Hauntingly Beautiful Travels to Fort Monroe, Virginia
It was June and my mother's house on Fort Monroe, laid empty of warm bodies and cheery chatter. We had 3 months to stay in the house before it was sold, so we temporarily moved in for the summer of 2018, and cozied in for quite the adventure.
Her house sat on the outside of the fort, between the mote and the marina on the ocean, a beautiful brick built home sitting within the old military base of Fort Monroe. I lived here many years ago, when the gates were still up and it was still an active military base, but my time living there was short, and just after I left, the fort because open to the public. It was nice to be back, and very little had changed during those years.
We brought our stuff inside and settled in, as we had arrived late in the evening. An old handmade standing dresser, stood at the end of the bed. My father had made it for my mother, many years before he passed away. It was still full of my mother's clothing, mostly cold weather clothes, as she now resided in Mexico and had little need for the rest. Still though, it was too full to put any of our clothes into, so we kept them in our suitcase for now and set it aside.
We laid in bed, whispering ghost stories and giggling in the darkness of our new surroundings, until we fell asleep. The waves of the ocean right outside the bedroom window were the perfect white noise to the otherwise hauntingly silent little town. But silence did not mean being alone...at 3am, my boyfriend (at the time) and I were abruptly woken by a "click, screech" as the wardrobe in front of us unlatched and swung open right before our eyes.
And so began the first of many experiences within Fort Monroe.
The Ghost of Fort Monroe, Tunnel 5 Northgate Road
The unlocking and opening of the wardrobe, happened several other times during our trip, but it quickly became apparent that it was the LEAST exciting thing to happen within this old mysterious island, during our trip.
We had begun daily...and nightly....walks inside the mote and around the fort. It was a perfect distance to feel like we were keeping in shape, but not too long that my 3 year old Travel Buggie would get bored and try to demand to be carried. My boyfriend, also enjoyed the history of the place, so we spent lots of time reading placards around the fort during the day, and peeking around haunted corners at night. Like the haunted corner at tunnel at "5 Northgate Road" from inside the mote, to the outside. This was Ayden's favorite spot, as he quickly became friends with the deceased resident.
If you walk up to "5 Northgate Road" and ask the friendly ghost to turn on the light....the tunnel light will instantly turn on. If you ask it to turn off the light....it will go off. Ayden loved this every night, as he got to play games with this seemingly friendly ghost of the Fort Monroe tunnel, and not once was he let down by no reply of his request.
The Burning Woman of Fort Monroe
Now, I wish I could say this story happened to us only once, but it actually happened twice, so I will tell both versions of my personal experience with the burning lady of Fort Monroe.
Throughout our most recent stay in the old brick house, we would occasionally begin to smell burning. A strong aroma of burning, the kind that has you running to the kitchen to see if you left the stove on and your food burnt to a crisp...but it never was, and just as quickly as the aroma would come, it would go away.
My boyfriend had just left the night before, to go out of town, and it was my little Travel Buggie and I, "alone" in the house. It was unusually quiet in the house, as the waves outside the window were calm and lapping quietly on the stones.
The night was soon interrupted with the blaring chirp of the smoke alarm, around 4am....but only long enough to make me jump out of bed and listen intensely as I waited for more....but nothing. I calmed my nerves and laid back down, but the moment my eyes shut, the smoke along echoed in my ears again. I jumped up again....waiting for more...but nothing. I sat up in bed, heart racing, looking at my still sleeping child and wondering what to do....but no more sounds came. Once again, I calmed myself down and laid back into bed....and as I closed my eyes, the smoke alarm once again rang.
....This was a game...,
I jumped out of bed, and ran downstairs, looking for any sign of fire or smoke....but nothing...
I spent quite a bit of time up this time, waiting for more sounds from the smoke alarm, but it didn't come again. By now, the sun was nearly up...and I was exhausted. I went back upstairs and crawled into bed, only to close my eyes once more and have the smoke alarm go off again....this time it didn't stop, and the blaring ringing of it, made me jump one last time. I called 911, who quickly came out and searched the whole house to find nothing....
By now the sun was up, and the lady of smoke had had her fun.
The Burning Lady, The First Experience
As I had mentioned before, I had lived in Fort Monroe, many years back, when it was still a military base. The house I lived in was next door to the one we stayed in during this trip.
It was late at night, maybe 2am or 3am, and I laid in bed alone, drifting off to sleep. Yet in between this dreaming and awake state, something terrifying happened. My bedroom door opened and a woman burned from head to toe, walked into the room. She looked me and began to walk even closer. The sheer fear left me frozen and unable to move, and all in an instant she disappeared as the smoke alarm in the house started to go off. I jumped out of bed and called 911....they came...circled us and left....
I called again...watched them come...but then leave. It was if the house was invisible and they could not find me at all. I called a third time, and ran outside to greet the fire truck, but still, they drove right past. For 10 hours, the smoke alarm went off...taking the batteries out, did nothing.
This lady wasn't happy.
The haunting history is no secret to this little island, in fact, the main office, asks once a year for any personal ghost stories, to be published, from people living on the site. When I had mentioned my story, they told me of the woman who was burned in the nearby hotel, The Chamberlin, many years ago....
Dolls In The Attic And Unwelcome Visitors
As my mother was getting rid of the house....yet she was in another country....it was on me to pack up the house and get it ready for a new family arrival.
Going through 30+ years of stuff was no easy task, but it was not lacking in adventure either.
A humid crawl into the dusty attic to sort through the piles of old boxes and mounds of miscellaneous items, quickly became a real life horror movie, as this doll was unearthed from the rubbish of the mess....found sitting on top of one of the boxes. The movie "The Conjuring" quickly came to mind, but was hushed out by the nervous comedy that my boyfriend and I chatted up about the doll.
Thankfully, no writings were later found on the walls and ceiling.
However, this was not the end of our findings within the home. One evening, I was out for a late night walk on my own, while my boyfriend stayed at the house with the sleeping child. My walk was brisk and as I came back to the house, I walked inside to a confused man and slightly scared man. He told me that he thought I came into the house just moments ago, as the screen door open and closed....he thought it was me, he went to turn the corner of the kitchen to look, and a chair in the next room flew across the floor, and he watched the screen door fly open and shut again, as if something snuck in and then ran out.
Not All Ghosts And Hauntings
The nights were indeed filled with adventure, but the day times were filled with such beauty and wonder. Beautiful historic walks around Fort Monroe, never got old, as each building whispered it's own story, and the quaint and quiet town had much to offer.
(Rooms within the walls of the fort)
The church at the center of town, was a beautiful marker point for this quiet town. It's echoing bells would chime on every hour, and Sunday service would be held each week.
Outside the church, scattered through Fort Monroe, were playgrounds for kids to play, and at the waters edge, was a massive green area, perfect for picnics or walks, and once a week, a live concert would play in the green, as locals and visitors would collect in the area with their blankets and lawn chairs, kids running and playing, the ocean breeze blowing, and old time music playing.
If you wanted to get away from this little town, or the nearby city of Hampton, there were several beautiful National Parks and walking trails near by. Our favorite was the Newport News Nature Park.
We loved our time in Fort Monroe Virginia, and will visit again soon.
We hope very much that you get a chance to enjoy this historic landmark, as secrets behind the walls await your arrival.
~ Travel Bug & Buggie
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