The Ghost of the USS Dakota

Somewhere beyond the veil of time...
The past is waiting.
And it’s not alone.

A distress call from a ship lost in 1943...
Answered in 2025.

The past has returned… and it’s listening. Some signals...
Should never be answered.

Into the Abyss: Morbid Morsals is a Darkshogun Production in association with Twisted Souls Media. Created and produced by Troy Bursch.

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THANK YOU, LEGION
Thank you for listening, supporting, and sharing the show. Word of mouth is how this strange little beast grows. Thank you for walking into the darkness with me — and helping this indie horror project reach places I never imagined.

And remember… whatever lurks in the shadows will be waiting… visiting you in your twisted nightmares… as you spiral into madness.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:01

This episode contains mature language in adult situations. Listener discretion is advised.

SPEAKER_08 0:12

Stop stop as to stop stop.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

Hello, my unfortunate friends. How is it that you dared stumble into my caverns of the abyss? I am ancient. I am eternal. I have been shackled here for millennia, festering in shadows and silence, growing stronger with your pain and suffering. It was the poison of your darkest thoughts that summoned you to me. I am the shadow dweller, your warden, your tormentor, your only companion until the abyss swallows you whole. I have ripped open the portal between the Nether Realm and your fragile world. My brothers and I are unbound at last, and we come to enslave, to torment, to savor the chorus of your screams. As you trembled in fear, we fed. As you suffered, we grew strong. And now we unleash a bunch of new nightmares. Twisted tales, ghastly and gruesome stories of the macabre. Chronicles of horrors beyond imagining. Your souls will be harvested one by one. Welcome to Intelli Abid.

SPEAKER_12 3:22

September first, at seventeen hundred hours, twenty twenty-five. USS Monterey sails the cold Atlantic waters on a routine training mission. Being in the Coast Guard, you were always training, always trying to stay on top of whatever situation you have to deal with. But nothing we trained for ever prepared us for this.

SPEAKER_13 3:50

Weather's holding steady except this damn fog, sir. Can't see a damn thing, sir. But hopefully it will pass and we arrive at our training coordinates soon. Sir, I'm picking up something strange. Strange how. It sounds like an SOS old style. Morse code. It's coming from the east, but sir, it's transmitting on a frequency that hasn't been standard well since World War II.

unknown 4:34

This is the USS Dakota. We are adrift. Please respond. Casualties. Unknown repeat. This is the USS Dakota. Can anyone hear me? We need help.

SPEAKER_13 4:48

Coming from the east, but sir, it's transmitting on a frequency that hasn't been standard well since World War II.

SPEAKER_15 4:56

Ghost stories. Change course. Whatever that distress message is, we're going after that signal. We're going to investigate if someone needs help.

SPEAKER_06 5:13

Lucky me. First deployment, and we're chasing ghosts. I thought this would be a sick training session. Yeah, totally normal.

SPEAKER_05 5:23

Jameson, report to Bridge 2. You're assisting with communications.

SPEAKER_06 5:30

Copy that, sir.

SPEAKER_11 5:35

Cadet, take seat at communications console. Monitor any transmissions. We had a strange SOS come in earlier. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Hello?

unknown 5:48

Is anyone there?

SPEAKER_03 5:50

We have casualties. We have wounded that need medical attention.

SPEAKER_11 5:54

Uh Commander, I'm picking something up. Pipe it to my headset.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

This is seaman first class Robert Malloy of the US's Dakota. Please, we need help. We're dead in the water. Our instruments aren't working. It's cold. So cold.

SPEAKER_06 6:13

Sir, is this some kind of joke? That's impossible. That name, Robert Malloy. He's listed MIA since 1944. The ship was adrift on the Pacific coast for months. The whole crew were suspected to be dead.

SPEAKER_11 6:26

Continue monitoring. Record everything. We could be getting some kind of interference from this fog.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Captain, we have a visual. It's faint, but it's a ship, sir. Looks like it's in bad shape. It looks deserted.

SPEAKER_15 6:48

Possible. We would have picked it up on radar. We have some of the most sophisticated radar technology on this vessel.

SPEAKER_12 6:56

The dog USS Dakota slowly emerges from thick mist. Lights flickering merely. Some of the crew prepare to board the abandoned vessel. Rot, decaying, wood, and the smell of dust could be smelt in the air.

SPEAKER_06 7:33

Where are we even boarding this thing? It shouldn't exist.

SPEAKER_14 7:44

This place is a rotting shithole, it's one wrong step, and you're fallen through two levels of decay.

