"I consider ghost stories the clickbait of history," says Laura Fies, Executive Director of the USS Hornet Museum. While supernatural tales are a fun thrill for visitors, they also serve as a powerful accessory to historical education.

"We will teach them history... We'll inject it somehow and they'll walk away knowing something more," Laura explains. "And if we have to wrap it into a ghost story, so be it."

As a premier destination for history buffs, tourists, and paranormal investigators alike, the USS Hornet offers something for everybody: Spooky supernatural tours, massive military aircraft, carefully preserved World War II uniforms, and fascinating wartime artifacts—including the crew's original recipe for baking 7,000 donuts at sea.

Today on Call 'Em Like Museum, Laura discusses the unique challenges of running a “midsize museum in a big museum body.” She explains how the Hornet’s exhibits successfully put visitors into the mindset of ordinary enlisted men during World War II, and highlights the crucial role the legendary ship played in recovering astronauts during the Apollo 11 and 12 space missions.

Full transcript of this episode

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This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod

Chapters

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (04:49) - Boarding the USS Hornet Museum
• (08:55) - The Apollo 11 mobile quarantine facility
• (11:00) - Daily life for a WWII sailor
• (15:10) - Why the USS Hornet is considered haunted
• (24:16) - Maintaining an 894-foot aircraft carrier
• (34:39) - Operating the museum without federal funding
• (41:11) - Baking 7,000 donuts during battle stations
• (44:38) - Stealing ideas from other museums

Images:
Museum of Ice Cream
Exploratorium
Charles Schulz Museum
NASA Snoopy Poster