John Wayne’s ghost afoot?

Press, 2 July 1983, Page 15

John Wayne’s ghost afoot?

NZPA Los Angeles John Wayne died more than four years ago, but the man who owns his yacht is convinced the late film star’s spirit is alive and well aboard the 49-metre vessel. “It’s just a physical presence that’s there,” Lynn Hutchins said. “The deckhands who live on the boat notice it . . . you can cut it with a knife, it’s that thick. "It’s not a bad feeling — it’s kind of protective,” Mr Hutchins added quickly. Mr Hutchins, a 42-year-old Santa Monica attorney, said he had been reluctant to discuss the actor’s ghost for fear of being considered kooky or sensation-seeking — “I don’t need to be made to look ridiculous.” He said there was no logical explanation for some things that had happened aboard the Wild Goose since he purchased the converted navy minesweeper shortly before Wayne died of cancer on June 11, 1979. The first time he slept in Wayne’s blue-and-gold stateroom, Mr Hutchins said, he was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of footsteps on the deck above.

Later, Mr Hutchins found out John Wayne used to walk 20 laps around the boat deck, which is I.skm, for a constitutional every night. “It happens every time I sleep in his stateroom,” Mr Hutchins added. In February, 1980, when the boat was chartered for 80 guests at a wedding reception, the anchor slipped. Although the wind was blowing to the northwest and the tide was running east, the Wild Goose drifted northwest — without hitting any of the dozens of smaller craft in the crowded har-

bour — and finally came to a halt near the dock in front of Wayne’s harbourfront home. “The boat went against all the laws of physics and went in the right place.” said Mr Hutchins. “Another time, I bought some brass lamps to hang in the ship from a marine supply store in Newport,” Mr Hutchins recalled. “When I hung them in the galley, the engineer came in and said, ‘You got those damn things hanging up again. I took them down because John kept hitting his head against them.’ “He hauled them out, and they were the identical lamps hung in the identical spot. There are 100 different kinds of lamps I could have bought, and I bought the same brand, same make, same thing and I put them in the same place. How did that happen?” Mr Hutchins, who bought the boat for an undisclosed sum, has been halfheartedly trying to sell it — “not because of the ghost, but because maintaining it, arranging charters, answering reporters’ questions and other tasks connected to the vessel take two to three hours a day.

“I haven’t had a vacation in three years,” he said. “It’s still for sale, for $2 million or best offer. Actually, the price isn’t that important. I’m screening the persons the same way John screened me.” Wayne talked to Mr Hutchins for three months, inquiring about his political views on such matters as the Panama Canal, before agreeing to the sale the week before he died, Mr Hutchins said. “John’s got me working for him full-time,” Mr Hutchins said. “I’ll probably end up keeping it unless I find someone who’ll take care of it. The thing is like a national monument...”