A Wild Goose Chase

I am a new resident of the Newport Beach community, and so is our WHA office.  As we are getting comfortable in our new location, I’ve been able to enjoy some beautiful neighborhoods, pleasant beach walks, and local joints.  But even the most pleasant cities have a spooky underside.  In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to investigate the mysteries of my new neighborhood, and discovered that John Wayne is a common name to this area. Our previous office was adjacent to an airport named after him; and as it turns out, our new office is nearly walking distance to his beloved boat. 

Yes, even after more than 30 years since his death, his boat, the “Wild Goose,” still floats in Newport Harbor.  Harbor Cruises now owns his old 136-foot luxury vessel, but the word down by the dock is that he still captains his boat to this day.  According to Seek Ghost’s website and other highly credible sources, he’s rumored to be seen drinking on his boat.  Lights flicker on and off, strange noises echo in the dark, and bathrooms mysteriously lock. Once, the “Wild Goose” was found mysteriously floating across the harbor near his old home. 

I had to investigate this for myself.

The Duke himself said, “courage is being sacred to death…and saddling up anyway”, so on one of the first cool evenings of October, I hurried down Pacific Coast Highway after work to catch the last bit of daylight before an early sunset.  I wandered down the marina along the line of impressive yachts. The sun was starting to set, but I proceeded. I finally came upon the “Wild Goose” floating proudly amongst its neighbors; I was blown away at how luxurious it looked.  The “no trespassing” gated dock was strangely cracked open. I was tempted to slip through to get a closer look, but I restrained myself.  I gazed through the windows, squinting my eyes to see John Wayne’s ghost, with no luck.  I crept up some stairs to get a better look. As I descended, I was spooked by a man, who unfortunately looked nothing like John Wayne.  After having a strange conversation, and the last bit of light was quickly diminishing, I excused myself and quickly hustled back to my car. Although I’m disappointed to say that the spookiest experience was this interesting encounter with another local, I enjoyed getting into the Halloween spirit.

I hope you can get into the spooky spirit too and see what ghosts might be lurking in your neighborhood.  There might be one…right…BEHIND YOU!