A Ghost Story
A small disclaimer might be in order here; I don't believe in ghosts. I don't believe that the spirits or souls of dead people hang around after death. Scripturally it simply cannot work that way. Having said that, the world is full of things that at least appear to be the after-images of human beings. It's probably devils.
In what feels like a lifetime ago, but was really only the early 90's, I was stationed at the Combat Systems Technical Training Schools Command located on Mare Island outside of Vallejo California. That place has enough history to choke a horse, as they say and even without my contribution, it's a fascinating place to read about.
I arrived there in what was probably the summer of 1993. The training command was headquartered in what used to be the old hospital.
If you were standing where this picture was taken, my barracks would be down the hill behind you, and to your left, separated by a breezeway, would be a building we called The Schoolhouse. It's where most of our training was conducted. Oh , wait, I may have found a picture of it!
When I first arrived at Mare Island we were all told about how haunted the place was. The maintenance guy told a story about being called in late one night to fix the elevator and seeing an apparition pass him in the hallway of what used to be the morgue. I don't know if that really happened or if he was just trying to scare a bunch of us hicks. What I do know is that electronics didn't come easy to me, and I spent many a late night in that building availing myself of the extra tutoring and that's where my first story comes in.
It was late, after dark. I seem to recall the Night Study was open until 9pm or so and it must have been close to that because the only people left in that part of the building were me and the instructor . He was trying to explain something to me for the umpteenth time when, out of the corner of my eye I saw and I heard something in the hallway. It was only there for a second, but it was clearly a dark-haired man in a camouflage jacket rolling past the open doorway in a wheel chair. I looked over, and it was gone. I looked at the instructor, he had obviously seen it too. We both got up quietly and walked over to the door. We looked up and down the dark hallway. Nothing was there. He said 'yeah, we're done for the night" and I agreed. Then I walked home. In the dark. Because, you know, that helped.
Anyway, in addition to the training and schooling we were receiving, it was expected that we would pull the occasional guard duty at the schoolhouse. That meant that instead of being upstairs in the classrooms I would be stationed behind a little podium just inside the entryway. The set-up was simple. Everybody signed in, and then everybody signed out. Every door was alarmed except the one directly facing the podium. At any given moment, the guard could tell exactly who and exactly how many people were present in the building. Even though tutoring ended around 9, the guard was posted until either 11 or 12 because the US Navy thinks its a great idea to have a man guarding an empty building.
Many a night I stood there behind that podium facing the door, knowing nobody was in the building as I heard doors open and close on the stories up above me. Many a night I had the elevator open and close on its own behind me, and run up and down the floors empty. One night I could have sworn I saw a guy crossing the long hallway opposite the doorway. In fact, one night I turned the podium around so that whatever was going on wouldn't have a chance to come up from behind me. It as, looking back, more excitement than I needed in my life.
It seems like everybody had experiences either very similar to mine or even more colorful. Mare Island eventually was turned over to the civilians and I haven't been back there in over twenty years.
So there you go. My pitiful little contribution to the legends surrounding Mare Island. I would be curious to here from anyone else who was stationed there that experienced similar things.
In what feels like a lifetime ago, but was really only the early 90's, I was stationed at the Combat Systems Technical Training Schools Command located on Mare Island outside of Vallejo California. That place has enough history to choke a horse, as they say and even without my contribution, it's a fascinating place to read about.
I arrived there in what was probably the summer of 1993. The training command was headquartered in what used to be the old hospital.
When I first arrived at Mare Island we were all told about how haunted the place was. The maintenance guy told a story about being called in late one night to fix the elevator and seeing an apparition pass him in the hallway of what used to be the morgue. I don't know if that really happened or if he was just trying to scare a bunch of us hicks. What I do know is that electronics didn't come easy to me, and I spent many a late night in that building availing myself of the extra tutoring and that's where my first story comes in.
It was late, after dark. I seem to recall the Night Study was open until 9pm or so and it must have been close to that because the only people left in that part of the building were me and the instructor . He was trying to explain something to me for the umpteenth time when, out of the corner of my eye I saw and I heard something in the hallway. It was only there for a second, but it was clearly a dark-haired man in a camouflage jacket rolling past the open doorway in a wheel chair. I looked over, and it was gone. I looked at the instructor, he had obviously seen it too. We both got up quietly and walked over to the door. We looked up and down the dark hallway. Nothing was there. He said 'yeah, we're done for the night" and I agreed. Then I walked home. In the dark. Because, you know, that helped.
Anyway, in addition to the training and schooling we were receiving, it was expected that we would pull the occasional guard duty at the schoolhouse. That meant that instead of being upstairs in the classrooms I would be stationed behind a little podium just inside the entryway. The set-up was simple. Everybody signed in, and then everybody signed out. Every door was alarmed except the one directly facing the podium. At any given moment, the guard could tell exactly who and exactly how many people were present in the building. Even though tutoring ended around 9, the guard was posted until either 11 or 12 because the US Navy thinks its a great idea to have a man guarding an empty building.
Many a night I stood there behind that podium facing the door, knowing nobody was in the building as I heard doors open and close on the stories up above me. Many a night I had the elevator open and close on its own behind me, and run up and down the floors empty. One night I could have sworn I saw a guy crossing the long hallway opposite the doorway. In fact, one night I turned the podium around so that whatever was going on wouldn't have a chance to come up from behind me. It as, looking back, more excitement than I needed in my life.
It seems like everybody had experiences either very similar to mine or even more colorful. Mare Island eventually was turned over to the civilians and I haven't been back there in over twenty years.
So there you go. My pitiful little contribution to the legends surrounding Mare Island. I would be curious to here from anyone else who was stationed there that experienced similar things.
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