Spookiest Military Bases, Ships, Museums, and Forts: America’s Most Haunted Military Instillations

By Terrance Zepke

The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):

Well little Ghoulies here were have the second, of several, non-fiction books. These are going to be a smidge different from our fiction friends in that there are no fictional characters or situations to rant and rave about. With this my approach will be more of a reflection on the locations and histories surrounding the alleged hauntings. I’ll throw in some interesting pictures and links (just click on the pictures) to keep ones appetite whet.

I think it should be an interesting departure and prove to be very interesting. Don’t worry though I’m sure it will not be anger free, as that’s just not who I am after all. Just as a heads up, this particular book is more of a guide to the location and a brief history of the military instillation and what took place there. In most cases mention of the paranormal is generalized on what has been reported but no specific stories are told. It seems our author is a travel writer first and fore most. Which is fine by me. Even though the information is basic and brief it is still interesting.

Fort Leavenworth

This is a very large complex that not only still has a garrison but it is also home to one of the most famous and brutal prisons in the US. Obviously with such a large and well occupied location there are going to have been some violent deaths and tragedies. Thus Fort Leavenworth has been dubbed the most haunted base in America.

Some small notes on things mentioned:

During WWII there was a prison revolt. All 14 rioters were caught and punished. They were made examples of and died by hanging, one every hour until they were all dead. Unfortunately the small gallows were not equipped to hold that many bodies so they utilized the elevator shaft in the administration building to cover the overflow. Yikes!

Our friend General Custer is allegedly suspected of haunting the General’s residence. This is interesting because he did not die here (died at the Battle of Little Bighorn) but his court-martial hearing was held in the General’s residence where he was found guilty and served a one-year sentence.

The most tragic of all of these hauntings is the one that is at the National Cemetery. It is believed that the ghost of Catherine Sultlers haunts this location because this is where her children disappeared. It was believed that they had fallen into the river and drowned, their little bodies being swept away by the current. Catherine never stopped looking for her children and eventually later that year she died from pneumonia, forever to search the ground for her children. The real tragedy was that they had indeed fallen into the river but they had not perished. They had been rescued by the Fox Indians and kept safe until spring when the Native Americans contacted the base to inform the proper authorities.

There are several more stories and locations mentioned in the book.   

Fort Dix

Still an active base, now a super base housing three divisions of the US armed forces, Army, Air Force and Navy. This camp/base has been in operation since the early 1900’s and has a lot of history. It has been the sight of training for multiple conflicts including two world wars.

One of the haunted locations on the base was the Walson Army Hospital that was closed in 2001. Cold spots, orbs, spectral voices, objects mobbing on their own and electronic device malfunction were all experienced before it’s closure. Allegedly, in the morgue, if you were to lay down on a gurney it would start to move toward the morgue cooler and when you got off it would stop…too bad we’ll never be able to test this. The building has since been demolished.

There is a lost of major events involving the base listed in the chapter. Some of them are very interesting.

And last but certainly not least is the mention of alien activity on the base in 1978. Allegedly a UFO was shot down by an MP. The area was cordoned off and the evidence was swept away quickly by a team from the Air Force. An interesting end to the chapter. Check it out. 

Fort Monroe

An interesting location. This fort is the largest stone fort ever built on US soil. It has a moat and lighthouse of its very own.

Infidelity strikes again as the cause of an untimely death. Camille Kirtz had married a soldier many years her senior and struggled to find a connection with him. Because she was never able to connect with her spouse she connected with the arms and private bits of another man. Inevitably they were caught and she was shot to death while her lover escaped with his life, but only just. The spirit of Camille is known as the Luminous Lady and she is the most well-known haunting of this location.

This fort also has had several famous visitors and occupants over the years. President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S Grant have been known to show their faces in a house called Old Quarters Number One.

My favorite otherworldly visitor would have to be iconic horror author and poet Edgar Allen Poe who apparently spent four months of his very brief military career at Fort Monroe where he ironically wrote The Cask of Amontillado. His spirit is said to the building that was once his barracks.

