from service in 2018. The reported hauntings continued to grow throughout the barges’ long history.

Haunted Majestic
(2019-present)
In early 2019 the barges were bought by a new company ironically named the Majestic Steamboat Company and were moved back to West Virginia where they were moored and their future fate contemplated. This new company’s owners knew nothing of the barges’ haunted history, previous owners of an almost exact company name, or for whom the barges had been named.

After much research and consultation with paranormal investigators, the owners pledged to preserve the vessel for those who “live” aboard and not use it for commercial purposes again. Soon, Haunted Majestic was born as the barges became permanently moored at the steamboat company’s home at Majestic Landing at river mile marker 300 on the Ohio River, seven miles northeast of Huntington, West Virginia.

As an eerie ending to the barges’ haunted history, the Majestic Steamboat Company is owned by a married couple and their daughter with no previous knowledge or connection to the vessel. The husband is the son of Douglas Lee and the wife is the daughter of Eugene Morris, the World War II veterans who did not know one another and for whom the vessels were named nearly 30 years before the current owners were born. The current owners’ daughter is the granddaughter of both men for whom the barges are named and will serve as caretakers of the vessels into the future. The two men for whom the barges were named never served on the barges or knew of their existence during their lifetimes. Both died of natural causes in their home state of West Virginia many years after their military service.

Believing they were somehow “chosen” to care for the vessel’s future and preserve its past, the owners have decided Haunted Majestic will remain moored at Majestic Landing indefinitely where visitors can tour the vessel and meet those who will forever inhabit its’ hulls.