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Haunted Squad Bay

 

As everyone can tell from my user name, I am a Marine. These stories occurred while I was going through Boot Camp in sunny California. And in case your wondering, I didn't get to enjoy any of it! While in boot camp we lived in long open squad bays that had an entrance to the head and and shower rooms at the front and a single back hatch that was never opened.

Part of the training that we went through involved standing watch by the front hatch. This watch was posted starting as soon as the lights went out at 10:00 pm and went in shifts until 5:00 am when everyone had to get up. It is easy to understand that on a military base where the recruits are miserable and a very small minority just lose it and decide to end it all, that some "interesting" things can happen while standing post particularly late at night.

The first incident I experienced occurred around 2:30 in the morning. I was touring the squad bay as ordered to keep an eye out for any of the recruits violating the rules or any recruit that might be trying to harm himself or others for some reason. When touring the head I heard a strange noise coming from one of the back stalls in the restroom. The stalls in boot camp didn't have any doors on them so it was easy to see that there was no one back there. I turned to leave when I heard it again, it sounded like something was rubbing on that top bar that runs across the front of a line of stalls.

Of course I ran back to look again but there was nothing there! Slightly on edge because I took my duty seriously and something was giving me a strange feeling every time I went in to that room I went and woke my relief. He claimed to be "tuned" to the paranormal. He heard the same sounds and said he felt something was wrong about that room. Later after graduation we asked our instructors and were told that 40 odd years before a recruit had hung himself in that exact stall!

The second incident that I experienced occurred while on duty in the last couple weeks of boot camp in the newer 3rd phase squad bay. I was walking towards the front of the squad bay when a humanoid figure comes running from the entrance to the head and straight down the center of the squad bay and in to the uniforms that we had hanging in the rear of the squad bay for inspection. I, of course, thought it was one of the recruits messing around so I chased after the figure until it went into the uniforms. I got mad thinking that the "recruit" was going to mess up the uniforms and so I started aggressively searching for him. After 15 minutes of searching through every rack of uniforms and up every single row of bunks and not seeing anyone out of their rack and all quiet is started to think that it wasn't a living human recruit after all. I never found out what or who that might have been but it was interesting to say the least.

Both of these experiences were just the start of paranormal experiences I have had while in the military. I have and quite a few for one person and I have heard even more.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, marine556, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

SmokeyKnight (3 stories) (193 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-04-06)
Obviously this was at MCRD San Diego. As previously stated, recruits do decide death is easier than training. I have been Army for 6 years and saw my share of suicide attempts. I spent a week at MCRD SD in high school and I agree, there are some "interesting" things that happen. Military installations are notorious for high death rates with suicides and training accidents.
Mikhal (1 stories) (4 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-05-20)
Intriguing story - I went to Perris Island myself - and just as you mentioned to whitebuffalo, every base I've been on has had it's "spooks" - I saw a bit at boot camp but is wasn't until I got to Monterey that things went crazy - my primary at that time was 2675 (Russian Linguist, though they've changed the MOS) so my school was the language institute there - now the Presidio is an old base - Lejeune was wierd too, especially the swamps - my B MOS was 8551 and 8652 (Recon) so a handful of us got to see a lot of strange stuff - guess I need to scribble down a few stories of my own...

Happy Hunting...
whitebuffalo (guest)
 
16 years ago (2008-04-10)
You know, Marine,
I have never really met an antagonistic ghost on a base. I have experienced some very playful, or curious, but never have I had an adversary in a ghost.
Boot camp was just rife with experiences, as well as my A-school. But to be honest, I never thought they were anything more than my imagination. The most frustrating night of sleeplessness was when my "sister" decided to remove the blades out of her razor.
I chased sounds all over the indoc building while standing guard, out on a pier, and in the chiefs barracks.
Thank you.
marine556 (2 stories) (4 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-04-10)
Whitebuffalo,
Every single base I have been on has been haunted. However, I have only ever met or heard of any of them being antaganistic. I really don't understand that at all considering the circumstances usually involved in a death on a base.
marine556 (2 stories) (4 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-04-10)
Bellissima,

Yes I did mean suicide. For some reason once in awhile a recruit will descide that he would rather die then continue in training. I don't understand it but it happens. Although I do find it interesting that most of my stories that I plan to publish all occur on military bases.
whitebuffalo (guest)
 
16 years ago (2008-04-10)
😆 Whew, Marine,
I bet we could swap quite a few stories about boot camp visitors!
I have to say that boot camp is a highly emotional time for all, even those who would appear to be hard as nails. Just the ratio of who makes it through, and who gets "bagged back", or just do not make it through show how difficult the life style is. It would probably be easier to point out (the list would be shorter) bases that are NOT haunted, then to point out all that ARE.
Thank you.
Bellissima (12 stories) (792 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-04-09)
Hi Marine. That was a very interesting story, I really enjoyed it. I just have to know; when you say the recruits were miserable and some decided to 'end it all', do you actually mean suicide? Wow! It must have been really horrible. Well, I guess it's no wonder there were strange things happening! Those recruits must have been extremely unhappy to do something as drastic as that, there were probably spirits wandering around all over the place there. That's so tragic. I'm sure there many stories passed along while you were there. The poor, desparate, lost, lonely souls. Stuck in the place most hated. I'm looking forward to more of your stories. Thanks for sharing.
ChrisB (6 stories) (1515 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-04-07)
Hi Marine556. That was another very good story. I realy liked the part when you chased the recruit and found nothing. I believe there is a lot of activity there. Did any other soldiers-friends see or feel anything to? The reason I'm asking is because you might be a sensitive. Its easier for you to see things then others can. I realy liked your story and I hope you post your next stoies soon. I hope to hear from you soon and take care

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