Fort Huachuca Arizona
Carleton House Fort Huachuca
Carleton House has a nurturing young nanny for all ages.
She mourns and looks for her dead loved one.
DESCRIPTION
Made of stone and wood, the two story Carleton House has the characteristic bones of a building constructed in 1880. It’s a large structure and has a huge, “cavernous knotty pine” paneled living room. Its front door is actually located in the side of the house. The walls are made of adobe, and it has a nice porch. The house’s water heater was kept in a small room under the house, a sort of cellar which is reached by going through a door near the front steps.
Of course, modern amenities were added to Carleton House as the years passed, because it was essential to update for what was needed for its various uses, especially when it was renovated to become living quarters for military officers.
HISTORY
Fort Huachuca was established in 1877 on the spot of an Army camp established by Captain Samuel M. Whiteside and two companies of the 6th US Calvary. Fort Huachuca was also home to four regiments of “Buffalo Soldiers”, the African-American army units of the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was in a strategic spot, right at the mouth of Huachuca Canyon, about 190 miles south of Phoenix, Arizona. Their first purpose was to protect the settlers from Apache raiding parties, and to prevent the Apaches from escaping into Mexico.
It became the army base that supplied the 6th US Calvary with supplies as they battled and hunt down Geronimo and his braves. When Bandit Pancho Villa became a person of interest, after leading a raid against the border town of Columbus, New Mexico, guess who was there to chase them down into Mexico, during General Pershing’s unsuccessful 1916 campaign to capture/kill him? The Tenth Calvary, that’s who!
Throughout the years, it has been “the site for advanced testing of electronics and communications equipment and today is the Army Intelligence Center and School and the army’s Information Systems Command. All C130 flight training for NATO takes place at the fort, as does some training for the Israeli air force and army.”
The Carleton House was named in honor of Brigadier General James H. Carleton , who led “The Arizona Column” during The Civil War. Although built at first to be a hospital for soldiers injured in the Indian wars, it was soon used for a variety of purposes, beginning in 1885, because it only had room for eight soldiers, and a bigger building was needed to take care of the wounded from the various battles with hostile native Americans and later Mexican bandits.
It has since served as housing for officers, an officers’ mess, Post Headquarters, a cafe, and a school house. For a brief time period, between 1947-1951, it was state property and was used by Arizona Governors, Osborn and Garvey, as a vacation retreat spot. It then once again became a residential house for various individual officers and their families.
As of 2016, Fort Huachuca Army Base is an active and viable military facility, making it one of the oldest bases in the United States. Carleton House is still there, and used as housing for not only the living but for two spirit people as well.
HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS
1) The spirits of women who died in childbirth, not knowing the fate of their children are sometimes restless, mournful or desperate and choose to stay in this world to try to find out if their babies/children are OK, or look for their children’s graves so they can properly mourn for them.
The Infirmary for Women, KY (Three poor women who came here to have their babies, died in childbirth but their babies lived. These unhappy souls haunted the apartment that once was the maternity ward, not finding peace until they heard that their children had survived and were doing well).
Deerfield Burial Mound, MA (The aftermath of a team of merciless French and Indian attackers that massacred those who were too young or weak to take for ransom caused restless spirits of distressed mothers to mourn and search for their children’s graves, fearing the worst or crying over the slaughter of innocents).
Maysville Hospital, KY (The spirit of a young mother who died along with her child during childbirth, still mourns what could have been; a life together).
The Carleton House, AZ (A young woman, perhaps a teenager, died in childbirth in this building when it was still a hospital. Her newborn son died a few days afterward, perhaps too premature to make it).
When the remains of people or children or babies are not properly respected in burial because they died far from loved ones, or because of their economic status, and/or shameful circumstances that they found themselves in when they died, it can cause either the spirits or their loved ones to be restless. Sometimes shameful activities such as criminal behavior, adultery, prostitution, or sex without protection can lead to unhappy consequences.
Jean Bonnet Tavern and Inn, PA (Two wayward criminals were executed here and buried in the basement in unmarked graves).
The Palace Hotel, WA (Prostitutes who became pregnant often had premature babies who died and were buried in the basement. The spirits of these women are still grieving for their children in their unmarked graves).
The King’s Tavern, MS (Adultery resulted in a murder. A young waitress was having an affair with her married boss, until the boss’s wife murdered her and hid her body in the chimney.
