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The Fire Department On Highway 2

 

I served as a volunteer firefighter at the Smith Valley Volunteer Fire Department in Kalispell, Montana for about 3 years before I moved to Washington and I have had many encounters there-as well as other fire fighters although most of the staff who previously worked there thinks of the afterlife as "nonsense" due to, and understandingly, dealing with death regularly and dismissed mine and a couple others stories, what I myself have experienced and have no other explanation for.

I believe the building was built in 2006 and it's right off of highway 2. As far as I know it was not built on any Indian burial grounds or anything like that. Many people have come and gone there since it is a very mentally and physically challenging job. You don't ever think of anything being "paranormal" unless you are alone in the station itself.

#1

The first encounter I had was when I had a scheduled shift there and I had baked a frozen pizza in the upstairs kitchen and was headed to one of the recliners when I heard footsteps on the roof walking in the same path I was walking and when I stopped, so did it. I thought maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me so I sat down on the chair and turned on the TV and the footsteps on the roof started to pace back and forth above me, so I got up and walked over toward the door and stood there listening and the footsteps walked over toward me and started pacing back and forth above me again so that was when I first "NOPED" right out of the living room, down the stairs, and spent the rest of the day in the computer room in the fire engine bay.

#2 It was a week before we were hosting a rummage sale at the fire station and me and my best friend had brought a washer/dryer set as well as other miscellaneous things for the sale into the back of the bay area when we both heard the loud murmuring of what sounded like some men arguing but when we started walking towards the stairway of a storage area to where the sound was coming from you could hear "shh shhh" like who ever was up there didn't want us to hear them and then silence. I went up the stairs to investigate the sounds and once again I was the only one in the area. Creeped out, I finished unloading the rest of the stuff and we hopped into my pickup truck and took off after locking up. Even my friend who didn't at the time believe in anything "paranormal" had no explanation for that.

#3 I had been telling my roommate "Daniel" name changed for privacy, about the happenings at the fire station and he wanted to go there and experience it too, so feeling brave I said "screw it, let's go see if we could get anything to happen". Not much did happen as were walking around the whole building until we got into the kitchen area downstairs (there are 2 kitchen areas one for the "community area" and another for the "living quarters" and we were downstairs in the community area) when we heard stuff moving around and a coughing sound come from a locked storage closet and of course when I unlocked the closet to see what was in there, there was only cleaning supplies and a mop and bucket. Neither of us liked that so he headed to my car to start it up and get warm since it was winter time and I took a couple extra minutes to lock up the building and turn all of the lights off before we left. As I got into my car and started to back out of the parking space in front of the kitchen area we both saw the lights in the kitchen turn back on when I KNEW nobody else but me and him were there so I tore out of the parking lot and didn't go back in until a emergency call a couple days later.

#4 after the many things I have had happen here, most small stuff like locked doors opening up, doors that were supposed to be shut opening up on the fire trucks, the above stories, etc I refused to stay the night there again, but I brought my at the time girlfriend "Karen" down to the station one evening to give her a tour. A few minutes into walking into the station one of the extension cords hanging from the ceiling plugged into a truck to keep the trucks batteries charged up "popped" out of the socket echoing in the bay and started swinging back and forth as if somebody had just yanked it out and you needed to yank with some force to get those to come out. She yelped and ran over to me and I said "alright time to leave" so we started walking toward the door when we heard shuffling coming up behind us really fast, so we bolted out the door, locked it, and took off.

Of course I had one more shift to spend there which goes into my next story.

#5 I had brought a buddie from a different fire department onto my department and since he was now "probationary" he had mandatory shifts to work there and I decided to also work a shift with him one night, this night being the final straw of me staying overnight there again. "Ronald" and everybody else thought that what I explained to them was "nonsense" and that ghosts don't exist, well this night changed his perspective of this. I was hanging out in the computer room and he was upstairs in the living room when he came downstairs and quietly sat in a chair across from me with a really puzzled look on his face. He said "I don't understand, I keep hearing what sounds like boots coming up the stairs and a shadow of somebody standing at the door but when I open it up, there's nobody there" me not wanting to get more freaked out than I already was, I just changed the subject and we talked about other things to kill some time.

Well it was getting late and I was tired so I decided to go upstairs and get ready for bed and "Ronald" was going to watch tv and probably fall asleep on the couch in the living room on the other side of the bedroom I was sleeping in. I was in bed going on my phone when the door opened up a little bit and a shadow of somebody came quietly walking in and walked over toward the window and stood there with his hands behind his back looking out the window. Seeing the TV on through the half open door I said "Ronald, what are you doing? Dude you're being a creep come on man" no answer. Annoyed I got up out of bed while still staring at the shadow when I turned on the light and the shadow of a man was no longer there. Vanished as soon as I turned on the light. I quickly peaked my head out the door and "Ronald" was fast asleep. I spent the rest of my night on the other couch with all of the lights upstairs turned on. I asked him a couple of weeks later if he had any other weird things happen there and he said one night he was getting ready for bed and happened to look outside the window before closing the blinds and he saw 2 men dressed in suits standing in the parking lot standing side by side looking up at him. He went downstairs quickly to confront the men and found nobody outside. Checked the security camera the next day and not a single person was recorded walking through the parking lot.

To my knowledge nobody has died in the building but we have had a couple firefighters pass on previously and their firefighter helmets are hung high up on the wall in honor of them.

There are also a few crosses on both sides of the highway in front of the building so this could also contribute to the "activity".

