Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste, by Brian HicksRead about another book on the list.
Here’s more good news for True Detective fans who aren’t quite ready to commence their cold turkey withdrawal from season four: Lopez has also cited the Mary Celeste as one of the inspirations for “Night Country.”
For those not yet totally obsessed with ghost ships, the Mary Celeste was a 100-foot brigantine found in December of 1872 floating aimlessly through the North Atlantic. The undamaged, two-masted vessel was fully stocked (with 1700 barrels of raw alcohol, no less) and completely abandoned, with no trace of the captain, his wife, their 2-year old daughter, or the ship’s crew.
In Ghost Ship, award-winning journalist Brian Hicks digs into the spooky tale and offers his theory as to the baffling disappearance. In an interesting side note, the ghost ship was so intriguing to a young ship’s physician named Arthur Conan Doyle that he reportedly quit his profession and committed himself to creating a fictional detective who solved just about every mind-boggling mystery that ever came his way. We’re pretty sure if the Mary Celeste could talk, she’d say “you’re welcome.”
--Marshal Zeringue
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