Crater Lake
The Phantom Ship on Crater Lake
By Lauren Maddox
Photo of Phantom Ship Island from the AGS’s 1912 Transcontinental Excursion. Click the link to see this photo in our Digital Collections!
The Klamath people have lived near Mount Mazama for over 10,000 years. According to their histories, Llao, the Chief of the Below World, attacked the community living by the volcano when a human woman refused to become his lover. Skell, the Chief of the Above World, defended the Klamath people from Llao’s rage; he chased Llao back into the mountain and smashed the mountain peak over his head, collapsing Mount Mazama and forming a huge crater. The crater filled with rain water so blue, it turned the grey mountain birds bright blue, too.
Young Mountain Bluebird from Aubudon’s Field Guide. Click the link to learn more about Mountain Bluebirds!
Lalek, a 19th century Klamath leader, interpreted this oral history before white geologists even understood the volcanic nature of Mount Mazama: 7,700 years ago, Mount Mazama violently erupted and collapsed in on itself, forming a huge crater lake. The crater was fed with snow melt and rain instead of a running water source, so its waters remain clear and shockingly blue.
Crater Lake in Oregon is the deepest lake in the United States. It has two famous islands: Wizard Island, which is a a volcanic cinder cone formed after the massive eruption of Mount Mazama, and Phantom Ship Island. Phantom Ship Island, as its name suggest, appears to be a ship when seen from a distance. Mysteriously, when the lake is foggy, the island appears to disappear, adding to the impression that it is a phantom ship. The island is made of ancient andecite rock formations, which were shaped by the hydrothermal activity of Crater Lake.
Phantom Ship Island from a distance, 1912. Click the link to see this photo in our Digital Collections!
In 1912, the American Geographical Society organized a Transcontinental Excursion to, as supposed by Geography in the Making: The American Geographical Society 1851-1951, “increase the knowledge of American geography by Europeans” and to “promote the acquaintance of European Geographers with Americans.”
1912 Article in the New York Times. Click the link to see this article on the NY Times website! 
Passengers posing by AGS Transcontinental Train. Click the link to see this photo in our Digital Collections!
One of the stops on the Transcontinental Excursion’s route was Crater Lake, where several passengers took photos of Phantom Ship Lake.
Closeup of Phantom Ship Island. Click the link to see this photo in our Digital Collections! 
Photo of Phantom Ship Island. Click the link to see this photo in our Digital Collections!
While Phantom Ship Island may resemble a ghost ship, it is not the most mysterious phenomenon on Crater Lake. Some visitors to the park report seeing campfire on the uninhabited islands, and eerie sounds plague tourists who choose to stay in the Crater Lake Lodge. But by far, the most inexplicable occurrence on the lake.
The first account of the Old Man of the lake was written in 1902; Joseph S. Diller reported a stump floating upright in the lake. The Old Man is a more than 100 year old hemlock tree that floats, as reported, completely upright in Crater Lake. The Old Man travels by floating across the lake, sometimes over 60 miles, never upending. The Old Man is allowed to float freely now, because once, when scientists tied the Old Man to the shore to prevent him from disrupting navigation of the lake, he called a storm that didn’t subside until he was released.
Though Crater Lake has a strange and magical history, somehow Phantom Ship Island through the fog is not the most unusual sight visitors might encounter. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t eerie!
Phantom Ship Island. Click the link to see this photo in our Digital Collections!
American Geographical Society Library 