During the First World War, the German submarine UB-65 was especially famous. Moreover, the submarine owed its popularity not to heroic deeds, but to the paranormal phenomena that accompanied it throughout its entire service life in the fleet.
Already during its construction, four people died. And a little later, during the first test dive, the boat could not surface for 20 hours, and its crew almost died from lack of air.
But these were only the first links in the chain of troubles that awaited the submarine in the future.
In the fall of 1917, when the UB-65 was being armed, one of the torpedoes suddenly exploded. The explosion killed the officer of the watch and four sailors. This incident not only continued the series of troubles, but also marked the beginning of the mystical events on the submarine.
Just a few days after the tragic incident, two sailors noticed the blurry figure of a recently deceased officer, who, with his arms folded across his chest, stood alone in the bow of the submarine.
One of the sailors was so shocked by the incident that the next day he disappeared from the submarine, although he knew that a tribunal was due for this. That is, the fear of a repeated meeting with the ghost turned out to be stronger than the harsh punishment of the court-martial.
The rest of the crew of the submarine after this incident was under the pressure of constant fear and was soon completely demoralized.
Very little time has passed since the appearance of the ghost on the submarine, as the commander of the submarine died on the shore. The command of the submarine was taken by Lieutenant Commander Gustav Schelle, under whose leadership the submarine made its first military campaign. However, this flight of UB-65 was unsuccessful, since the submarine itself almost sank …
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The next exit to the sea again presented the submarine's crew with a surprise: again the ghost of the deceased officer was seen, which again instilled terror in the crew members.
And when the boat returned from the campaign to the base, one of the officers, having gone ashore, threw himself under the wheels of the car. It was rumored that a woman was involved in the incident. But who knows what reason pushed the sailor to commit suicide?
In the end, the command of the German Air Force was forced to pay attention to the strange boat. They sent specialists - engineers and doctors. The first examined the boat, the second the crew. Both those and others did not find anything out of the ordinary. Therefore, the final verdict boiled down to the fact that, most likely, the cause of the mass hallucinations was harmful fumes from the working mechanisms.
Finally, Admiral von Schroeder expressed his attitude to what was happening on UB-65, openly declaring that all rumors about some mystical events on the submarine were complete nonsense. Moreover, he supported his conclusion by the fact that he spent the whole night on the "damned" submarine.
After this admiral's experiment, an order was issued, according to which everyone who even said a word that he had seen a ghost on a boat would receive a very severe punishment.
But subsequent events showed that even the most severe orders do not work on ghosts and ghosts.
When the boat once again went out to sea, during a planned ascent, a torpedo sailor with an inhuman cry that a ghost was calling for him, rushed into the sea and went to the bottom. It was not possible to save him.
Soon, under similar circumstances, another UB-65 crew member jumped overboard and drowned. Then a sailor died, who accidentally hit his head on the partition between the compartments.
The command did not dare to continue further hostilities after so many tragic incidents, and the "damned" submarine returned to the base.
After preventive work, as well as a short rest, the submarine team again went on a combat mission.
But as soon as she departed from the coast in the city of Wilhelmshaven - at that time, the main base of the German Navy, as the assistant commander, Lieutenant Erich Eberhard suddenly began to loudly shout that a ghost had appeared to him and ordered to die. The distraught lieutenant was locked in the cabin. A little time passed, and he calmed down. Everyone thought he was asleep. In the morning, the lieutenant also behaved quite peacefully. Therefore, he was released from the cabin and returned the dagger. But not even a few minutes had passed when Eberhard, choosing an opportune moment, pierced his heart with a dagger.
Finally, after the incessant mystical stories on the boat, Emperor Wilhelm II himself drew attention to it. After the intervention of the monarch, the submarine completely changed the crew. In addition, a specialist in exorcism, that is, the exorcism of the devil, arrived on board UB-65 from Berlin. For several days he prayed incessantly, expelling evil spirits from the submarine. Probably, in the history of the navy, this was the only case when the ritual of driving out the devil was carried out on a combat submarine.
It would seem that after all these extraordinary measures, life on the submarine will flow differently. But, alas, the submarine that left on its next campaign never returned to the base, disappearing forever along with its team …
When World War I ended, German submarine experts returned to UB-65 again. They analyzed in detail the last route of the submarine and came to the conclusion that the most likely cause of the death of the submarine was the explosion of its own torpedo that occurred on board.
However, there is another version of the death of UB-65. And it was voiced, oddly enough, by American submariners. It looks like this. On the morning of July 10, 1918, the crew of an American submarine patrolling the southern shores of Scotland discovered an unknown submarine. She was in a floating state, but lay on her side, swaying helplessly on the waves. Having decided to find out what kind of submarine it was, the submariners cautiously approached it. Once at a fairly close distance, they established that this was the same mystical UB-65, about which many legends had appeared by this time, and not only among German sailors.
Fearing that the submarine was hiding some cunning trap, the Americans did not swim close to the submarine, but limited themselves to careful observation of it.
But time passed, and the German submarine showed no signs of life. And then the commander of the American submarine decided to detonate the UB-65. But as soon as the Americans prepared for the torpedo attack, suddenly their submarine was heavily pumped. And where UB-65 was a few seconds ago, a water column rose into the air …
Later, the commander of an American submarine claimed that on the eve of the explosion, he allegedly saw the figure of a German Navy captain, who stood motionless in the bow of the UB-65. Although the veracity of his words raises serious doubts …
What actually happened to the UB-65 submarine is still unknown. And most likely, her death will remain another unsolved mystery in the history of the fleet.