The Haunted U-boat UB-65 and the Ghost of Lieutenant Richter

SM UB-65 was real. A Type UB III submarine of the Imperial German Navy, built at Hamburg and commissioned on 18 August 1917. Kapitänleutnant Martin Schelle was her only commander. Over six patrols she sank six merchant ships and the warship HMS Arbutus.

The legend begins in the shipyard. A falling girder killed two workers. Three engine room workers died from fumes. A sailor was washed overboard on a trial run. On the first test dive a ballast tank failed, and the crew was trapped underwater for more than 12 hours. Then a torpedo warhead exploded while being loaded. Among the dead was an officer the story calls Lieutenant Richter.

The boat was towed back for repairs. A sailor described as hysterical said he saw Richter "standing on the prow (with) his arms folded." Another crewman saw the "dead officer walk up the gangplank." The captain found him "cowering against the conning tower, visibly distressed."

January 1918. The English Channel. A lookout saw a figure on deck, though the hatches were sealed. "It's the ghost!" He and the captain both recognised Richter, who "simply melted away and disappeared."

February 1918. Bruges. A British air raid killed the captain. That evening several crew members and officers saw Richter, who "stood over the canvas shroud of the dead captain." The German Navy is said to have ordered an exorcism. In May, off Spain, a torpedo room man said the spirit "would not leave him alone." He went mad and jumped overboard.

In the legend, the end came on 10 July 1918, off Fastnet. The American submarine L-2, under Lt. Paul F. Foster, found UB-65 on the surface, listing heavily. Before L-2 could fire, it "was torn apart by a huge explosion." Some tellings add "a figure in a German officer's overcoat, standing near the bow with folded arms."

Fifty years later to the day, Sven Morgens-Larsen and his wife June were sailing the yacht Grey Seal near Cape Clear. They reported a submarine marked "65" rising to the surface.

The records disagree. uboat.net shows UB-65 sinking the Portuguese vessel Maria José off Lundy Island on 14 July. She was lost by accidental cause off Padstow, Cornwall, with all 37 men. In 2004, Channel 4's Wreck Detectives found her off Trevose Head. Innes McCartney and Dr. Axel Niestlé identified her from shipyard stamps on the propeller and found "no obvious indication of weapon attack." The US Navy credit to Foster appears to be a misidentification.

The ghost story first appears in full in Hector C. Bywater's 1932 book Their Secret Purposes. Bywater cited a pamphlet by "Professor Dr. Hecht" and an unnamed petty officer. No such pamphlet has been found. In 2005 George Behe and Michael Goss concluded the tale "cannot be traced back with any certainty before Hector C. Bywater." Most crew names seem to come from Peter King's articles in Fate magazine. And the decapitated "Captain Honig" of some versions never existed.

On 1 November 2006 the wreck was designated a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. Real wartime accidents, a mistaken battle credit and a journalist's chapter. Together they built a ghost story that writers and podcasters still retell.