Espírito Santo
It was like the old Yankee clippers. A smuggling vessel, a rakish topsail, barquentine rigging, angel figurehead on the bow.
– Peter Warren, 3.06 Red Sky at Morning
History
The Espírito Santo was a three-masted clipper ship that served as a merchant vessel in its heyday. It was manned in the mid-19th century by a crew that included a sailor and his brother, the captain. After the latter ordered his brother's execution, convicting him for alleged treason, an apparition of the Espírito Santo began appearing before people who had spilled the blood of their family members, as a death omen warning them of their impending deaths at the hands of the sailor's murderous ghost.
Episodes
3.06 Red Sky at Morning
There were four total sightings of the Espírito Santo ghost ship in 2007, all in Sea Pines, Massachusetts. The first person to see it was Sheila Case, who spotted the ship coming towards her while she was jogging at night by the pier, and she was later drowned in her shower by the sailor's ghost. Her grandmother, Gertrude Case, heard of the ship from her niece before she died, identifying it to Sam and Dean Winchester as a ghost ship. Later, Gert mentioned that Sheila was in a car crash that killed her cousin Brian, alluding to the ghostly sailor's choice of victim.
The next two to see the Espírito Santo were the Warren brothers, who were night diving when they saw it, Peter Warren later described it to the Winchester brothers in detail after his brother was drowned in the bathtub. Peter Warren was also drowned in his car, the sailor's ghost filling his lungs with sea water, while the Winchesters futilely attempted to save him. Gert told Sam that, while nothing was proven, the Warren brothers murdered their father to inherit his real estate fortune of $112 million, matching the modus operandi of the sailor's ghost.
The last person to see the ship was Bela Talbot, when she had parked waterside to count the money she made from having sold a Hand of Glory, which ironically was made from the sailor's hand before his body was cremated. As only she had prior experience with the supernatural, had been investigating the case of the Espírito Santo, and identified the ghost from among the crew, in order to steal the Hand of Glory from the Sea Pines Museum, Bela was the only witness who recognized the ghost ship and took its appearance as a signal of her looming demise. Sam Winchester was able to save her life by performing a summoning spell to call forth the spirit of the sailor's brother, allowing the sailor's ghost to exact his revenge, finally putting him to rest by neutralizing both spirits.
With both sailors' spirits having moved on, it is presumed that the Espírito Santo will not be seen again beyond 2007. Dean later learns that Bela Talbot made a deal with a crossroads demon in 1998, to kill her sexually abusive parents and inherit millions from her family's fortune after making the deaths appear accidental, explaining why the sailor's ghost came to drown her in the graveyard as Sam summoned the sailor's brother.
Trivia
- The ship's name translates as "Holy Spirit," meaning the Holy Ghost of Christianity, i.e. the third aspect of God.
- It is unclear which ghost featured in 3.06 Red Sky at Morning, if any, was responsible for the Espírito Santo's appearance. As it would appear shortly to the sailor's ghost's targets shortly before he attacked his victims, it is possible that he was the one who had been making the ghost ship appear.