There are several more hauntings mentioned in the book.

Fort Mifflin

Fort Mifflin is the oldest active military base in America. The most haunted location at this base is Casement #11 where Union deserter William Howe resided in solitary confinement after attempting a jail break with 200 other prisoners. Apparently Howe got sick during the war and left without leave to go home and recover. This was frowned upon by the Union and he was declared a deserter. Eventually he was hanged in 1864. Allegedly Howe haunts casement #5, aka the faceless man.

Another interesting haunting is that of Elizabeth Pratt, AKA the Screaming Woman. The scream has on occasion prompted individuals to contact the police who upon investigating find nothing. One theory is that Pratt committed suicide from the second floor balcony of the Officer’s Quarters.

More hauntings are mentioned in this chapter.  

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

This is one of the largest bases of the Air Force. It includes a research lab, aeronautical systems center, unexcavated Indian mound and the largest aviation museum in the world.

The aircraft in this museum have some civilians, airmen and piolets permanently at their helm that have made themselves known in several different ways over the years. A few of the aircraft that are included in these hauntings are the Bockscar which was used to drop the bomb on Hiroshima in WWII (haunted by a Japanese boy) and the Strawberry Bitch who’s pilot is an angry spirit who apparently takes out his rage on innocent cleaning staff.

This base has been investigated by multiple paranormal investigation teams including SyFy’s Ghost Hunters. Interestingly enough this investigation was actually sought out by the Air Force and approved at the Pentagon. The reason for this approval is to renew interest in military careers and up enlistment as the target audience of this show is people between that ages of 18-34. Well played government.

The Ghost Hunters had a successful investigation. Post-evaluation of the data determined that what was recorded was legitimate.

Spy House Museum (Seabrook – Wilson House)

This is an old location. The house was originally built by Thomas Whitlock in 1663 and then renovated to a two story home by Thomas Seabrook. The Seabrook family lived there for more than 250 years when it then became a tavern during the Revolutionary War. It was an inn by the 1900’s and then for some reason the house was abandoned for a good clip.

There are several paranormal incidents that have been experienced in this location. There are a couple mentioned that struck my fancy. The haunting of Pirate Captain Morgan in the basement guarding his treasure and holding “business meetings”. His spirit along with that of his first Mate, Robert have been known to get violent, pushing and choking individuals that venture down there.

The other, and my personal favorite is the briefly mentioned yet amusing spirit of a man who thinks it’s his afterlife goal to pinch the posterior region of female visitors. Not every location can claim to have a misogynistic, perverted ghost.

Several more incidents were mentioned in this chapter. This location is said to have 30 plus ghosts haunting it.

The Exchange Hotel Civil War Medical Museum

This location has served many purposes. Even before the hotel was built there was a successful tavern on the land. Unfortunately the tavern burned down and several people were killed. After that the hotel was built and it served as a railroad hotel, a hospital during the civil war for both Union and Confederate soldiers, a Freedman’s Bureau during the Reconstruction Period, a hotel once again and then a private residence for a few decades until it became the museum.

There have been multiple paranormal investigative groups that have spent time at this museum. Many of them having success with their visits. Staff have also experienced events within it’s walls.

One specific spirit caught my eye and that is the spirit of Major Quartermaster Richards. Allegedly he caught his wife having an affair, drug the unfaithful woman out to the woods and killed her. He then made the decision to kill himself declaring that he would “hold her spirit hostage here for eternity”. Now that’s revenge! He has been known to get a little pushy when individuals come near him.

There are several other mentions of activity in this chapter.

Camp Grant Museum

This is an interesting little place. At one point it was an Army Base (1917-1946). Black Hawk was formed here. The base was hit hard during the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 and over 1000 men died (numbers are believed to be considerably higher, somewhere in the 2200 range). Because of this the commanding officer of the base committed suicide.

