Where Did The Light Go?

This happened in Aug 1988 just before I transferred from a school I was attending in Pensacola, Fl.

I had some friends that were not enlisted in the Navy and they did some ghost hunting on the side. They were not an organized group per se, but if they found a public spot that had strange stories about it they would break out the cameras and tape recorders and try to prove or disprove the stories.

Fort Pickens is an old WW2 gun battery lookout post overlooking Pensacola bay. At one time it had large guns placed there to defend the bays entrance from enemy attack. One of these batteries was rumored to be haunted by WW2 soldiers that had died, not from battle, but in accidents that happened during training to use the large guns and it was these stories and a more recent one of a possible cult doing 'horrible' things inside the main Battery that took us out to investigate on a Friday night.

It was about 2130 (930pm) when we arrived at the Battery, the night was clear and the moon was 3/4 full (bright enough you didn't really need a flashlight outside) and the 5 of us checked our equipment in the parking area, flashlights-check, 3 brand new MAG Lights (4 D size batteries) and 2 large 9 Volt box type batteries. Camera's-check 2 35MM (1 Nikon/1 Cannon) one loaded with color film, the other with Black and white. 2 tape recorders. (Hey it was 1988, digital wasn't that big...) With this stuff checked we headed for the entrance.

Now Fort Pickens was open 24/7 to the public, all you had to do was drive in, the Batteries however did have fencing up to prevent people wandering into the and getting hurt, the fence on the main Battery was bent back and so it was easy to enter. (Yes, I was young and dumb and living in the moment.)

So in we went, flashlights blazing, the main corridor ran all the way across to the other side and on the left was another corridor. The Main corridor had lots of trash, and graffiti in it, not much to write home about. We turned left and made our way deeper into the Battery, the further we went the less garbage and graffiti we saw. This corridor seemed to go on forever, and then we saw pictures on the walls, not your average graffiti but real pictures.

One of these stands out in my mind; it was a copy of one of the Major Arcana cards from the Ryder Tarot deck, The Devil. (It represents stagnation, bondage and yes worse.) And just past this there were red foot prints that ran along the floor, then up the wall and onto the ceiling. (Yes the ceiling!)

It is at this point that all 5 of us got the feeling we were being watched, this feeling came from further in the battery, we turned our flashlights down the corridor and not one of the 5 seemed to cut the darkness any further than about 30 feet.

Now for the 2 box flashlights, this didn't concern me, they were older, and perhaps the bulbs were weak, but 2 of the Mag lights were brand new, bought the day before, just for this trip and they should have lit up the entire corridor, but they weren't. When shined back the way we had come all the beams seemed to work fine, turn and shine deeper into the Battery and it seemed the darkness swallowed the beams of light...

We decided it was time to go, the feeling of being watched had increased and after a short discussion 3 of the 5 of us voted to get out. As we left we would take turns looking backwards and it seemed as if the darkness was following us, the flash lights when shined backwards would only shine a short distance before being 'sucked' up by the dark, and when facing forward worked normally. Out we 'pop' and the feeling of being watched lifts, that is until we get into the parking lot, then one of my friends turns to me as I ask "Does anyone feel like we're being watched, again?" She nods her head and we hear the sound of a stick breaking.

The sound came from the top of the Battery and we looked up and saw two hooded figures silhouetted in the moonlight standing on top of the Battery. We pile into the car and 'fly' out of the parking area, down the road and into the civilization of Pensacola Beach. We were followed by what appeared to be a dark colored van and as we pulled into the parking for one of the public beach areas this van pulled a U-turn and headed back towards Fort Pickens.

I want to know what happened to our flashlight beam, which was the creepiest thing (for me) that happened. Had the batteries gone dead, that would be one thing, but for the beams to not illuminate the way they should one direction, and to work fine pointed any other direction has stick with me the most about this experience.