The Atlas Obscura Podcast · Saturday, September 26, 2026
A local legend in Alton tells of a phantom riverboat whose whistle, heard on a foggy morning without the boat being seen, portends a death on the docks within a week. This story is linked to the Mississippi River's history as a dangerous and unpredictable waterway, where shipwrecks were common.
“There was always a story about a phantom riverboat that I always liked.”
“About how if you heard the whistle blow on a foggy morning, a riverboat whistle, but you never saw the boat, then it meant that someone who worked down on the docks was going to die within the next seven days.”
“Shipwrecks were really common. One stretch of the river in Southern Illinois was known as the graveyard because so many ships were lost there.”