Combative Hazed Aggression

This was back when I used to "ghost bust" with friends.

I was at home doing what I usually do in my free time, animate, when my best friend, Kaitlyn, gave me a call out of the blue. I noticed that I actually had TWO missed calls from her. Which was odd. I will admit I do get into my animating. I tend to ignore the world around me lol.

Anyway, she sounded very very excited when I answered. Apparently, an old friend of ours, Brayden, had came back into town and messaged her on Facebook, asking her to hang out. He was only visiting. He joined the Marines during our senior year of high school and was deployed to California the day after graduation. Now, 2 two years later, he had come back. I won't lie, the sudden news threw me into a fit of excitement too. We sounded like 2 excited squealing baby piglets.

After our fit of flurries, Kaitlyn made a three-way call with him. He sounded just the same as he did when I last talked to him. All three of us scheduled to hang out later on in the evening. So, after the phone call, Kaitlyn called me back and we giddied some more about Brayden but, only for the fact that she had just told me that she had a crush on him. I was happy for her. After her last relationship ended so badly, all I wanted for her is to be happy as well.

We both drove to the fancier McDonald's of the city, where we had scheduled. Both of us took turns giving Brayden warm welcoming hugs. We all sat down and talked about where he had been and he had some interesting stories about his experience in the Marine's. Basic training sounded tough and I was glad that he made it out okay. He was going to only be there for the weekend so, the next step was deciding what we were going to do that night. Kaitlyn's immediate response was to shout "ghost hunt!" loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear. This was when I had began ghost hunting and she had only been once.

Brayden laughed at the idea and told us how he didn't believe in ghosts or spirits. He actually went on a rant about it. I wasn't upset or anything about it. Well not up until it started to get to the point where he was calling us "childish" and "irresponsible". It wasn't really necessary. Luckily I didn't lose my cool. Instead, I just insisted that Kaitlyn and I go alone then and he corrected himself real quick. He said that he would go ONLY to prove the fact that ghosts and spirits don't exist and I was okay with that.

So, later on that night around the usual time I prefer to ghost hunt, we all arrived at the fort around 1:30am. We turned on the flashlights on our phones and headed towards the gate and upon entry, making an immediate right turn towards the hospital, where I usually go first during a hunt at the fort. We waited there for a bit while I decided which device to use for the hunt. I actually didn't choose any device. I just wanted to use my feeling. My gut. Though for this adventure I did later on regret not using anything. Especially my recorder.

Anyway, we wandered around the fort, mainly talking to Brayden about his time in the Marine's. Kaitlyn was fascinated by every little thing he said about it. Nothing was really happening, which was okay with me but, once Brayden started to notice that absolutely nothing was happening, both Kaitlyn and I weren't hearing the end of it. The number of "I told you so" remarks. I just told him that there have been nights where we get absolutely nothing and nights where do but, he just wasn't having it so, I just simply gave up on it and decided in my mind that I just won't bring him anymore if he offers. Simple. So, that being said, we walked over to the well which is located in the center of the fort and decided to hang around there for a bit, talking more about the Marines.

At some point, I decided to go ahead and turn on my ghost app. Just for giggles and show, since we were about to leave anyway. I was curious on what other remarks Brayden could come up with, which he had plenty (eyeroll). I let the app run for a bit and it wasn't really doing anything but, just as I was about to put it away, it read "weapons", which immediately had my attention. The first thing that popped up in my mind was the blacksmith's shop, which was located just to the right of us, deeper into the fort. I told the two this and they were down to go and check it out and so with that, we made the decent walk over to it, or what was left of it anyway...

When we were about mid way to it, Brayden stopped in his tracks. As he did, I felt like I was being threatened. I had chills going up and down my spine. Something told me that he felt it too so, I didn't think it would hurt to ask if he felt it.

"Yeah. I feel it too."

Kaitlyn was confused and was asking us what we were feeling. Usually, she's the sensitive one of the group and she's the one that usually feels anything first way before we do. I said that I was feeling threatened and Brayden said he did too. As if something was about to attack all three of us at once. As much as I didn't like it, my ignorance got the best of me because I saw this as a chance to prove Brayden wrong so, without taking my eyes off of the darkness in front of me, I asked, "You scared yet?"