The Carleton House, AZ (A young woman who died in childbirth may have been the daughter of an officer who lived at the fort. and probably died having an illegitimate child, which was considered a shameful event during her lifetime. If the pregnancy had been the result of a legitimate marriage, the body of the baby would’ve been buried with his mother, or in the family plot located somewhere else. Instead, the premature child was abandoned in the hospital, to be briefly cared for by hospital personnel and not expected to live. Poor little soul was buried perhaps in the little basement near the Carleton House water heater, or somewhere around the perimeter of the building in an unmarked grave, according to psychics.
Children who die suddenly from illnesses or accidents sometimes like to stay in their favorite place in this world where they felt safe. Sometimes they are still looking for their parents many years later.
San Carlos Hotel, AZ (A young girl who was 6 to 9 years old attended the school that once stood here. When she died of the Phoenix flu, her spirit decided to reside in her school. She moved into the hotel and is still mourning the loss of her parents who she looks for in vain).
The Old Faithful Inn, WY (A young boy who drowned near the inn that his family stayed at on vacation, resides in the very familiar hotel while tearfully looking for his parents).
Waverley Plantation House, MS (The spirits of two young girls who died in this grand place still play inside. One of them called Mrs. Snow mommy, as she was looking for her mom).
The Carleton House, AZ (The spirit of a young boy who died in the house is still present, and is looking for his daddy).
MANIFESTATIONS
Young Boy Spirit
His name is unknown. This spirit child is probably the son of one of the officers who lived here, or perhaps he died during the school house years.
He is looking for his family.
In the wee hours of the morning, a witness, Mr. T, was in the kitchen, studying for an exam, and the door was shut to the dining room. He heard a young voice call to him from just the other side of this door, saying “Daddy, Daddy!” No one was there, and his son was fast asleep.
Mischief
The little Boy spirit can be mischievous. The two incidents that are listed below sound like the behavior of a younger child.
The doorbell would ring, and no one would be there. There was no time for a living person to run away before the door was answered, as the annoyed living human inside was determined to catch the rascal responsible. The door bells were finally disconnected.
A daughter’s jewelry box mysteriously flew off the fireplace in her room, and landed in the middle of the room’s rug.
Spirit of Charlotte
She is described as being a teenager with blonde hair.
Colonel Roy Strom’s wife, Joan Strom, wanted to give her a name, so she named the spirit Charlotte.
Joan Strom had tried to find the young woman’s grave in the Post’s graveyard, to learn who this entity was in life, but her grave wasn’t found.
Unseen Presence Activity
In the living room, the four chandeliers experienced unexplainable electrical problems.
One of them that is located over a part of the living room that is always colder than the rest of the house, never would work in the evening hours.
Perhaps this is the area where Charlotte died giving birth in the hospital.
Upsetting Takeover
Charlotte may have been a bit upset when Colonel Strom and family had first moved into the Carleton House.
While moving in, the Strom family put some boxes in a bedroom a few steps below the level of the rest of the house. (This room had been the location of the morgue, during the hospital era of the house).
Later that evening, the contents of those boxes were found thrown all over the room.
Not on My Walls!
After a struggle, one family was able to securely hang pictures in the knotty pine paneled living room, which was the hospital’s ward for patients.
The next morning, they found all their pictures on the floor.
A solid brass, Asian trivet that was also hung on the wall, was bent nearly in half, and was impossible to bend back into position by hand.
It seems someone didn’t approve of their taste in decorations, and perhaps resented the invasion of her space.
Charlotte’s Corner
What ended the antics of this upset spirit was when Joan Strom christened the colder part of the living room Charlotte’s Corner, giving her a place of her own.
All the house’s residents continued to give Charlotte this space.
To perhaps comfort Charlotte, another resident family later put a rocking chair and a doll in it, letting her know she has her own space there to rest, if searching for her child gets to be too frustrating.
Charlotte’s Big Heart
Charlotte has a soft spot for the living, and does her best to help both adults and children.
Mrs. T was standing out on the porch in the early morning, around 5 AM. She heard a mechanical sounding voice coming from the house saying, “Sleep, sleep!”
Other people who have lived in this house say that Charlotte watched over their small children and kept them from harm.
The young daughter of the Post Chaplin became sick, so her father and mother put her in between them in their bed.