During WWII the base became a training camp, medical facility and a prison for POW’s. More than 2500 German soldiers were imprisoned here.

The base was decommissioned in 1946 and now an airport takes up most of the land where the base once stood. There are still some buildings like the old barracks that were converted into housing for GI’s and of course the museum which once served as a fire station.

There have been several otherworldly incidents such as the sighting of apparitions, orbs, the moving of museum display items and staff members being touched by an invisible hand.

Sadly according to Google the museum has been closed but their website is currently still active. There are comments on Tripadvisor from 2021 that state the museum has been closed and that the building was for sale.

Monatuk Air Force Station

Also known as Camp Hero which is now a state park. Part of this land is still owned by the federal government. Allegedly this location was the site of projects that involved things like time travel, telekinesis and mind control. The federal government will not even acknowledge the existence of the station let alone admit that the Montauk Project is real. This chapter has basic information about the alleged experiments that occurred or are occurring to this very day perhaps?

There is no evidence that this location is haunted or otherwise as no one has ever gained access however there are some honorable mentions of some places around the area of the station that have reported paranormal incidents. Once such location is the Montauk Lighthouse which is said to be haunted by Abigail Olsen who died as the result of her injuries from a ship wreck that occurred right by the lighthouse.

Other close by locations are mentioned in the chapter.

The Alamo

Initially the Alamo was built as a mission by the Spanish who, at the time, had domain over Texas. Eventually they relinquished it back to Mexico who allowed American’s to build settlements on the land. While the battle that took place here between the American settlers and the Mexican Army was won by the Mexican’s it is astounding to me that 150 rebels held off 5000 Mexican soldiers for 13 days. That’s amazing! It’s like the Spartans holding off the Persians (they would have won that too if it had not been for betrayal). There was significant loss of life in this location so it is not surprising that otherworldly experiences have been reported.

Because this was a mission at the time of the battle there were women and children there that lost their lives. From what our author says the two children of Anthony Wolf, who were hiding in the church were killed when they were mistaken for enemy combatants by the Mexican’s. Now here is my question…how the hell do you mistake am unarmed 9 year old and a 12 year old for combatants? You would have to be blind, dumb or a combination of the two to suspect that. I think they killed those boys because they wanted to, making those men evil. So it’s no wonder that the spirits of children have been seen around the location.   

Apparently paranormal investigations are not allowed at this location, which is a shame considering that there was a jail and police headquarters on this location briefly in the late 1800’s. There were so many paranormal disturbances experienced by both prisoners and police that they decided to move the jail and headquarters to a new location. They saw these disturbances as a liability. I think this location would lend significant data so it’s kind of a dick move Daughters of the Republic of Texas that you will not allow respectful investigators time to explore.

Battleship North Carolina

A WWII battleship (the first of ten ships that were commissioned during the war) that is now considered a historic landmark has been investigated by several paranormal investigative outfits. But before we get into that we have to talk about the night watchman Danny Bradshaw. Apparently this gentleman has had the pleasure of not only experiencing everything from the noise of footsteps and had doors and hatches close all on their own but he has actually seen full body apparitions. It seems the most notable was in the mess hall area where he saw men in uniform cuing up to get their meal. He has seen several other entities during his time there.

It is believed by Bradshaw that there are at least two entities that have interacted with him. While one seems mostly benevolent, shutting doors and walking down halls the other is not so peaceful. This entity has shouted and even chased the night watchman.

“Ghost Hunters” (T.A.P.S) has been one of the teams to explore the happening on the ship. During their two day investigation they collected considerable data and had experiences themselves that were not captured on camera or recorder.

Fort Riley

Once again Custer’s name comes up. This time because of his arrogance he was court marshalled and suspended from his command for a year. It seems to me that this man was not capable of following orders or making sound decisions. He had an “I do what I want” attitude that eventually got him killed when he underestimated the Native American troops at the Battle of Little Bighorn. 

