A True Ghost Story from "Ghostly Tales of Route 66" and the Fort El Reno Ghost Tour

Strange Things Happen when You Start Communing with the Spirits...

Fort El Reno, Oklahoma: November 15 (2008) Ghost Tour: Communing with the Spirits

When I spoke at the First Annual Route 66 Festival at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis, on October 4, 2008, I was asked this question: "You've been researching ghosts along Route 66 for your book Ghostly Tales of Route 66 for almost two years now. You've already written one volume of ghost stories. Have you ever had an encounter with a ghost yourself, firsthand?"

I had to admit, somewhat sheepishly, that I had never had a ghostly encounter.

It's not that I don't believe in ghosts. I'm open to the possibility that the spirits of the deceased linger in a place and attempt to contact the living after death. I just had not heard or seen or experienced anything "ghostly"---until November 15, 2008 during the Fort El Reno Ghost Tour in Oklahoma.

Fort El Reno is about twenty miles west of Oklahoma City just off Interstate 40. It was established the Cheyenne uprising of 1874. The post was named in honor of Major General Jesse L. Reno and served as a remount depot for the military from 1908 until 1947. The men stationed there helped escort cattle drives and served as wardens of 1,335 imprisoned World War II German POW's (part of Rommel's forces in North Africa) and helped to police the area during the Indian Wars. The riderless horse, Black Jack, used at JFK's funeral, was born and raised at Fort El Reno. Today, there are no horses.

The facility today is a grazing lands research laboratory owned and operated by the U.S. Government.

The ghost tour at Fort El Reno has become so popular, attracting paranormal investigators (this night, they were present with their equipment) as well as ordinary folk and devoted ghost enthusiasts that the tours, run by Bob Warren and Jessica Wells, have had to divide up the eighty or more people who routinely show up. The tour members are divided into groups of four and each group is assigned their own guide to make the five-hour walk by lantern lamplight.