Saturday, April 17, 2010

Fort Dix Demons

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Walson Army Hospital - Fort Dix

Located in central New Jersey, Fort Dix is named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

It has been training soldiers since its founding in 1917, including H&H back in his Army days. In fact, more than three million men and women have passed through its gates since it was established as one of the original sixteen Army training camps built for World War I.

Today, the camp is a major training and mobilization center for the Army Reserve and National Guard after barely evading closure. Fort Dix also lies almost entirely within the Barrens of New Jersey, and we all know what that means.

There have been, as paranormal starters, many reported sightings of the Jersey Devil by soldiers during World War II, with a resurgence in the 1990s. Well, hey, that's to be expected; the Barrens is its hangout and the Devil is Jersey's unofficial state monster.

But Building 5418 at Fort Dix, the Walson Hospital in its heyday, is spook Central. The structure is a clinic now with its top five floors shuttered, but once hosted a psychiatric ward and its basement was the fort's morgue, a deadly duo of apparition generators.

Walson is without question the most active spot on the installation. Accounts of floating orbs, the opening and closing of doors and windows, lights going on and off, unexplained drops in temperature, sense of presence, furniture getting tossed around, electronics going haywire - pretty much the gamut of spectral trickery.

The top of the spectral food chain includes the sightings of orbs and ghostly visitors. The former morgue and psychiatric ward are usually where the eerie stories originate.

Most of the poltergeist-type activity happens on the seventh floor, the psych ward. That's also where the orbs appear, along with all the other ghostly going-ons.

The OB floor is another place where the dead don't rest. At one point, it's successful delivery rate was said to be just 60%, an embarrassment to even third world countries, and eventually Fort Dix's deliveries were handled by an off-base hospital.

There are regular stories of babies crying. It's also home to an eternal orderly. The OB floor is always said to be always freshly mopped. There is a mop and bucket propped in a corner that remain from its working days, and the floor seems wet, with foot prints across it, but the mop and bucket are bone dry - and have been for years.

The morgue is where the ghosties hang out. It's reported that you can feel and see the spirits in the basement, and that if you sit in the old gurney, ghostly hands will push you towards the body cooler. Brrrr! Another story involves the sounds of a grown man crying. People believe that a spirit watches the base at night through the morgue windows.

The hospital isn't the only place that's home to shadows. There's a couple of places near base housing units that have eerie reports, too.

Kennedy Court residents on Pemberton Road have reported glowing red eyes that peer at them from the nearby woods at night, and a trail that no wildlife or even sound crosses. Garden Terrace neighbors on Cedar Street tell of a teenage boy, dressed in jeans, a jacket, and red cap who can be spotted walking down the street...and then disappears right before your eyes.

But time may be running out for you to get in on the spectral fun at the hospital. The Army doesn't allow tours, and Walson, as we understand, is slated to be demolished with all its bad ju-ju. But last report, it still stands and lights still flicker, even without electricity...

28 comments:

SGT Shamsheld said...

Update: As of today, the hospital still stands.

Amartin said...

It's getting torn down this month. Sad to see it go

Anonymous said...

Hospital still stands I just drove past it on patrol

Anonymous said...

It's not being torn down my uncle lives there on the base and it won't be torn down the MP and army are afraid to take it down bc of all the things that happened and think if they tore it down that things would become worse
It's quite scary
All wires have been pulled from the inside bu nurse calls and lights still flicker..

Anonymous said...

This is one of the scariest places I've ever seen.. First hand knowledge that stuff is happening inside this building. My daughter played with a ouije board in there... I know stupid but caused a lot of stuff to be stired up. The sounds of walking on the floor going down the stairs, doors sounds... open and slam shut, the sound of a light or power switch being flicked on, and whistles. You couldn’t pay me to step foot in that place.

Anonymous said...

It is being torn down, just a matter of when.... The base general knows about this place and it's dangers that are luring teens to it for ghost hunting. Due to that reason are new road block barricades on every road leading to the hospital

Anonymous said...

Is there a way to get permission to investigate? I have a small paranormal team and are looking for places to inveatigate.

brat3030 said...

You would need to contact public affairs to see about getting permission to investigate. It has been blocked off for demolition which is happening and expected to be completed by March.

Anonymous said...

a couple of my friends and i went by there tonight and let me say....i experienced a really bad neck pain on my right side as soon as we parked outside of it. im pretty spooked out now but didnt see any flickers or lights on.

Anonymous said...

medic stationed here and drove by tonight and caught a glimpse of a ghostly figure walking just on the other side of the fence, did a u turn and caught another glimpse, did another u turn but it was gone... I was dared to go inside in the daytime if I didn't believe it was haunted...now I'm spooked

Anonymous said...

