1958 destroyer notorious for its role in the disputed Gulf of Tonkin incident — three sailors died in a 1965 gun explosion during Vietnam operations; AGHOST investigators identified five paranormal hot spots including the aft gun mount where the men were killed.
300 Washington Beach Ave, Bremerton, WA 98337
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
General admission for self-guided tours; ghost hunt programs priced separately. Check the official site for current rates.
Access
Limited Access
Steel destroyer with steep ladders, narrow hatches, and low overhead clearances. Limited wheelchair accessibility.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1958 · Gulf of Tonkin Incident Participant (August 1964) · 1965 Aft Gun Explosion — Three Sailors Killed · Bremerton Historic Ships Association Museum Ship · Cold War Pacific Fleet Destroyer
USS Turner Joy (DD-951) was commissioned August 3, 1959, as a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer assigned to the Pacific Fleet. She became one of the most historically significant warships of the Cold War era when, on August 4, 1964, she and the USS Maddox reported being attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. President Lyndon Johnson used the reported attack — whose occurrence has since been extensively disputed by historians and declassified documents — as justification for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized open-ended U.S. military engagement in Vietnam.
On September 25, 1965, during active combat operations off the coast of Vietnam, a 5-inch gun shell jammed and detonated in one of the aft gun mounts. Three sailors were killed in the explosion. It was one of the more deadly non-combat accidents sustained by a U.S. destroyer during the Vietnam-era deployments. Turner Joy continued operating through the war.
She was decommissioned in 1982. The Bremerton Historic Ships Association acquired the vessel and moored her at the waterfront in Bremerton, where she opened as a museum ship in 1990. The destroyer is now operated as a museum and memorial and is accessible to the public by self-guided tour. A 2024 KNKX public radio feature on the ship covered both her Gulf of Tonkin history and her current status as a museum attraction in Kitsap County.
Sources
Paranormal investigators from AGHOST — the Anomalous Group for Haunt and Occurrence Sight Testing, based in the Pacific Northwest — conducted a formal investigation of USS Turner Joy and produced a documented report identifying five distinct hot spots aboard the ship. The aft gun mount, site of the September 25, 1965 explosion that killed three sailors during Vietnam operations, was rated the most active zone.
Among the specific phenomena documented by investigators and staff: a figure reported to appear in a mirror in one of the interior spaces; a persistent pattern of electronic equipment draining power unexpectedly near the refrigerator that, during the period following the 1965 accident, stored the remains of the sailors killed in the gun explosion before they could be transported for burial. The battery-drain pattern has been reproduced across multiple investigations.
The three sailors killed in the 1965 accident are the primary anchor for the reported phenomena. No names have been published in the available sources; the deaths are documented in the ship's service record and referenced in the AGHOST investigation write-up.
A secondary lore element involves the ship's Gulf of Tonkin role — the disputed second incident of August 4, 1964, which may not have occurred as reported. Some accounts describe an uneasy ambient quality aboard the ship attributed to the weight of that contested history, though these accounts are more speculative than the specific incident-linked reports from the gun mount.
Notable Entities
Self-guided exploration of the preserved Cold War-era destroyer including the bridge, gun mounts, engine room, crew quarters, and combat information center. Audio tour available. The aft gun mount where three sailors died in 1965 is accessible.
Ghost hunt programs aboard the ship run periodically and include access to the five hot spots identified by AGHOST investigators, including the aft gun mount where the 1965 explosion killed three sailors. Check the official site for scheduled dates and booking.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Seattle, WA
Designed by the architectural firm Bebb and Mendel and opened December 8, 1902, University Heights Elementary School was one of the last of Seattle's monumental wood school buildings — a Mission Revival design that taught generations of University District children before closing as a public school in 1989. The building has operated as the University Heights Center, a community nonprofit, since 1990.
Franklin, KY
Andrew Jackson Caldwell laid the foundation of Octagon Hall in 1847, completing the distinctive eight-sided brick residence by approximately 1860. Built on 300 acres in Franklin, Kentucky, it served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War and as a hiding place for retreating Confederate troops. The Octagon Hall Foundation acquired the site in 2001 and operates it as a museum and investigation venue.
Saint Joseph, MO
William Wyeth, a successful St. Joseph hardware merchant, commissioned this 43-room Gothic Revival mansion using more than a million locally made bricks. Construction completed in 1879. After Wyeth's death, his widow Kate Tootle — of the prominent Tootle banking and merchandising family — continued to live here. The mansion eventually became the St. Joseph Museum's main building and has housed the museum's collections since the 1920s.