West Point, in New York, was the oldest military post in the United States until 1802 when President Jefferson signed legislation that established the fort as the United States Military Academy, devoted to teaching the arts and sciences of warfare. Among its notable alumni are Presidents Grant, Eisenhower and Davis, of the Confederacy, and Generals Lee, Pershing, Bradley and MacArthur. Unlike the illustrious graduates, its ghosts aren’t those of famous people.
USMA - Room 4714: 47th Division Barracks
The building is close to the site where there was a fatal fire in an officer’s house and a graveyard for the dead from Execution Hollow.
October 1972: James O’Conner and Art Victor, two plebes living in the room, experienced eerie phenomena. While O’Conner was taking a shower, he saw his bathrobe swing like a pendulum from the hook it was on. The temperature dropped about ten degrees.
Two days later, he saw the ghost of soldier in full-dress grey coat, holding a musket. The next night, the room’s temperature dropped and both cadets saw the shadow of a man’s torso floating between the floor and ceiling. It remained there for about 10 minutes before vanishing.
When Cadet Captain Keigh Bakken and Platoon Leader Terry Meehan heard about this, they offered to sleep in the room. Meehan woke around 1:45 AM and saw something indiscernible on the ceiling. He roused Bakken, but the specter was gone. Both men felt the temperature drop drastically in the room.
The next night, Assistant Brigade Adjutant John Feeley stayed in the room with O’Conner. Feeley woke and saw the ghost. His screams woke O’Conner who only glimpsed it. The wall where the image was felt icy.
West Point’s newspaper, The Pointer, publicized these occurrences. The next night, three of the publication’s staff cadets shared the room with O’Conner.
A thermocouple, an instrument that measures instantaneous temperature changes, provided scientific proof of the room’s temperature changes. It was always coldest when near O’Conner.
November 6, 1972: Cadets Joe Tallman and Gary Newsome stayed in Room 4714 and experienced nothing paranormal, but O’Conner who was in another room saw the ghost.
Since 1972, there have been no more otherwordly experiences. It is not known if the army kept further experiences secret, the ghost left or if it’s latent.
Other Phenomena Paranormal at West Point
- The superintendent's mansion is said to be haunted by the ghost of a cantankerous Irish cook named Molly.
- In the 1920s, a priest was called to a house on Professors' Row to exorcise a spirit that had caused two young, terrified, screaming servant girls to flee, naked, in the night.
- Bruce was returning to his room after his afternoon classes. He saw Eric, his roommate, by the window on the third floor of Pershing Barracks. Beside Eric was a figure Bruce couldn’t identify. The cadet wore a full-dress uniform with crossbelts, shiny brass breastplate and plumed tar bucket hat. When Bruce arrived at the room, Eric was alone at his desk and dressed in academic garb. Bruce asked who had been with him in the room. No one else had been there.
- Cadets have seen a 5’ 3” tall soldier dressed full Jackson-era regimentals, including a musket and a shako, a tall cylindrical military hat. He was dubbed the West Point Ghost.
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Sources:
Haunted Houses, Richard Winer and Nancy Osborn, (Bantam Books, 1979)
Haunted Places, Dennis William Hauck, (Penguin Books, 2002)
Jill Stefko - I'd rather deal with the paranormal than human abnormal - having dealt extensively with both.
