Imagine filmmaker Ken Burns beside a campfire, rubbing his palms together gleefully to spin a scary story in the same matter-of-fact way he might pontificate about baseball or America's bloodiest wars. Imagine documentarian Frederick Wiseman presenting, with his shoot-everything approach, a day in the life of a haunted house. Then recall the actual narrative Errol Morris manages to coax out of his interviews in The Thin Blue Line.

That is the bar as far as I'm concerned, and it could not be set higher.

Ghosts of the Sharpanova is a ghost story told by way of a documentary. Through interviews with eye-witnesses, skeptics, and experts we are introduced to the curious tale of the lightship Sharpanova, a modern day ghost ship. Taken by themselves, each interview subject sheds light on a small but bizarre portion of the mystery; but none of them could guess the haunting significance they play in the larger drama that unfolds when all of their stories are collected together.

The ship left its dock in Port Clyde, ME in 1974. A distress call came shortly after, warning of a gall severe enough to overturn the ship. No storm was found when the Coast Guard arrived at its expected coordinates, and after a week's search effort it was marked as a lost vessel. In 1982, it is spotted for the first time. Sightings have been recorded every year since, but never in the same place twice. The film explores both halves of the story, concerning itself entirely with what its subjects believe, but never positing a theory of its own.

This is a film about truly frightened people - and the things that carry such emotional weight that they invent ghosts to embody their nameless fears. They are plagued by the real horrors of everyday life - regret, stagnation, mortality, defeat - and these spectres have come to haunt them in the guise of the Sharpanova. At once a horror film, character study, and a love letter to the forgotten corners of nautical history, Ghosts of the Sharpanova weaves its tale with a deft combination of fact and fiction that blurs the current definition of documentary filmmaking.

Austin Jennings began work on the research and development of Ghosts of the Sharpanova in 2008. Several of the interviews and other materials have already been shot; the filmmakers are currently focusing on creating and restoring archival material, as well as gearing up for their most ambitious phase of production yet.

To find out how you can help their next big steps in making the film a reality, check out the fundraising page for more information!