wild west ghost story

[algernon the 3rd]

As the forum is a bit like a ghost town today (tumbleweed blows through forum) I thought I'd did up a ghost story from the wild west - yeehaa

In 1877 the southeast corner of Arizona gave birth to Camp Huachuca in hopes of providing protection to settlers of the wild west. From Indian raids at Camp Huachuca, to Tombstone, "The Town Too Tough To Die," to the mining town of Bisbee, Fort Huachuca's heritage is steeped with tall tales and legends that are sometimes difficult to distinguish from fact.

Nestled among the origional buildings of old post stands Carleton House, the oldest building on Fort Huachuca. The house, built in 1880, was Camp Huachuca's first hospital. It has since been used as officers' quarters, officers' mess, schoolhouse, post headquarters, cafe and the post chapel. It is now once again officer's quarters and currently is the home of the deputy commander of Communications-Electronics Engineering Installation Agency.

It was at Carlton House several years ago that a boy delivering a message to the former residents met with what was possibly a ghost from Camp Huachuca's past.

As the boy stood by thee door of the old house ringing the doorbell, he saw a blonde woman in a long white gown with puffy sleeves walk down the hallway inside, ignoring his constant ringing. When he returned later that evening with his mother, the occupants of the house insisted that no one had been home when the boy was there earlier.

The daughter of the family who then lived in Carleton House also saw the figure. As she entered the house through the side door one evening, she glanced down the hall and saw the same blonde woman in a long white gown standing at the end of the hall.

Although the figure has been seen only twice, she frequently made her presence known to the family by ringing sleigh bells at the dining room door and walking in the night.

The woman who walks the halss of Carleton House was named Charlotte by the former residents. The family got so used to her being there that they felt it was better to be able to address someone with a name, and Charlotte seemed to be an 1800's type of name.

And now Charlotte has her place in the old house. The northwest corner of the living room is called Charlotte's Corner because of some strange incidents that have taken place there. It is always cold in that corner, and the lamp that used ot hang there worked fine during the day, but refused to work at night. In fact, during one daily cleaning the light refused to go on. The former resident yelled in the direction of the corner, "All right, Charlotte...," and the light went on.

Charlotte's past is not known, but it is said that a young woman died a few days after her newborn child died, the woman expressed concern over the proper handling, burial and care of her child. And now she wanders Carleton House, looking for her child.

My father said he'd been in the house a few times but never saw anything. He did say that it was colder in that one corner. He also said that a few other people have claimed to see Charlotte, except they said they saw her just standing their with her arms positioned like she was cardling a baby but there was no baby there. He also said the basement is creepy (aren't they all) and that with one family that lived there the girl's room was in the basement but she moved upstairs because she thought it was creepy. She'd put things on the bed only to find them all over the room later on. They later found out that the basement had been the morgue which was even more incintive to move upstairs.

[Cufflink]

That seems a pretty credible story to me, Algie. Repeated sightings, cold spots, unusual activity. Quite sad, as well.

And the basement was a morgue? Ooh, love to spend the night down there.

You're right about the forum being like a ghost town. A certain young lady is off investigating the paranormal, and a few other regulars are missing. Oh well.

[algernon the 3rd]

Hopefully that certain young lady with have some good tales to tell