Just drove past today and it is still not demolished and I don't believe it will be any time soon

Anonymous said...

My friends and I went into the hospital judt before they out the wire around it. The back doors are all open . The first thing when we walked in I had really bad pain on my back. Late on that day I had scratches all down my back. Than we went to the top floor . The temp dropped dramatically. We heared alot of noises and got freak out and left.

Anonymous said...

I had to go TDY to Fort Dix a few months ago and heard all sorts of stories about that place. So... I had to go see for myself. After taking a few pics of Iron Mike I decided to take a few pictures of the old hospital. The suprising thig thing I noticed was that it only said Walson on the side. Looks like Army Hospital was taken off. Went back later that night. Took a couple pictures under lower light with the sun setting behind it. Turned out pretty good. A littel creepy in its own rite. Drove around to the back side and wanted to take a couple more but it was getting dark and would not work for contrast. It was then I distinctly saw a room light up near the top for approximately two seconds. Definately creeped me out a bit. So... I did the "responsible" thing and stopped at the MPs and told them what I saw. They pretty much told me that place even creeps them out and they all have seen strange things there.

Gardeniaviv said...

I've never gone to the Hospital at "Camp Dix", but my Great Uncle died there the day before his 22nd Birthday. He was part of the 1918 Swine Flu Epidemic that sweep through the camp.

Unknown said...

I have nightmares about that place

Anonymous said...

I was stationed there from Jan 78 to Dec 79.Lived in the barracks next door on New York ave. I have to say I saw many creepy/strange things but sadly none of them were paranormal.

Anonymous said...

The place still stands. Im a police officer there and no way of getting inside that place. They added two fenceline around the whole hospital so nobody can go in. Rumor is because so many people tried to go there during the nights and people would get hurt cause the floors and stairways are falling apart. Have I gone in, nope. Will I even try to, probably not.
Also they wont be demolishing that hospital anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

Back in the 70's I went to vist my brother who was stationed there. Our family was put up in one of the guest units for the day and a night. Durning the night something woke me up, I can't recall what it was. But when I opened my eyes I noticed a small child standing at the foot of my bed. All of a sudden the child burst into flames and disinagratted into a skeleton and then just disappeared. I couldn't more for a long time because I was so frightened. Finally I mustured up enough courage to get out of bed and leave the room. I ended up sitting with the guard until morning arrived. Needles to say I never returned to that room. I'm now 60 years old and I still relive that event often.

Tony Hindman said...

I worked at Walson from mid-1994 to late 1999. Never saw anything that I would consider paranormal, but did venture up to the upper floors...and it did kind of creep me out. I just got a bad feeling up there (and had the $hit scared out of me once...by a CPR mannequin sitting in a wheelchair). I also went down to the morgue...very creepy. Autopsy photos were still there...some awful stuff has happened on Ft Dix over the years. It doesn't surprise me that people saw an heard things there....

Anonymous said...

Not sure how I wound up here but I was born in this place in 1972. Mom and grandmother worked there and the place always fascinated me when I'd get the chance to go to there to see them. Friends of both knew me well as a child and I would get to hang out with a host of pseudo uncles and aunts who worked throughout the facility. The incinerator especially creeped me out. The man who ran it was a close family friend and would jokingly tell me that's where he cooked his food as he ate his lunch.

soisoccerfun said...

It's still up as of today. However it is fenced off

Unknown said...

It's sad it almost down :( I would have loved to see the inside.

Anonymous said...

Walson is no more, they have been knocking it down for the past 2 weeks

Ruscg said...

I was not at Watson but at on of the barracks just north of the mess hall and next to the basketball hoops. One night 0100-0130, I was having trouble sleeping. Our 12 man bearthing was quite as hell. All of a sudden, at the foot of my rack, I felt like someone was stepping on the end as to get on the top rack. I quickly looked down and no one was there. The guy in the upper rack was still sleeping so I know it wasn't him or anyone that I saw or heard. Need less to say I was a lil startled but not scared. I mentioned it to all my room mates and just looked at me like I was nuts. BTW we were there for A14

Ceridwen said...

We were stationed there in the early 90's and my daughter, who was 3-4 at the time used to scream at night, telling me there were red eyes in her window. She slept on the second story and I just assumed she was having an overactive imagination, but I didn't learn about the Jersey Devil and the red eyes until just about 5 years ago. So, maybe she did see something!

TIMzPoet said...

I was born here!

Jessica Fraley Flintjer said...

I was born here in December of 73, I find this place pretty fascinating.

Anonymous said...

I remember when my dad was stationed there early to mid 80's. My brother and I saw an apparition that was transparent with a red sash around its waist in our bedroom in the housing area. It disappeared after we screamed and she opened the door but the image is still etched in my head. That was 38 years ago.