Ghost ship abandoned after disease outbreak has slot machines still intact
'It's like people were gambling one day and then they all vanished.'
An eerie cruise ship that was abandoned three years ago after passengers contracted a dangerous lung disease stands frozen in time.
The 200-foot-long Escapade ship used to attract passengers to play on its casinos but now stands empty in Florida.
Urban explorer Ben Stevens from Cambridge, Massachusetts, explored the inside of the vessel and found old slot machines, playing cards and casino chips.
The 30-year-old revealed that the ship has a creepy history and could even be haunted.
He said: ‘It’s been abandoned ever since there was a Legionnaires’ outbreak on the ship three years ago.
‘The people living on the dock next to it told me some people died from the outbreak and the ship is haunted by their ghosts, so they won’t have anything to do with it.
‘It was literally like a ghost ship.
‘It’s like people were gambling one day and then they all vanished.’
Ben spent a few hours exploring the ship that is also covered in mould which adds to its creepy aura.
While he was exploring, he also came across $50 on board the ship.
‘It was both creepy and interesting as everything had been left from money and poker chips to all the furniture,’ he said.
‘There was one room with a safe and all the chips that would have been traded in for cash.
‘I was there for a few hours but it was so hot inside and the smell of mould was crazy.
‘It looks like the boat may stay there forever but I’m used to exploring funeral homes and hospitals so this was really different.’
Legionnaires’ disease is a lung infection people can catch from inhaling droplets of water from things like hot tubs and air conditioning.
It is uncommon and can be very serious if somebody catches it.
Another cruise ship that became victim to Covid and lockdown eerily sits abandoned.
The MS Astor welcomed holidaymakers since 1987 and cost £50 million when it was first built in West Germany.
It now sits at a demolition site in Turkey and has not travelled anywhere in four years.
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