"...Bite me."

With that, we continued forward, towards the blacksmith's shop. I didn't like it but, at this point, I was willing to finally prove him wrong. All the evidence was there. I remember just wanting to be a little bit more. Just enough so that he would truly see that they DO exist. As soon as we arrived a few feet from the shop, the reader read, "Danger", and the frequency bars were bouncing at their highest point, in the red, followed by a series of high pitched beeps. Kaitlyn latched onto my arm, frightened. She wasn't alone because I was too but, I wondered only one thing... I swiveled my head to see that Brayden was peering down at my freaked out phone, the look on his face made me want to laugh. I remember trying to hold one back. My fright was still there but, I was more worried about proving him wrong. All of the signs were there so, I was just waiting for him to swallow his pride and say the same. I remember turning my head towards him with an evil like smirk and asking in the calmest tone possible, "...scared yet?"

He wasn't having it...

"It's fake."

He didn't stop there though. He was enraged at this point. It freaked me and Kaitlyn out. He charged up to the shop with his chest puffed out to show dominance and started saying it over and over while looking up at the tall chimney, "You are fake. Nothing but fake. The fakest fake there could ever be," and turned in our direction."Kaitlyn, don't let him scare you! It's all fake. We are just out here scaring ourselves. There is nothing out here but, old buildings and trees."

I will not lie guys. I usually don't care about who thinks spirits are real or not. I don't. At the time, I enjoyed going on hunts with Kaitlyn because it was fun doing it with my best friend so, in my mind, I saw it as he was trying to take my best friend away from me. I. Was. Furious. BUT, I kept my cool. I calmly just suggested that we all just go home then and Kaitlyn and I would try again tomorrow or whenever the next time I'm free. I explained to him that ONE day doesn't and didn't determine anything. That you can't expect to cast your line and catch 20 fish the first time you go fishing. That it took effort, time, and dedication.

He made one last comment that I ignored while we headed to our cars,

"This kind of dedication is worthless and a waste of time."

Kaitlyn had changed the subject to dogs to try and lighten up the situation when I heard Brayden hit the ground behind us. We whipped around and went into panic mode. I ran over to him and kneeled down beside him, asking if he was alright. He had fell chest first into the ground and had rolled over on his back by the time I got to him. He looked like he was really hurting from the fall. I helped him up and he started freaking us out even more,

"I want to leave. I'm done. There's no way."

I asked him what was going on and he said something shoved him from behind. That something had shoved him to the GROUND. I started panicking and told him he just tripped but, he started on a rant about how he distinctively felt a pair of hands on the lower part of his back. Not only that but, moments before he was pushed, he said that it felt as if someone took a sledgehammer straight to his skull, which didn't make things any better because of the fact that we were still near the blacksmith's shop so, of course it put thoughts into my mind.

I quickly helped him up as well as helped walked him to my car. On the way there, he said that he had the worst migraine anyone could get and I almost made a pun about it but, the look on his face was sheer pain. Luckily, I keep pain killers in the trunk of my car. We went back to the same McDonald's to calm down and evaluate the situation as a whole. I didn't hesitate however, to throw this in Brayden's face. I think that we all provoked a spirit that worked within the Blacksmith shop and Brayden actually threatened it causing it to take action. My readings at first said "weapons" which are typically MADE at weapon shops like that. It also said "danger" when we were approaching the building itself. So, I would assume that the spirit was trying to warn us that we were uninvited to that area of the fort yet, we kept provoking it. Plus the fact that Brayden said that he felt as if someone hit him with a sledgehammer. It was so specific. If he was lying, he would have said so when I was throwing it in his face, which was one of the reasons why I was doing it, to see if he was faking since I tend to be a skeptic myself. I have to weed out every other option until nothing else can explain the situation.

Ever since that day, Brayden fell in love with ghost hunting. He found it just as interesting as I did. Thus, he joined me in my future investigations after that.

Thank you for reading this experience. If you have any comments, questions, concerns feel free to let me know!