Book excerpt: A ghostly schooner glides through the mist off the coast of Maine. A Connecticut lighthouse keeper continues to guide ships to safe harbor nearly a century after his death. Pirate ghosts wander the Rhode Island shoreline in search of salvation. These are only a few of the strange but true stories of New England's phantom ships and the spectral seafarers who haunt the shadowy cliffs and moonlit coves of the Northeast. Tales of ghost ships, haunted lighthouses, and other nautical nightmares are a deeply rooted aspect of traditional Yankee folklore. Some of these legends can be traced to genuine shipwrecks and historical events, while others remain a mystery, shrouded in rumor and lore. However, one fact is undeniable: these terrifying phantoms have been witnessed by countless people over the centuries, from common sailors and fishermen to celebrated scholars and heads of state.