The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN is no stranger to the mysterious, conspiracies and even the paranormal. That fateful night, April 1912 at 11:40pm the largest and most hailed ship know to man at the time claimed the lives of over 1,517 passengers lost their lives in the freezing North Atlantic. Ever since that night, there has been stories of supernatural, ghostly and even outlandish of the perished and survivors.
The Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is home to over 400 artifacts related to the Titanic and Olympic (her sister ship). Since it's the museum's opening in 2010, there has been claims that have both shocked and fascinated guests and employees alike.
The Museum is a two story, half scale structure built to look like the actual RMS Titanic, it's located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and is at the door step to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Owned by EPR Properties, the same company who built, owns and operated a similar museum in Branson, Missouri. The Pigeon Forge Museum has over 20 galleries and is the largest permanent Titanic related museum in the world.
The ship is built in a water pool in the front of the "ship" with a jet of water flowing on the front of the ship to give the illusion that the museum is actually moving and at sea. Guests purchase a boarding ticket and a 2 hour, self-guided tour is designed to give the ticket holders the sensation of actually being a passenger on the Titanic's maiden voyage.
When the guests arrive at the Titanic Museum, they are presented a Boarding Pass, on this pass is the name of an actual passenger and the Class that they belonged to while traveling. Throughout the exhibit, guests will learn of individual stories of passengers and families that are related to their ticket. Then, at the end of the tour, the guests will enter a magnificent Titanic Memorial Room with 10 foot tall glass etched memorial that has the names of every single passenger, here the guests match up the name on their boarding pass to find out if their ticketed passenger survived or perished.
The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN at the time cost over $25 Million to build and opened with a grand ceremony kicked off with a ribbon cutting by Co-Owners John and Mary Kellogg-Joslyn along with their good friend Regis Philbin (Regis and Kelly).
In 2010, myself (Chad Morin) was the Executive Director of the Pigeon Forge Chamber of Commerce, and I received an invitation to the Grand Christening of the Titanic Museum Attraction on April 8, 2010 at 12:00pm.
As Director of the Chamber of Commerce, owned at the time by KMS Properties which I was an employee of, I was excited to be part of this ceremony and first glimpse inside of this marvelous attraction.
In the mail a week or so before the event, I received a Parking Pass and Boarding Pass for 2 persons to attend the christening of the ship's grand opening led by Regis. I seemed excited and told my wife, Staci about this and we made sure to mark off our calendars for that day.
When we arrived before Noon, the entire City of Pigeon Forge was there, invited and not invited to try to get a glimpse of Regis and other notables. The only problem was torrential rain, not just rain but thunderstorms and the entire event was outside. Thank goodness the Co-Owner Mary Kellogg-Joslyn planned ahead and had plenty of tents and Police Security for the festivities.
The ceremony was a grand spectacle, and then it was time to go inside for the first tour and look inside this long awaited exhibit.
In 2011 I started Ghost Hunt Weekends and was in touch with the owners of the Titanic Museum and ended up working out an exclusive, first of it's kind Dinner and Psychic Ghost Hunt inside the Titanic with Televisions Psychic/Medium Chip Coffey.
This was a spectacular event, where fans and guests came dressed in tuxedios and evening dresses for a First Class Dinner on the Titanic in a Secret Meeting Room that Ghost Hunt Weekends dressed up like the First Class Dining Room. Fans in attendance were treated to a Dinner, a Psychic Gallery Reading then a Lights-Out Ghost Hunt of the entire ship.
Interviews with employees and visitors of the Museum leaked throughout the City, and then soon across the internet. With reports of people being touched, phantom apparitions in full uniform seen by staff and guests only to vanish before their eyes, knocking, whistling, sensations of being grabbed or touched, not including smells of perfume and cigars in certain parts of the exhibit.
Excited about getting inside the museum and actually being able to use cameras and ghost hunting equipment (since cameras and photography are not allowed in the museum) I personally wanted to try to capture and record some of the claims that were being told.
The very first event, was exciting, Dinner served in 4 courses, themed and costumed Crew Members entertained the guests and the real feeling of being aboard the Titanic and going back in time was carefully created.
After a Seance with Chip of artifacts from the wreckage, guests were put into small groups and let by the Ghost Hunt Weekends Crew and it was time for lights-out and ghost hunting of the ship.
We all met back in the Dining Room after midnight and a guest actually captured this amazing footage of what appears to be a woman's "reflection" in a glass display case, wearing what seems to be a 1900's period dress.
After seeing this image, as it only appeared in one photo of several taken of the same spot. We could not definitively disprove the image. Could this be the ghost of a victim of the Titanic sinking attached to artifacts in that display case?
Fast forward to November Friday the 13, 2020. We decided to host a pop-up event at the Titanic, not a formal dinner event this time, but a walk through style ghost hunt, with Travel Channel's "Haunted Towns" stars Chris Smith and Mike Goncalves.
We started off by meeting next door at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner with guests that were going to be on the hunt with us, and then we walked through the parking lot to the museum to meet YouTube Influencer "Jacob The Carpetbagger" to do a live stream of the event.
Lights-Out and it was time to ghost hunt and do 2 live streams where fans were a part of. After the stream, our inboxes were overloaded with emails, claiming that a spirit was seen several times in the background. We were even contacted by Nuke Top 5, a popular YouTube Channel that picked up the footage and was viewed over 5 Million Times. Shortly after Nukes Top 5, the video footage of the supposed specter was featured on Discovery Plus' "Paranormal Caught On Camera"
The Nukes Top 5 Episode of the Titanic Ghost Captured during our Friday the 13th Event.
We never even noticed the "ghost" on the live feed, but some eagle eyed viewers pointed it out to us in endless emails. We even captured a disembodied blood curling scream during one part of out investigation.
Above is the full video that guests commented on, that received the world wide recognition.
With all the excitement and unexplained activity that has gone on at this beautiful museum, and the overwhelming requests to have another ghost hunt here, what else could we do but host another event.
So we are announcing out return, Saturday March 5, 2022, and we are bringing back, Mike and Chris from Travel Channel's "Haunted Towns".
With all the activity that we have had there in the past, the exclusive access that only Ghost Hunt Weekends has, we have to answer the call that our fans demand. We cant wait to get back in there and see what we experience this time.
Click Below on the Event Link and join us for a Titanic Ghost Hunt with the Wraith Chasers from Travel Channel's "Haunted Towns" along with Ghost Hunt Weekends President, Chad Morin for an exclusive, lights-out ghost hunt, and maybe YOU can take home your own evidence.