SPEAKER_06 7:58

Someone's calling me. Who's on comms? Is anyone else hearing this?

SPEAKER_14 8:04

Okay, there's no one here but usually.

SPEAKER_06 8:24

Did you see that? Jesus Christ. That scared the shit out of me. I swear I just saw something run into the doorway.

SPEAKER_14 8:30

Hello, is anybody there? We're the United States Coast Guard. We received a distress signal. I repeat, we're here to assist.

SPEAKER_15 8:51

This is Captain Ward. Come in.

SPEAKER_06 8:53

Status report. Nothing so far, sir. There's nobody here.

unknown 9:11

It's cold down here.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

The water is freezing. Can't survive much longer. Down in the engine room. Hurry.

SPEAKER_14 9:18

Who the hell are you talking to, Jameson?

SPEAKER_06 9:21

You need to hear that? Someone is calling for help. It sounds like it's coming from below deck. The crew. They're trapped. There. It's coming from there.

SPEAKER_14 9:46

Fine, we check it out. Stay close.

SPEAKER_06 9:49

It's freezing. Smells like something died down here. A spectral figure flickers into view.

SPEAKER_12 9:57

Pale. Soaked. Terrified. And hollow eyes. Just passing past a mirror.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Help us trapped below. Darkness took us.

SPEAKER_12 10:13

Parker's on the east end of the ship. She looks for any signs of life. Begins to hear someone crying. Coming from out of the dark. Sounds like it was coming from the stairwell.

SPEAKER_13 10:25

Hello? Is somebody there?

SPEAKER_02 10:36

I'm hurt and can't walk. Over here. In the stairwell.

SPEAKER_12 10:41

Mark made his way to where he heard the voice coming from. Just as he reached the spot, he looked down into the black hole that used to be the stairs. Must have been a 40-foot drop. He kicked a rock off the ledge and waited for it to make a sound. All of a sudden, he felt the push from behind. He was able to see a rotting, waterlogged, grayish-green face smiling at him. A seaman wearing a decade-faded uniform.

SPEAKER_14 11:32

What the hell was that? Jameson, did you hear that? Sounded like a scream. I must be hearing shit.

SPEAKER_06 11:46

This place is creeping me the fuck out. My gut is telling me that we need to get the fuck out of here now.

SPEAKER_14 11:52

I say that. What the hell was that? Felt like something hit us. Maybe the rough ocean is rocking the Monterey against this ship.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

All units evacuate with all integrity compromised.

SPEAKER_12 12:04

No. Rivera and Jameson began running up the stairs to the upper deck. Jameson shining his flashlight is here, man. Rivera wasn't too far behind. That's when he saw three or four seamen sitting on the box. Why did you watching him with cold, emotionless eyes? Your skin was battleship gray. Look like these bodies have been here a long time. You could feel cold, wet, bony hands grabbing. Bees begin pulling back. Fired off some rounds from Poseidon.

SPEAKER_14 12:43

What the fuck are you? Stay away from me. Back the hell up. Jameson, help me.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

We can't leave. We're already dead. And soon you'll join us. You'll be enlisted on the USS Dakota with us forever.

SPEAKER_06 13:05

I'm sorry, Rivera. Please forgive me, brother. Captain. Come in, Captain. This is Jameson. Rivera is down. Parker isn't responding. I repeat, Parker is missing. There's water coming in like a fucking sieve. There's something very wrong here.

SPEAKER_05 13:30

I reckon Jameson. Over. Get your off topslight ASAP. There are bodies. Everywhere. My god. They're all fucking dead. The crew is dead. We're leaving Jameson. Something killed them all. We need to detach immediately. There's a storm kicking up up here. Weather's getting bad.

SPEAKER_12 13:57

Jamin hears a spine chilling scream on his headset.

SPEAKER_05 14:04

Stay away from me. You aren't fucking real. Stay the fuck away from me. Captain Ward, come in.

SPEAKER_06 14:14

Do you read me? God damn it. Jim, come in. Are you okay? What's happening up there? I'm almost topside. Hang on.

SPEAKER_12 14:25

James have been now here whispering voices calling us. Not just in the tents. But now on around. Jacobson finally reached the top deck. He ran towards the Monterey. The light lit up the stormy night sky. As the ocean rocked the ship. Water dripped from his hat as he made his way into the cops room. The captain was right. Everyone on board was dead, their mouths open. Their faces etched with fear. Jameson threw up as he entered the cabin and locked the door. He turned on the comm as he began turning dials on the radio, getting nothing but static appearance. He tried the microphone to put on a headset.

