lil' Late for Halloween but here is a good Tale!

[Jerry D]

I found this today while searching for some Tail numbers of my favorite Aircraft. Some of you all that served in SE Asia may have flown on ole' Spooky here is the final story of a good flying airplane that always brought me Home

Spirit of Spooky flies on
By Rob Raine
(with thanks to Master Sergeant Rob Jalbert, Jr.
and Technical Sergeant Paul Gernon)

During the course of C-130E, No. 63-7771?s operational life, it acquired the nickname ?Spooky.? Represented either as a small sheet-clad ghost, or a bowler topped, cigar-chomping hob-goblin, someone or something haunted ?Spooky.?
Tales of ?triple-seven-one?, the haunted
plane of Little Rock Air Force Base abound.
Former crewmembers tell stories about
hearing the sound of footsteps walking
across the top of the aircraft.
Another eerie story occurred on a duty
weekend during preparation for flight
operations. The witness reported power coming on in the aircraft without a power unit connected.
?When I was at Little Rock people were
afraid to work on ?triple-seven-one?
because of the noises and strange things
that happened on it,? said former Crew
Chief, Master Sergeant Rob Jalbert, Jr.
?Only one weird thing happened when I
crewed it. The flight deck was a mess, I
left the plane. When I returned
things were straightened out. I
just figured people were messing
with me.?
So well known were ?Spooky?s? antics that people at Little Rock AFB allegedly refused to work on the aircraft.
Most stories seem to agree that
?Spooky?s? legend centers around a
loadmaster who died on the plane
near the end of the Vietnam War.

However, researchers report that the
C-130 was first nicknamed ?Spooky?
around July 1989. Ghosts aside, Master Sergeant Jalbert said, ?It was the best flying aircraft I ever was a crew chief on. At Patrick AFB it had a 90-plus mission capable rate.? Like nearly all U.S. aerospace assets, ?Spooky? eventually retired to AMARC, where the plane continued to contribute to the Air Force mission through parts reclamation. Bit by bit, ?Spooky?s? spirit made its way back to the skies ? flying missions in other C-130s around the world ? moving cargo, supporting ground forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, carrying parts and mail, perhaps even delivering supplies to victims of natural disasters. Although ?Spooky? didn?t just fade away like a disappearing ghost ? the remains of 63-7771?s hulk sold for scrap ? the aircraft did serve long and honorably. And today,
thanks to the efforts of the AMARC team,
?Spooky?s? spirit flies on.

[revwardoc]

Here's sort of a semi-military ghost story for ya:

My Rev War re-enactment regiment was spending a weekend at Fort Ticonderoga in NY and we were given permission to stand watch on the battlements until midnight. At that hour, our captain came round to gather us in. As we were getting in formation in the parade ground, we saw one of the guys still walking his post. We called him down several times but he seemingly ignored us. Then we realized that we were all there! So the captain, myself, and another guy went up to see who it was but when we got there, he was gone. The next day we mentioned it to one of the Fort's guides. He just smiled and said, "So you saw him too, eh?" They're not sure who he is (British, French, American), but he's been keeping watch for over 200 years. Talk about dedication to duty!

[Jerry D]

That is dedication to duty