HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
The museum preserves the hull of the CSS Chattahoochee, whose boiler explosion in 1863 scalded 16 crew members to death — and it runs documented haunted lantern tours after dark.
1002 Victory Drive, Columbus, GA 31901
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Admission fee for daytime museum access; haunted lantern tours priced separately — check portcolumbus.org for current rates
Access
Wheelchair OK
Museum building with paved interior; some areas around the ship hull may have limited clearance
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 2002 · CSS Chattahoochee Boiler Explosion (1863) · Confederate Naval History · Civil War River Warfare · Recovered Warship Hull
The National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus opened on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia, as the premier institution dedicated to the Confederate naval effort of the Civil War. Its collection centers on the remains of two Confederate warships, most notably the CSS Chattahoochee.
The CSS Chattahoochee was a Confederate gunboat constructed at a shipyard on the Chattahoochee River beginning in 1862. On May 27, 1863, while the vessel was anchored near Chattahoochee, Florida, its boiler exploded during a steam valve test. Sixteen crew members were scalded to death in the explosion; the ship was disabled and never effectively returned to active service. The Confederacy eventually sank the Chattahoochee intentionally in the river to prevent its capture as Union forces closed in at the war's end.
The hull was recovered from the Chattahoochee River decades later and forms the centerpiece of the museum's collection. The Georgia Encyclopedia, published by Georgia Humanities, documents both the CSS Chattahoochee's history and the museum's status as the primary institution preserving Confederate naval history.
The museum is located at 1002 Victory Drive in Columbus and has been a fixture in the city's cultural landscape since its opening. Roadside America, which documents unusual and historically significant American attractions, has covered the museum for its combination of genuine naval history and paranormal programming.
Sources
The National Civil War Naval Museum runs a program called the Sea Ghosts Haunted Lantern Tour — a ticketed after-dark experience that takes visitors through the collection by lantern light and explicitly addresses the paranormal history associated with the CSS Chattahoochee and its dead crew. The existence of a formal museum-operated paranormal tour distinguishes this site from locations where ghost lore is external to the institution.
Visitor and staff accounts of unexplained activity in the museum's gift shop have been reported in regional coverage: books described as flying off shelves without cause, and a keyring display observed spinning on its own. These reports are attributed in the accounts to the 16 crew members who died in the 1863 boiler explosion — men who died aboard the very vessel whose hull is preserved in the adjacent gallery.
The boiler explosion that killed 16 men occurred during what should have been a routine steam valve test. The manner of death — scalding, aboard a ship, far from combat — carries a specificity that paranormal investigators consider significant. The museum's willingness to run and publicize haunted tours on the strength of these accounts gives the site a credibility unusual in the museum sector.
The museum's centerpiece is the partially reconstructed hull of the CSS Chattahoochee, a Confederate gunboat whose catastrophic boiler explosion on May 27, 1863 killed 16 crew members. The collection also includes significant ironclad naval artifacts and exhibits on Civil War river warfare on the Chattahoochee River.
The museum's documented after-dark experience takes visitors through the collection by lantern light, focusing on the paranormal history associated with the CSS Chattahoochee crew and other naval dead. Visitor and staff accounts report unexplained activity in the gift shop area, including books flying off shelves and a keyring display spinning without apparent cause.
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