When they awoke the next morning, their daughter was gone. They checked her room, and then went downstairs, concerned.
They found her in Charlotte’s rocking chair in the living room, asleep. She told them that Charlotte appeared to her and led her downstairs to the rocking chair in Charlotte’s corner, where Charlotte rocked her to sleep.
Personal Appearances
Charlotte has made appearances to various members of several families.
Mrs. K’s daughter had agreed to check in with her mother after she came in from a date that night. When the daughter got home that evening, she went into the paneled living room and saw a woman standing at the end of the hall. She said goodnight to who she thought was her mom. The next morning, her mom asked her why she didn’t check in with her as agreed to, and then learned that her daughter had said goodnight to the apparition instead.
When a General’s wife was in their bedroom, looking at herself in a hand mirror, she was quite shocked when she saw a young woman’s face in the mirror.
One boy, who had fallen asleep in the TV room, awoke and had to go through the paneled living room, past Charlotte’s corner in order to get to his bedroom, the one mentioned above as being the old hospital morgue.
As he passed Charlotte’s corner, he saw a long dress standing by itself, with no one seen inside it to hold it up.
It was an 1880s dress, often worn by young women in Arizona at this time. The light colored dress was a gown with ruffled edges around the sleeves and hem line.
While Mrs. S was carrying her clean towels to the linen closet, a white mist swirled all around her, engulfing her. It wasn’t cold, damp, threatening or frightening, just eerie. Perhaps Charlotte was giving her a ghostly hug!
Seen from the Outside
A neighbor boy had run to the house to deliver a message when no one was home. He saw a blonde-haired young woman in a dressing gown walking down the hallway, who ignored his door knocks.
A young woman, mistaken for Mrs. Strom’s teenage daughter, was seen walking down the hallway near the kitchen. It turned out the daughter was sleeping in bed at the time of this sighting.
The Little Cellar Room
This room gives sensitive people a sense of dread and uneasiness upon entering it.
Mr. T came in to investigate a non-working water heater, but had to leave quickly as he was suddenly awash with dread.
Psychics believe that somewhere in this room, Charlotte’s baby was buried in an unmarked spot.
PARANORMAL FINDINGS:
People who have lived in Carleton House over the years have had plenty of experiences with the spirits who live here. Not many paranormal investigations of the Carleton House that may have been done have been made public.
A PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION Report: Case No. 334-56, was made by Brian Roesch on April 19, 2000. Armed with a 35mm camera loaded with 800 speed film, Brian captured a spirit orb. Some don’t believe that orbs are good examples of catching spirits on film.
STILL HAUNTED?
Most Probably so! Despite a blessing that was done in the house, activity persists. People who live there just accept Charlotte and the little boy as part of the family.
LOCATION
133 Cushing Street
Fort Huachuca, AZ 85613
Carleton House is located on the Huschuca Army Base, on Officer’s Row, that can be found along the perimeter of the Fort Huschuca’s parade grounds. It is directly across from the Gazebo. The Fort Huschuca cemetery is close by as is the old courthouse.
How to Visit:
On the Fort Huschuca Home Tour, the Carleton House is one of the houses on this tour of turn-of-the-century homes, still occupied by officers, on the National Historic Landmark District of Fort Huachuca. These homes are beautifully decorated for the holiday season. Note: Fort Huachuca is an active military installation. Visitor passes are available to U.S. citizens at the Fort’s Main Gate with a valid driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance (or rental vehicle agreement). All passengers over 13 must have photo identification.
SOURCES INCLUDE
- The Ghostly Gazetteer: America’s Most Fascinating Haunted Landmarks
by Arthur Myers
Contemporary Books
1990 - Haunted Fort Huachuca
by Debe Branning
for Examiner.com
dated November 29th, 2011 [Dead Link] - Ghosts of the Prairie, History & Hauntings of America; Haunted Arizona: Haunts of Fort Huachuca
by Troy Taylor - America’s Haunted Army
by Jacqueline M. Hames for the U.S. Army, dated October 6th, 2008 - The supernatural legacy of Hangman’s Warehouse and the EEO
by Amanda Shell, posted on June 12, 2011 at Free Republic by SandRat - The Pancho Villa page on Wikipedia.org
Our Haunted Paranormal Stories are Written by Julie Carr
