Customer Reviews

The Ghost of Flight 401

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read just about every non-fiction ghost story available and this book with a few exceptions is by far one of the most entertaining. I care not that there is no solid evidence, just that this was a pure flight into the unkown (excuse the pun)! John Fuller (the author) takes us back to 1972, that fateful night when flight 401 to Miami never reaches its destination. I felt as thought I was on that plane. Every detail, sound and devastating emotion is teased with such horrific suspence and waiting, waiting for that final moment of impact. After the tradgedy of the crash start coming the reports from bewildered flight attendents and crew who claim to be experiencing vivid images relating to the deceased crew of the crash. These accounts are of a truly terrorfying nature and are portrayed with desperate sincerity. If you are a fan of TRUE ghost stories BUY THIS BOOK. You will not regret it!

This book is about ghostly encounters of the crew from Eastern Airlines Flight 401 that crashed in 1972, in the Florida Everglades . There were 101 people killed in the crash, most were killed immediately but a few died a little later of their injuries.

The airline salvaged the galley equipment from the plane. I know this is a fact because the infrared oven on Flight 401 was made by my ex husband's former company, Foster Refrigerator (formerly of Hudson, New York). The salvaged infrered oven was cleaned, tested and reinstalled in a new airplane that was built.

In 1982, my teenage son was working a summer clean-up detail for my ex-husband at the Foster plant in Hudson. In the far end of the then mostly deserted plant, my son found some old equipment covered in wood, plastic and tarps; a new looking infrared oven. Since, I had tested a prototype home version of their infrared oven with much success and begged to keep it; my son came home and suggested I get my husband to bring the unit home for me to use.

When I told to my ex-husband that my son had found an infrared oven in the warehouse and asked if he could he bring it home for me; I was told the incredulous story of Flight 401 and the haunting of the newer plane that utilized the scavenged oven from Flight 401. Of course, I did not believe the story and thought my ex was just making excuses not to bring the oven home or trying to pull a joke on me. I called my best friend, whose husband was corporate treasurer of Foster Refrigerator. She had never heard the story but they had only been married a year. When her husband came home she asked him about the oven in the warehouse; without saying anything else. Her husband then told her the same exact story about the oven and the hauntings that my husband had told me.

Although, then CEO of Eastern, Frank Borman, wanted everyone to belive the ghost stories were Cr*p and a bunch of lies; the truth is that the stories of the two dead pilots from Flight 401 haunting the new plane were completely true.

Eventually, (after several sightings of the pilot and co-pilot from flight 401 on the newer plane)the Foster infrared oven was pulled off the plane when three flight attendants saw the ghostly pilot in the oven while they were trying to serve a meal to passengers. They called the pilot of the plane and he saw the apparition too. At that point, Eastern got rid of the oven.

I do not know if the book mentions what happened to the oven but the oven was removed from the plane and sent back to Foster Refrigerator, where it sat in a remote part of the warehouse, covered up and unused for many years thereafter. I am certain no one ever used the oven again.

I think it is key to remember here that this was an infrared oven and if you recall most ghostly activites recorded by researchers involve infrared technology. Something about infrared and ghosts.......something bizarre, supernatural and totally true.

My name is Don and Don Repo ("Big Don") was my uncle. If you could overlay his personality within this book, you would realize what an unusual person he was. He loved everyone and everything and seemingly went through life w/o a care in the world.

Both my Mom and I were interviewed by John Fuller along with many others I'm sure.

The book not only accurately tells the events of the crash as a book unto itself, he became fasinated with the "Ghost" and included it in much of the book.

It is a fasinating story to read and once you begin you'll not put it down.

Read the book, but forget the movie. Ernest Borgnine who played "Big Don's" character was a very poor choice.

Read the book and enjoy. Non-believers in ghosts will scratch their heads over this one.
Don Watson

It seems apparent that John G. Fuller did not think he had enough material to write this story as the straight tale of Flight 401 going down in the Everglades, then chronicling the ghost appearances that followed. Instead, he chose to inject himself in his narrative and tell in detail how he got interested in these ghost stories (he was on airplanes a lot and heard about it from the cabin attendants), how he collected the stories (from airline personnel who mainly wanted to remain anonymous), and how he himself became convinced of their truthfulness (through his own psychic contact with the deceased). He seemed exceptionally sensitive to the possible ridicule this story might arouse.

But the sheer number of witnesses to the ghosts make the stories believable. What I found the most amazing was the witnesses who saw the pilot or flight engineer as totally solid bodies, and in a few instances, these ghosts actually talked with the living! As apparition stories go, these are first-rate. But the author gets bogged down in his attempts to find some way to wrap up his book. He opts to use a ouija board, and he succeeds in getting through to flight engineer Don Repo.The exchange with Repo is compelling, but such an approach invites criticism. To the skeptics who say "when you're dead, you're dead" the evidence from a ouija board will never be accepted.

Fuller makes it clear his main interest here is in confrming whether life goes on after death. It is a subject about which he himself has no clear belief, but we can assume he found his own evidence through his research for this book. For Don Repo, the dead flight engineer, it appears that the accident was something even his spirit could not let go of, could not accept. His spirit remained close by the airplane and the family he loved. Fuller explains how mediums he contacted performed a "soul rescue" to try to help Repo's spirit move on. His wife and daughter believed they were conversing with him once Fuller met with them and they all made contact through the oija board. It's hard to imagine the guilt the flight crew would feel after such a terrible accident, that killed 100 people. It's not surprising that their souls would be too restless to move on and might haunt the Eastern L1011 planes, as they apparently did.

A difficult story to tell, for sure. John G. Fuller does his best, but there will always be those who think he simply made it up or that the witnesses were just hallucinating. How can you ever prove you saw a ghost? How can you prove that ghosts are the souls of those who have passed on? And how many can believe that those souls can manifest as solid people, looking just like they did before they died? You be the judge.