One particular haunting sticks out. The military had decided to take unit photos with the soldiers passed with their rifles. Once the photo was done they all took the weapons back to the rack, barrels upright. Unfortunately one of the soldiers had not unloaded his weapon correctly and it ended up going off, killing another solider. It is believed that this soldier haunts the base as there have been several reports of the spirit being seen. The faceless doll in the rocking chair at the Custer house is also a disturbing reported event that I, personally, would find to be far worse of an experience than the spirit of a passed on soldier. The fort does offer annual ghost tours that may be worth checking out

Warren Air Force Base

This seems to be a particularly haunted location. It is the oldest active Air Force Base in the US and has seen a lot of conflict. There are several incidents that are talked about in this chapter. There seems to be an awful lot of spirits here because of incidents of infidelity that were discovered, three in all are mentioned. In one particular incident the boyfriend ended up jumping out of the second story window in a state of undress and ended up hanging on the clothes line in the yard. That’ll teach him to mess with someone else’s wife!

This second floor window escape route was not only the demise of one boyfriend but two. A husband fell to his death fleeing from a rendezvous with his mistress. I guess the wife and kids come home earlier than expected.

Building 34 was the alleged scene of the murder of six nurses by a deranged patient. Individuals have reported seeing a woman in a nurse’s uniform making her rounds.

There are several more paranormal incidents that have been mentioned in this chapter. This base is full of them. Not sure how anyone gets any sleep around there!  

Queen Mary

I know what you are thinking…the Queen Mary was a civilian passenger ship not military but apparently it was commandeered during WWII, painted grey and nicknamed “The Grey Ghost” logging over 600,000 miles by the end of the war. Once again it became a passenger ship and continued its journeys between England and New York until the 1960’s. It is now moored in Long Beach CA. There are restaurants, shops, salons and even a functioning hotel.

You can take tours both during the day and at night, do a ghost tour and stay the night. Apparently one of the most haunted rooms in the hotel is the Sir Winston Churchill Suite. The smell of cigar smoke has been experienced as well as guests having the sheets pulled off them at night by an unseen entity.

Many other reports of otherworldly happenings have been reported over the years including doors being heard slamming, knocking, footsteps, voices laughing or mumbled talking, cold spots and even full body apparitions have been seen.

USS Hornet

This ship was renamed the USS Hornet in honor of another ship that has been lost in battle a year previous. Interestingly enough, there have been multiple USS Hornets over time. The very first existing during the Revolutionary War. This ship saw many battles in many different conflicts including WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. It has also seen visitors like Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong as it was used to go scoop them up from their landing point. In addition to this it has been seen in both movies and television.

As far as the paranormal is concerned there have been tons of incidents over time. Everything from doors and hatches opening and closing on their own. Inanimate objects moving on their own. Cold spots. People being grabbed or pushed and many full body apparitions. There are several accounts in this chapter but according to the author these are not even scratching the surface of the stories available.

An interesting little tidbit to end this chapter talked about the famed Buffalo Soldiers. I have spoken about and have pictures of them in a previous location, Fort Riley. Apparently the last and oldest living Buffalo Soldier died at the age of 111 in 2005. I just thought that was a cool little bit on info for ya! This was one of the only FYI’s in the book that did not involve some sort of subterfuge by our government.

It seems that our author enjoys talking about all of the things that our completely transparent federal government is trying to cover up. Most of her FYI’s in this book are related to UFO’s, secret government programs involving psychic abilities, lab created monsters and the secret locations that these things are happening in. I happen to enjoy these FYI’s….we all know that the probability that were are not alone or that there are other dimensions beyond our own reality are present is pretty high. The probability that there are people who hunger for power and control and will take these things and exploit them to their benefit while telling the rest of us that they don’t exist or that we need some sort of psychiatric intervention is also very high.

Like most e-books there are some errors that were not caught before publishing to the electronic version. I’m not much for grammar myself but I do know when a word is missing or incorrect. Overall though the locations interesting. I can very much see myself visiting these locations.

Happy Devouring!

The Sexton