It was getting near the end of World War Two and the Germans were losing submarine crews right and left. You certainly didn't want to be in the submarine branch of the German Navy at the time. Things had gotten so bad, that the German sailors referred to their boats as steel coffins. This didn't instill confidence in anyone. When a German sailor put out to sea in his U-boat at this time in the war, he figured that he would not return. Many times the sailors that figured that, were right. Germany lost over eleven hundred U-boats in World War Two. This is an incredible number by any standard. If we compare this to U.S. losses, which amounted to about 41 through enemy action and about 13 from accidents, we can see the true scope of the German losses. German subs had become sitting ducks after new equipment was invented to detect them and destroyers were everywhere tracking them down, along with planes and even blimps.

There is a little known event that occurred in the war. Heinrich Himmler, the psycho, who headed the SS, believed that the submarine loss problem was due to poor dedication by the sailors of the German Navy. He went to Hitler and started pushing for subs that would be crewed by his SS. Finally Hitler agreed and a special submarine was constructed, that would be manned by his men. After the sub was built, all the workers were executed, so that the secret of the sub would remain just that. Himmler believed that his men would be more loyal and fight much better. As I said he was a psycho. The problem for the Germans was that their campaign to stop supplies from getting to England, didn't work. The main weapon for accomplishing this was their fleet of U-boats, which was being dissipated at an alarming rate. The submarine that was built for the SS was full of new technology. It was known as a class XXI. It had a snorkel so it could stay under water for a long time, it was designed to be the fastest sub ever launched, both underwater on the surface. It was also the deepest diving submarine. Some say that this submarine was light years ahead of anything that had come before it.

The boat was not able to be launched until just a few weeks before the war ended. Supposedly a secret base existed, where the submarine would be able to be maintained, it was said that the location of the base was on a remote island, but this has never been verified. After the submarine was launched, it was never heard from again. What had happened to it? One rumor was that the crew scuttled it. Another rumor stated that it was sunk, either by enemy action, or in an accident. The idea of building such a boat, was for the crew to continue fighting in secret even after the war ended. This was just another crazy idea that wouldn't have accomplished anything, except get the entire allied naval forces pursuing the sub, since they would now be free to do so. The boat was supposedly named U-2666. So far I have only told you about the technical side of what was going on with this submarine, now I will tell you about the paranormal side.

Many years later sightings of an unknown submarine began to be reported. It was believed that somehow pirates had gotten their hands on an old German U-boat. When the sightings were reported, they always stated that the sub was covered in rust. It is strange that any crew would allow this to go untended. It was said that the boat would attack anything it saw. Supposedly some ships that were lost at sea, were really attacked by this boat and sunk. It is said that the sub will attack large targets with torpedoes and smaller ones with it's deck gun. It has even been said that when crews try and flee their ships by boat, they are raked with machine gun fire. As if this wasn't enough, sometimes survivors are said to be brought into the submarine and never seen again. There is much speculation about what happens to them inside there. Some say that they might be sacrificed, while others believe that they are forced to become part of the crew. One point that is always brought up, is that Himmler was consumed by the black arts and many believe that he put some kind of a spell over this boat. I am not saying that I believe any of this, but there are a lot of people out there that do. They believe that this submarine was cursed from the first day it was finished.

When the submarine's crew is observed, in one of those rare instances where they are on deck, they are reported to look like rotting corpses wearing tattered SS Uniforms. . Another phenomena that has been reported, is a strange green light that is seen when a hatch is open on the boat. It is said that one of the naval ships that spotted the submarine had a sailor on board that had physic powers and when she tried to use them to see the inside of the submarine, she had to be sedated. What she saw was so disturbing that she just couldn't handle it. On occasion the submarine has been attacked and holes blown into it. All that this seems to accomplish is let out more green light, through these holes. When the submarine dives, it disappears completely off of sonar and can not be tracked. Could it be that this boat was originally outfitted with a crew of devil worshipers? Knowing the way Himmler thought, this is entirely possible.

Researchers have searched for years in vain, trying to find records of this boat, but their efforts have always ended in failure. Maybe this is not as surprising as it sounds, given the lengths that the NAZIs went to, to hide the fact that the boat even existed. The weapons on the boat never seem to run out of ammunition and there seems to be an unlimited supply of World War Two torpedoes. Not only that, but the torpedoes seem to have capabilities far in advance of anything from that war. For one thing, they are extremely fast, much faster than any torpedo from that time period.

Can anyone prove that any of this really happened? I can't say that they can. Sometimes something interesting appears and it is hard to resist writing about it. I think that you will all agree, or I should say that I hope that you will all agree, that this is an interesting story. I put it in the category that one might find the Flying Dutchman in. That is the legendary ghost ship that supposedly appears every once in a while on the high seas. The difference here is that the Dutchman has never been accused of attacking other ships, at least to my knowledge. Then there is the matter of the name of the boat, U-2666. As we all know, 666 denotes evil. Would the Germans have actually named a boat with this number? Sailors are very superstitious and I am almost positive that this would be the last thing that they would do, unless ordered to do so by Himmler. If you are ever at sea and notice an old, rusty submarine on the horizon heading your way, run to the captain and beg him to change course and change it with the engines at full revolutions. This tale just might be true.

This is not the first German submarine to have a reputation of being haunted. The UB-65 was built by Germany in 1916 during World War One. One worker died during it's construction, when the chains holding it broke and it slammed against the dock, crushing the poor guy. When the boat was launched, three crewmen died as engine fumes invaded their compartment. On it's first voyage a storm hit and a crewman was washed overboard and lost. On it's maiden voyage the crew almost died, when the boats ballast tank ruptured and they couldn't get to the surface, but luckily they were able to repair the rupture just before they were suffocated. One the way back, the boat was torpedoed and the second officer died and the boat was damaged. So far this was not a good boat to be on, to say the least. Just before the boat was to go to sea again, the dead officer was seen walking inside the ship. Thing got so bad that no sailor would board the boat. An investigator was sent to check out the boat and of course he was very skeptical. After questioning the crew and officers, he changed his mind and the boat was withdrawn from service. An exorcism was conducted by the clergy and the boat was sent out again with a new captain and crew. The new captain would not tolerate ghost talk and two tours of duty took place without any sightings. Then it happened, a new captain was put onboard and the haunting started again. It seems that the ghost kept going into the torpedo room and one of the crewmen in there committed suicide by jumping overboard while shouting that the ghost would not leave him alone. The story goes on to say that the submarine was spotted by an American destroyer, while on the surface in the English Channel. The destroyer was just getting ready to fire on it, when it exploded on it's own, killing everyone onboard.