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Fort Pickens Ghost

 

I live in Pensacola, Florida, which is one of the most haunted cities in the state. This town is famous for its haunted lighthouse (which was featured on an episode of Ghost Hunters) and many other haunted buildings. One of the most popular haunted locations is an old abandoned fort on the beach called Fort Pickens. This place has become a tourist location and many go there to go sightseeing regardless of if they know about the ghosts or not. I have had several creepy experiences here, but I had one pretty recently that was unlike anything I have ever experienced.

I was at the fort at night with my boyfriend (I will call him Scott) and two of our best friends (I will call them Amy and Adrian). I had just started dating my boyfriend back then, so I hadn't really told him about any of my history of paranormal experiences, and Amy and Adrian don't really believe in ghosts, so I hadn't told them either. At the fort, there is a big wall surrounding the fort and Scott and I were standing at a certain point on the wall that overlooked a large clearing with no trees or plants or anything, just sand. Amy and Adrian were on the ground right under us. I was just overlooking the clearing when something caught my eye.

It looked like a person was standing in the middle of the clearing, waving. At first, I thought it was an actual person, but my group was there at nightfall, which is a time when no one is really supposed to be at the fort anyway. I had not seen or heard anyone else around the fort at all. I tried to take a closer look at the person, but it was too dark to make out any features. I could just see a faint figure of someone standing there waving up at me. Then I realized that the more I tried to focus on them, the less I could see them. At the exact moment I realized what was happening, my heart sunk. The figure I saw was slowly disappearing and then reappearing before my eyes.

I thought I was going crazy, but then Scott said "Hey, does anybody see that kid?"

I immediately whirled around to look at Scott. I asked "You see that too?"

He said "yeah, that's really creepy. He keeps disappearing."

I turned around to look at the figure again and it was very faint. I could barely even see the silhouette now. Scott and I decided to get down from the wall and go get closer to the person ourselves. So we went around to the stone staircase a few feet away and climbed down, told Amy and Adrian where we were going, and started walking in the direction of the figure we had seen. Just as we turned to walk toward it, we realized that it was gone. Nothing was there in its place, just an open clearing with nothing there. We would have just debunked it as being an actual person who just had walked away, but that clearing is pretty big. There was nowhere for anyone to go that quickly in the time it took for us to get down from the wall. We walked back to our friends and told them about what we had seen and they brushed it off, saying "I saw him, he was creepy but it was probably just a person"

But if it was just a person, why were they disappearing on and off? Why did they disappear completely when we started walking toward them? I still can not explain this experience.

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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, EveryHour, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-06-01)
Hi EveryHour,

Interesting account and very credible. I did some poking around the Internet and there seems to be a lot of speculation regarding possible haunting a at Pickens but few able to give terribly specific accounts - the most agreed on opinions seem to chalk most activity up to Union soldiers, Native Americans (mostly whispering) and even Chief Geronimo. Given that it doesn't seem that you were able to pick out specific features, you could have seen any one of them... Or something else entirely! Have you read Rookdygin's account of his experiences at Pickens from 2008? You might enjoy it:-)

Thanks for sharing!
EveryHour (8 stories) (30 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-06-01)
1. It wasn't that far off in the distance, just down in the clearing, a moderate distance away, and it appeared to be looking up at us standing on the wall, but it looked like just a silhouette. I couldn't see any features, just the outline of a person if that makes sense.
2. To me, it looked like he was waving up at me and Scott like he was trying to get our attention or something.
3. I didn't see any features but it wasn't because he was super far from us, it was just because it was dark outside and the image of the person kept basically disappearing every time I tried to focus. But I could just tell it was a young boy by the shape of the figure and the height.
AzraelX (8 stories) (115 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-06-01)
Questions:
1. Did you actually see him looking at you or di you see a figure in the distance waving?
2. Was he waving in general or was he waving at you in particular?
3. Did you see his face and notice him looking at you or you a small figure, far in the distance and you assumed it to be a boy, due to the small height.

If the "entity" was not aware of the surroundings or of the people around him/watching him, then, I would suppose that it is a residual haunting.

You could check with the caretakers of Fort Pickens or any local folklorists and find anything linking the abandoned fort with a child? Who, might have died in an accident /killed in that locality?
EveryHour (8 stories) (30 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-05-30)
The lighthouse is way across the water from fort Pickens and its too far to cast its light on the fort, so I don't think that was what made the person seem to disappear and reappear although that would make a lot of sense if the lighthouse was closer.
It could have been a mirage because I do recall that night being a bit humid, but can two people see the exact same mirage at the same time?
EveryHour (8 stories) (30 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-05-30)
There is a long history at fort Pickens. As far as I know, prisoners of war were kept there including the Native American, Geronimo. People have died there. I don't know anything specifically about a child though, but I'm going to look into it.
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-05-30)
This is so cool, I read it last night but was too tired to comment. Thanks for sharing. My thoughts are the same as Shelbyloree's, lighthouse lighting stuff. 😊

Welcome to YGS EveryHour, I seem to have written this comment in reverse!
Anno_Domini (3 stories) (167 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-05-30)
A "pulsating" vision like when an object of person appears and disappears can be caused by fluctuating humidity, somewhat like a mirage. This usually happens when there is a change in ambient temperature like in the mornings when the sun rises and evenings when the sun sets.
shelbyloree (5 stories) (285 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2017-05-29)
Was he fading in and out, as if a ghostly lighthouse illuminated him? As the ghost lighthouse swung around, he could be seen. Then, as it turned, he would disappear. That's what I would figure anyway as to why he was fading in and out.

Everyone saw him though, and got the same creepy impression, that's weird!
roylynx (guest)
 
7 years ago (2017-05-29)
Wow! What an experience!
To be honest, light houses in many places (not just particular ones) tempt to have lots of ghost stories.

How lucky of you to be a gifted person! Your encounter there seemed to be linked to the history of the area. Do you know any history of the area? Like what happened there and whom was there, etc. You might be able to know who that child was.

Blessing from São Paulo
E.Lynx

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