Pacific Paranormal Research Society

THE DENALI

 

 

Yacht Investigation
Location: Moorage/:Portland

Haunted: No, only residual due to a possible curse.

The original owner of the Denali, formerly the Amida, was the founder of Hammermill paper products, E.R. Behrend, Esq. However, according to other old newspaper clippings, Al Capone used this yacht for business between 1926-1931. These clippings also reported that this vessel was apparently made for Al Capone, although Luder's Yacht Design & Building Co. vehemently denies this. In 1940, someone reported that, "we are going to buy Al Capone's old yacht." There were photographs circulated of this particular yacht that do match the exact design and structure of the Denali.

To make these legends even more intriguing, there is absolutely NO RECORD of Al Capone ever owning the Denali. However, there is truly no record of Al Capone ever having ownership of anything that he supposedly used for business or pleasure- this was certainly to safeguard the possibility of anything ever being traced back to him.

The current owner reports that there have been a couple of fires in the Denali's history. Both of these fires caused considerable damage at the time that had to be repaired; the cause of these blazes were unknown. As for haunted activity, there are reports of the locked doors unlocking and re-closing themselves, as well as disembodied balls of light being seen inside the pilot house. At one time, a previous captain claimed that the engines of this vessel would rev-up themselves occasionally. This same captain claimed that his crewmembers reported being terrified upon seeing a strange form or shape, that was standing in front of the ship's wheel. The form appeared as a milky-white fog to the shocked observants, and behaved as if it was turning the wheel. This unknown form soon dissipated into the air and has not been reported again.

The current owner of this 81-foot yacht provided us with intriguing information regarding this vessel. Apparently, some former owners have refused to discuss this vessel with him, as they all believe it is cursed in some way. It is documented that many of the former owners have lost a lot of money while in their relationship with this vessel. The current owner reported that he, himself had emptied out quite a lot from his pocketbook already, and that the Denali had not been particularly cooperative during his restoration of her.

Martina writes: No present-day haunted activity was picked up on this ship built in 1926; however, I did feel a sense of urgency and received my strongest imprints in the front area of the ship. The imprints and strongest visions I initially received of its past were of Italian mobsters, the mafia, money, party girls, gambling, and definite "rumrunning". I also felt that someone had been shot and then thrown overboard during one of its travels with this particularly "rough crowd". I distinctly saw this ship spending a lot of time going back and forth between Mexico, and other island/border towns. I relayed these visions and imprints to the current owner, who had not given me any prior information about any previous ownership of this ship.

Upon finding out by the current owner that Al Capone had been listed as owning this vessel in his fleet at one time, the strange coincidence of my "findings" did not go unnoticed!

I feel that the past activities described that were of a possible haunting of the ship, were actually residual time-imprints from the causes of these negative influences described above. These types of activities were of such a nature, that the ship has retained these memories and they will continue to be occasionally played back. I also believe that many of the instances that were described to me by the current owner, as well as what he reported previous owners to have experienced, were directly connected to its absorbents of high, negative energy.

I believe that the "curse" is directly due to the negative influence retained by the illegal trafficking and it's gangster-use in the 1920's. Culturally, Italians are very superstitious people (I am one, so I know this), and they believe wholeheartedly in curses and blessings. There is no telling if someone had cursed this vessel during its mob-association, although I do believe that it is highly probable. Because of the high stakes involved at the time of its illegal usage, any curse against this vessel would certainly be about draining the owner monetarily, or for it not performing up to par.

It seems the Denali has kept her share of the bargain.