The case of the 1942 'ghost blimp' L-8 still remains a mystery 80 years on By T.K. Randall

A photo taken of L-8 after its crew had disappeared. Image Credit: US National Archives In August 1942, an airship disappeared, then reappeared again a few hours later with all of its crew missing. The blimp, designated L-8, was a United States Navy L-class airship which took off from Treasure Island, San Francisco, California and promptly disappeared over the ocean near Fort Funston. When it reappeared again a few hours later, however, something was wrong - the airship was acting as though nobody was in control and a short time afterward it came down south of San Francisco. Upon investigating the crash site, investigators discovered to their surprise that there was no trace whatsoever of the two crew members who had been on-board when the blimp had taken off. Even stranger still was the fact that the parachutes and emergency raft were all accounted for and the airship's radio systems were all functioning, meaning that if there had been a problem, neither of the crew members had made any attempt to signal for assistance. What's more, there was no evidence of any damage or mishap that might have befallen the airship. It seemed as though the crew had jumped out over the ocean for no apparent reason. An extensive search and investigation into the incident ultimately yielded no explanation and no trace of the two crewmen was ever found. Even today, 80 years on, what happened to them remains a total mystery. Source: MSN / Grudge |