By james art LAREDO, Texas (KGNS) – A fort and former US Army base has been home to many service members stationed during several wars.
As part of our October Halloween series, we’re exploring stories of strange occurrences reported at Laredo College, once known as Fort McIntosh.
The fort, deactivated in 1946, has historical markers scattered around the campus. According to paranormal investigators, there have been numerous sightings of figures appearing and disappearing in the area.
Author Chris James has collected and published these accounts. “When I first got to Laredo, we were patrolling out of here and every once in a while a police officer working here would stop us and say, ‘Did you see the little girl?'” James said. “A little girl can be seen all over the college. She is about 8 or 9 years old and has shoulder length brown hair, very curly. She is wearing a white knee-length dress and has button-up boots. They stopped wearing buttoned boots in 1917.
James recounts an incident with another police officer. “A little while later, another police officer walks by and sees someone walking, a little girl, in the middle of the night. So he drove over to see what she was doing there and she disappeared,” he said.
The area’s ghostly history continues with stories of bodies being moved when Fort McIntosh was decommissioned. “When Fort McIntosh was decommissioned in 1946, that was one of the first things they did. They sent a crew, dug up all the bodies and sent them to Fort Sam in San Antonio. Supposedly they caught them all. It’s supposed to be,” James explained.
James also shared a chilling story involving a baseball team. “One of the teammates yelled, ‘What’s that?'” and pointed to a tree in that direction. They all turned and looked and they all saw a body hanging from one of the limbs. One of the students was trying to call 911 from his cell phone; luckily he didn’t get through because when they got to the tree the body was gone. They couldn’t explain.”
James continued: “So during the writing of the book I talked to people I knew who had attended classes here, and that was most of the stories that were given to me.”
Martha, a former student at Laredo College, shared her own experience. “She worked at Arechiga Hall. Her desk was right at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor and several stairs leading to the attic. They would be sitting there at the desk and they would hear the screeching of someone walking around in the attic. They were going back and forth and fighting. No one saw anyone go up to the ceiling. So as a group they would sneak up the stairs and watch and there would be no one up there,” James said.
James also describes a ghostly encounter during an investigation with the Laredo Paranormal Research Society. “At the end of each investigation it was policy for all involved to get together in a group and have their picture taken. In one of the pictures you see all these children standing under the picture of Arechiga, the first president of the college. In the background, in the hallway that leads to the front door, you can see someone standing in the back corner. If you zoom in on this image, you can see the seam of the wall right through their body. It’s a shadow. This is not a person. And based on the height, maybe an 8- to 10-year-old person, which would be the little girl seen everywhere here.
Chris James continues to collect stories from people about their paranormal experiences. He has written several books and shares his stories on his podcast called Stranger Things.
With the growing interest in the paranormal, many continue to explore every corner of Laredo in hopes of stumbling upon the unexplained.
For part one of this series, click here.
For part two of this series, click here.
For more titles, click here.
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