In late December, 1972 an Eastern Airlines L-1011 crashes in the Florida Everglades. Soon thereafter, ghosts of the doomed flight crew start appearing on other Eastern Flights. The human search for proof of life after death is presented in this story, that makes you ask whether ghosts are real or not. Fairly well written, but offering no real proof. However, I know a retired United Airlines pilot who talked to Eastern Pilots at the time of the "appearance's", and they swore it was true. I have found this book at used book stores for $1.00 or less, and it's worth a read.

I do not believe in ghosts or the supernatural and was given this book by my father in the 70's. In the front of this book my father wrote "I am the first cousin of Alice Norko Repo, wife of Don Repo". The solving of mysterious events through a ouigi board seems absurd, but the pilot's wife's information (not known by others conducting this session) seemed to put an end to the speculations.
After reading this well-written investigative book, I would recommend any person interested in the "beyond" to delve into this fascinating book. I still don't know if I'm "skeptic" but this book will remain on my shelf due to the connection with my family.

This is a book about two pilots of a crashed Eastern Airlines flight 401 bound from New York to Miami. The plane crashed in the Everglades because the pilots concentrated on correcting a burned out light bulb (for the landing gear) and disconnected the autopilot, allowing the aircraft to crash land in a swamp.
The plane was the relatively new L-1011. These two pilots survived the crash, only to die of their injuries. EAL used some of the parts of the crashed plane in other airliners. These other L-1011s were subsequently visited by the dead pilots.
The pilots did not haunt the aircraft, but they wanted their presence known. On several occassions, they helped warn of problems and fixed aspects of the aircraft. Both pilots were friendly, but their presence caused emotional disturbances with the flight and cabin crew.
Fuller has written a number of books about the supernatural. I don't know if I believe him on all aspects of his writings. This book had a solid story of the crash, followed by sightings of the ghosts, and then some weird stuff of mediums and communicating with Don Repo through a Ouija board. The last four chapters are hard to believe. Fuller died in 1990, so only he can tell us if all this stuff is really true. John, I await your answer whether all this stuff is true.

I really enjoyed this book, and I end up having to replace my copy every few years. As other reviewers note, this is the nonfiction story of Eastern Flight 401, which crashed in the Everglades back in 1972. After the fact, pieces of the plane and equipment from it were salvaged to use on other planes; almost immediately, passengers and airline employees began reporting paranormal events. While a few of the sightings had to do with Captain Bob Loft (died from his injuries before being removed from the cockpit), the majority of them centered around Second Officer Don Repo (who lingered for thirteen hours before succumbing to his injuries). Some were as minor as a brief feeling of uneasiness; others went off the charts by having a fully formed human shape of Bob Loft sit in a seat (witnessed by all onboard, whom also witnessed the apparition simply disappearing) to Don Repo being seated in the cockpit when the pilot came on for the flight. Don announced, "Don't worry about the flight check; I've already done it." He then, in front of the pilot and a witness, disappeared. This book follows the author's attempts to validate these many events, through everything from simple interviews to using a Ouija board - on which, it seems, Don Repo came through quite clearly. While there are no glowing eyes, blood oozing from the walls, etc. in this book, there is enough 'creepiness' to make you feel like you just may be reading something based in fact, rather than an individual sitting down and throwing everything at the wall, and seeing what sticks. What struck me as interesting was that John G. Fuller seemed to set out to write a book respectful of the witnesses and stories, and he did a commendable job. I am a believer in paranormal matters, and so I found myself accepting that the events related could occur - if you are a non-believer, I'm not sure this book is strong enough in proof, names of witnesses, etc. to change your mind. Ironically enough, the pages I was least fond of were the ones when Don Repo is coming through on the Ouija; I have written a great deal on that subject, and the answers from Don (with apologies, if I'm being a jerk) seem to be too close to generic, unimportant things to impress me much. I guess I figure if Don came all that way, he'd probably have something more pressing to say than what the author relates to the reader -, but maybe I'm just being picky. And here's the rub - I do believe that it was Don on the Ouija, I just am not certain that he got to say what he wanted to say, if that makes sense. In the end, do I believe this story? Yes. I was very young when the crash occurred, and this was a very long time before instant viral info on the web, and I still heard about the ghost, Flight 401, etc (we traveled a great deal). Did I miss howling screams of terror and walls oozing blood in this book? No. It's quiet, organized and makes its' point without all that stuff. Lastly, you just may find yourself wondering, long after finishing this book, what became of Don Repo's family, whether they ever heard from him again, and if he went toward that light knowing nothing really ends. That's a good book, then, and despite a couple very small irks with it, I think that it deserves 5 stars.

This book is about an airplane, most known as Flight 401, that crashed into the Florida Everglades. The plane crash killed 101 passengers and crew. Suddenly, months later, the ghosts of its pilot and flight engineer began to appear on sister ships.

Airline employees was scared to tell the reporter, John Fuller, about what they have been seeing, because they was scared of being hunted. Finally, they came forth and told the most astonishing story in history.I really recommend you to read this book , if you like to solve mysteries.

Based on a true story about Eastern's Flight 401 that crashed in the Everglades in 1972. The book covers not only technical aspects of an airplane disaster, but also covers the human side. Sightings of the pilot, Captain Bob Loft, and the flight engineer, Don Repo, on planes with recycled parts of the doomed, 401 flight are reported by respected airline crew members as well as passengers. Eastern, of course, denied all. But the author was able to speak with many individuals in the airline industry and came to believe what he was hearing. Whether you believe in the after-life or not, this book raised many questions that there's not always an answer too.