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 The
fort is 11 miles north of Interstate 20 at Abilene,
Texas
on FM 600. You can also access the fort on the
Texas
Forts Trail on FM2833. Informational pamphlets are available on
site and major structures are marked.
Ironically, the
Fort Phantom Hill
Reservoir was built in 1937 two miles south of the old post that
suffered so badly from a lack of water. The reservoir supplies
water for about 100,000 people in Taylor and Jones counties.
As to the hauntings of the Fort, its name
alone suggests that it would only make sense that the place would be
alive with spirits from the past.
Several
legends exist that the place is haunted by restless
Indians of
frontier times, who continue to stalk their ancient grounds during the
night. Another says the fort is haunted by an innocent man who
was wrongly hanged near the fort. After his life ended at the
end of a rope, his accusers are all said to have died in mysterious ways.
A former Abilene psychic, who visited the
fort, said that he suddenly saw the old officers’ quarters change into
its former complete structure, where he found himself in the parlor. There, two men in officer’s uniforms stood before him.
One man was said to have been tall and thin, while the other was a red
haired short man with piercing eyes.
As the psychic
stood their in fright, the men glared at him, seemingly unhappy at his
intrusion. When he turned to flee, the apparitions and the
restored building faded.
The nearby Lake
Fort Phantom Hill
is also said to be haunted by a watery spirit who is familiarly called
the “Lady of the Lake.” This phantom woman is said to have been
seen numerous times, the first of which almost 150 years ago, long be
the lake even existed. Dressed in a light-colored long gown or
robe the watery ghost is said have been seen wandering aimlessly
around the lakeside. Others who have seen her described the
apparition as floating over the lake, sometimes carrying a lantern and
surrounded by a bluish glow.
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Who is this restless spirit? The answer to this question provides as many legends and the spirit
herself. The first legend says she was the wife of a pioneer who
built a small cabin in the woods that are now filled with Lake Phantom. In the midst of the dangerous Comancheria, the cabin was often attacked by
Indians. To protect themselves, the couple made a pact that no one would enter the
cabin without first speaking a secret password. If the code word
wasn’t given, they were to shoot anything or anyone that tried to enter. One day when the man had gone out hunting he was ambushed by
Indians
as he approaching his cabin. Injured, he managed to escape and began
clawing at the door to his cabin. Forgetting about his
password or unable to say it, his wife shot him before he cleared the
stoop. According to legend, the forlorn woman continues to wander
the lake, cursed for eternity for killing her husband.
A second legend
says the when a couple were to meet at a church near the lake in the mid
1940s to exchange wedding vows, the groom never arrived. After hours
of waiting and sure that he would not have left her standing at the alter,
she begged authorities to look for her groom. The next morning he
was found dressed in his finest suit floating in a boat in the middle of
the lake. Though the man’s face bore and expression of severe pain,
doctors could not determine the cause of death. Some say the spirit
was the bride searching for her fiancé’s killer.
A third legend
places the spirit at a much later date in the early 1980s. According
to this tale, a young woman and her lover agree to mete at the lake for an
evening of romance. However, when the young man arrived he was
enraged by a rumor he had heard about her and the two began to quarrel. The disagreement grew worse ending in the man drowning her in the lake. In this version, it is the murdered woman who wanders the lake.
Finally,
if you were to ask anyone of Hispanic descent, they would most assuredly
tell you that the ghostly woman is that of
La Llorona,
who is often seen about the lakes and rivers of the southwest.
In any event,
there have been literally hundreds of sightings throughout the years of
the Lady of the Lake, who seemingly doesn’t keep her excursions only at
lakeside. She has also said to have been seen at a nearby cemetery
as well as along a dirt road called Lover’s Lane. One couple
sighting her at Lover’s Lane described her as walking along the road;
however, when she grew closer, they could see that the apparition had not
eyes.
Other strange
phenomena around the lake includes the sounds of screams, moaning,
gunshots and rapping upon vehicle windows. Others report smells of
decaying flesh, perfume and roses.
Dogs at the lake have been noticed to go into unprovoked snapping and
barking at seemingly invisible visitors.
On the breezy
Texas
border, on the prairies far away
Where the antelope is grazing and the Spanish ponies play;
Where the tawny cattle wander through the golden incensed hours,
And the sunlight woos a landscape clothed in royal robes of flowers;
Where the Elm and Clear Fork mingle, as they journey to the sea,
And the night-wind sobs sad stories o'er a wild and lonely lea;
Where of old the dusky savage and the shaggy bison trod,
And the reverent plains are sleeping 'midst drowsy dreams of God;
Where the twilight loves to linger, e'er night's sable robes are cast
'Round grim-ruined, spectral chimneys, telling stories of the past,
There upon an airy mesa, close beside a whispering rill
There to-day you'll find the ruins of Old
Fort Phantom
Hill.
- Larry Chitenden,
1938
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