{"id":3504,"slug":"ss-united-states-philadelphia-pennsylvania","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The Big U is the fastest — the 1952 liner that still holds the transatlantic record, the thousand-foot flagship that could outrun the queens. Gibbs designed it for war — the troopship that could carry fourteen thousand, the luxury that hid the military speed. The 1969 retirement was the long wait — the twenty-eight years at Pier 82, the paint peeling behind the Ikea.","The reef is the end — the 2025 tow to Alabama, the planned sinking off Okaloosa, the museum that will keep the funnels. The conservancy fought — the decades of fundraising, the pier rent that doubled, the legal fight that lost. The SS United States is the speed record's tomb — the fastest liner ever built, the reef that will be the dive site.","The file keeps the SS United States: the 1952 record, the military design, the Philadelphia years, and the reef plan.","SS United States is the archive's Philadelphia file — the fastest ship becoming the reef."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["SS United States is the archive's Philadelphia file — the record-holder that's sinking.","A ship keeps its speed — the file's suggestion being that the Big U's hold is the record: the 1952 crossing that still stands, the decades at the pier, and the reef that will be the grave."]}],"name":"SS United States","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","MARITIME","HISTORIC"],"groups":["hauntings","legends"],"desc":"The 1952 liner—the fastest ship ever, rusting at the pier.","full_desc":"SS United States is a site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 1952 liner—the fastest ship ever, rusting at the pier. Its accounts name only a collective — the crew. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 2 legends, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Philadelphia","county":null,"state":"Pennsylvania","postal":null,"region":"Northeast","lat":40.009376,"lon":-75.133346,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"SHIP batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":3816,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures on the ship. The site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. It survives as local folklore, which is to say it survives because people keep telling it. The account appears in 'SS United States'. The apparition is the file's anchor — every other report orbits it.","evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","evidence_label":"Local folklore","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"SS United States","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3817,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The dead are reportedly seen. The presences go by the crew in the file. The site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The crew","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"SS United States","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The 1952 record is documented. SS United States' past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer beneath whatever lore attaches. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The detail is preserved in 'SS United States'. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1952","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"SS United States","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Reported figures on the ship. SS United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. It circulates as local folklore — the kind communities keep rather than verify. The account appears in 'SS United States'. As folklore it's unkillable: the story is too good, and the place too fitting, to let go.","earliest":null,"evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","source":{"name":"SS United States","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}},{"name":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly seen. The reports at SS United States are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. 'SS United States' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. The account appears in 'SS United States'. Every community keeps one story like this; this is theirs.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"SS United States","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The crew","claimed_identity":"The crew","verified":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly seen. The accounts name only a collective — the crew. The reports at SS United States are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease. The lore keeps its witness. The claim holds its place in the ledger.","behavior":"The dead are reportedly seen.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"SS United States","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"SS United States","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":2,"entities":1,"sources":1}}