Hero of the Iron Works

Good news this time, Malevolent Mainers! One of the most iconic employers in Maine is Bath Iron Works. Jerry has worked at Bath Iron Works for twenty years, “Usually as you are putting a ship together” Jerry says, “everything gets to be pretty routine, after a while you start not to think too much about the massive slabs and beams of steel that get moved around and put into their place.”  Jerry went on to tell us of one particular day when he and his crew were working on a destroyer. 

“I want to keep the other guys anonymous, because they might get unwanted attention when this gets out. But as we were putting this destroyer together I was up operating the crane to lower this massive cross beam into place so we could get it welded in. My crew was down below waiting for it to go into place.” Jerry paused here and took a deep breath. “Well everything was going fine but as I was lowering the bean into place I watched as the connection between the hook and the main hoist line started to stretch and then an instant later there was a massive pop as they separated and the beam started to free fall.”  A member of Jerry’s crew was startled by the pop and looked up to see the beam falling almost directly on top of him. 

Luckily for the man about to be crushed he was about to get some help from another member of Jerry’s crew. “Well I don’t want to use his real name, but Mike jumped up almost immediately to help. Now Mike was never considered the brightest bulb on the crew but he was a good guy and a great welder, I knew that he was just trying to help but I couldn’t help but think Mike was gonna get crushed too, and I couldn’t bear the thought of one death on my hands let alone two. Well Mike, that crazy bastard, as that beam fell towards him and the other guy, he jumps up in the air just about as this 2000 pound piece of steel is coming down on top of them and he just bats it out of the air.”  The beam ended up falling diagonally across the hull of the destroyer and the two men were safe. Jerry couldn’t believe his eyes, Mike had done a superhuman feat to save his friend and coworker. 

Jerry went on to say that Mike stayed with the crew for another few years but neither he nor the rest of his crew ever saw any other examples of superhuman abilities out of the man. With all the strange and otherworldly stories we report on, its nice to have one where the phenomenon seems to be looking out for humanity. Stay safe out there, Maine, and if you ever find “Mike” make sure you buy him a cold one!