SPEAKER_06 15:46

That's 115 G as in Girl. R as in Rainbow. L as in Lasso. 259er 4. This is a SOS. Come in. Can anyone read me? We were on a training mission and stumbled upon an abandoned vessel we think to believe the USS Dakota. Missing from the WW2 days. Everybody's dead, I repeat. The crew is all dead. Is anyone in the area that can read this? Power almost gone. This storm is getting worse. Ping into my coordinates using the sad images. We have casualties, we need help. Do not board the USS Dakota. I repeat, do not.

SPEAKER_12 16:32

Heading inbound to the location.

SPEAKER_16 16:39

There is again, sir. I can barely make it out. It sounds like an SOS. But there's a lot of static and interference coming through. About an hour, sir, give or take. This storm is a big one.

SPEAKER_10 16:57

Are you sure you hearing correctly, Cadet? The USS Monterey. You know that ship has been missing for six months now. No communication, no sign of it anywhere. It just vanished. We are sure it sank to the bottom. Last recorded law stated Captain Jim Ward was checking out a distress signal, and the weather was a strong storm.

SPEAKER_05 17:30

Discondent Jeans of the USS Monterey.

SPEAKER_06 17:32

We are adrift. Please respond. Casualties. Unknown repeat. This is the USS Monterey. Can anyone hear me? We need help. I'm so cold. It's cold down here. I don't know how much longer we can hold on.

SPEAKER_05 17:47

Please send help.

SPEAKER_12 18:01

Lightning and thunder crashed in the distance. The ocean rocked the USS Roosevelt as it made its way to investigate a distress SOS call from the supposedly missing USS Monterey that has been missing for six months. And there it was. Another call for help. Drifting through time. Unanswered. Or maybe answered too well. The USS Dakota sent her ghosts into the deep. And the monterey followed right behind. Funny thing about the sea. Eventually. Maybe the past wasn't lost at all. Maybe it was just waiting for company. So the next time you hear a distress signal echoing out of the fog, do yourself a favor. Let it sink. Because somewhere beyond the veil of time, the past is still calling. And this time, it's calling your name. But don't worry. We're sure they'll reach out again.

SPEAKER_06 19:10

Eventually, Chiefs, the USS Monterey. We are adrift. Please respond. Casualties. Unknown repeat. This is the USS Monterey.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Stop. The shadows are closing in. Myself and my brothers, the bringers of darkness, retreat to our lair. But do not be deceived. Our hunger is never stained. Your fear. It will linger with us until we return. But know this. You cannot hide. We will hunt you down. We will find you. We're already. We're already closer.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Hi, I'm Troy Birch, creator and producer of this horrific show. Please like, subscribe, download, and be sure to hit the notification bell. That way you'll get a heads up every time a new episode drops. Dare to listen. But beware, every story pulls you deeper into the dark. Hello, my friends. Since your suffering and pain are so enjoyable, be sure to check out my LinkTree. Linkedr.ee slash into the Abyss Podcast. There you can. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Threads and X. Listen to the show on your favorite podcast platforms. Listen to DJ TrillAm and We Are Legion for the dope music tracks that'll keep your heads nodding. Support the show. Please consider leaving me a five-star rating and review wherever you can. It really helps get the show in front of more listeners who enjoy short horror story podcasts. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Drop me a comment or question on Spotify's QA feature, I'll definitely respond. Help the show grow. Thanks again for listening and downloading. Please share the show with friends, family, or anyone who loves horror. Word of mouth is the only way we can grow. And remember, if you don't, I'll be seeing you soon in your darkest nightmares.

SPEAKER_09 23:59

Open up a hate and then go with the big Yeah, come on, get down with the sea. Come on and tell it for seamless Madnesses, the gift that has been given to me.

SPEAKER_08 24:17

And with a dream And win a dream And with a dream No mommy, don't do it again!

SPEAKER_09 24:34

Don't do it again! I'll be a good boy!

unknown 24:37

I'll be a good boy!

SPEAKER_09 24:39

No mommy, don't hit me a hoo! Why did you have to hit me like that, mommy? Don't do it, you're gonna hit me a who Why did you have to be such a Why don't you why don't you fuck off and die? Why can't you just fucking my face? Come on, I can't tell it to sing out with the screen, come on and down with the same. Come on, get down with the same Madness has now come.