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, The-Cool-Bus, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

chaos2 (10 posts)
+1
5 years ago (2019-12-30)
Cool stories. And it's a good thing these entities, doesn't cause any harm on anyone.
Jubeele (26 stories) (899 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2019-12-12)
Hi Cool_Bus,

#1 - When you mentioned "footsteps on the roof", my first thought was that you had possums or some rodents (eek!) making a nest there. Then I wondered if prior to 2006, there had been an older and taller building on the site. A friend of mine goes to a dollar general store that was built where a motel used to be. The people working there kept hearing footsteps on the roof that used to be an upper floor.

#2 - I can never tell where noises are coming from in our building complex. I've often mistaken sounds to be from the floor above, but they were actually coming from down the hallway. Those murmurings were shushed though. It does seem as if you weren't meant to hear them and whatever it was didn't mean to scare you. Apart from the strangeness, it doesn't appear to be threatening.

#3 - It almost seems as if someone heard you when you said: "let's go see if we could get anything to happen". The coughing sound from the locked closet made me think of someone clearing their throat politely to get your attention. "Ahem, excuse me..."

#4 - It certainly took a significant amount of energy to yank out the extension cords. Maybe that display was meant to get your attention or to show off for your girlfriend. Like someone was saying: "Hey, look at what I can do!"

#5 - I also think the shadow man at the bedroom window was keeping watch, as he "stood there with his hands behind his back looking out the window". Since he didn't react or respond to you in any way, it might be a residual echo, a memory of a routine he used to do.

I get the impression that the building was like a hub or 'waystation' from all those met their end on the highway. Somewhere to pause for a while before crossing over on their final journey. Perhaps all they needed was someone to say a few words of comfort or a prayer for their souls to rest in peace.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.
silverthane61 (4 stories) (344 posts)
+1
5 years ago (2019-12-10)
I tend to agree with jabond99 on this one. Although I would like to add another twist: I think it is possible that many of the events in the firehouse are residual. Even the one where the voices said to "shhh" when you got near could be a replay of a similar incident that occurred in the past. You have to wonder how much paranormal energy is concentrated in that place to cause so many paranormal events to occur. Good stories!
The-Cool-Bus (2 stories) (5 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2019-12-10)
Jabond99- it was the same for me all throughout middle school until my high school years when I had many different cars to drive (ive always loved cars) and even a school bus I won at the county auction my senior year which is what coined my user name here, I bought the bus and removed the seats and pretty much transformed it into a camper/party bus hahaha I fully regret selling it. Since I actually lived near my high school after graduating I LOVED driving the bus through the school area blasting rap music through the insanely loud custom stereo system, and getting confused looks from teachers and students! Lmao

In regards to the spirits and energy in the building the only "unwanted/unwelcome" feeling I got was in the bay area all of the fire engines were parked in and the only thing I can honestly think of, other than maybe something from the really old houses and mobile homes surrounding it, was that maybe there was energy that stuck to the trucks from the many fatal car accidents those trucks have been to. Even I still remember a lot of those bad accidents and that's something that has unfortunately stuck with me the rest of my life, but it also makes me cherish life more and even be more careful. I definatly don't think anything negative is there, maybe something that was annoyed by all of us being there, but definatly not negative
The-Cool-Bus (2 stories) (5 posts)
+5
5 years ago (2019-12-10)
Mrs ramsay- thank you for your support! I loved being on the fire department and miss it from time to time, but being in the city all other departments are paid/ full time and I'm very happy with my current job. And I LOVE going back to montana every chance I get but I would honestly never move back, at least until I'm older. If your moving to montana or considering it I would highly recommend either flathead county, missoula county, or Gallatin county. All beautiful areas that are close to what you need but also offer either a escape from the city or city life itself.

And as for the fire station spirits I got a unnerving/unwanted energy in the bay area where the fire trucks were parked and the big doors would roll up so you could pull them out. Maybe it was residual energy from many accident scenes stuck to the trucks? I really don't know, but the rest of the building wasn't like that even after the noises and shadow sightings. And I definatly do think at least one of them was there to look after the station since although the noises cought me and my buddie off guard, they did sound "on duty" related such as boots, truck doors shutting, etc and the only way I can describe the shadow was it looked exactly like a guy walking into the room and going straight toward the window to look as if it were "observing" it didn't seem see through, but honestly once I turned on the light and nothing was there I didn't stick aroumd to find out either lol
jabond99 (3 stories) (61 posts)
+4
5 years ago (2019-12-09)
Cool_Bus,

(full disclosure: I was ALWAYS on the UNCOOL bus...)

When I posted stories of my own, I was reminded that not all ghosts have bad intentions. I think I would like to offer that to you in these instances: it doesn't seem like there was any maliciousness with these encounters. Aside from you being startled and freaked out by not finding logical answers, did you "feel" anything not right? I don't see that these were necessarily negative entities.

James Bond
MrsRamsay (guest)
+5
5 years ago (2019-12-07)
Wow, thanks so much for sharing this here! First, let me say how much my family appreciates the service of firefighters and first responders. We truly look up to you guys. Add to that the Montana angle, well, I would love to live in Montana someday, yes, even with the cold weather!

Your account is really thorough and compelling, and it sounds to me as if the fire station has a few entities patrolling and possibly keeping things in a dutiful way, which might go along with the hats on the wall. It's disconcerting, I'm sure, but at the same time, I believe I might feel grateful for those "on duty" from beyond. I don't know if any acknowledgment is a good thing or not... That's the unknown, scary part.

As for the shadow guy... You said you could tell he was standing with his arms behind his back, looking out the window? Was it an impression, or was it an opaque figure you could literally see? It does sound like they/he wanted to reveal themselves to you, but it also seems to me that he wanted you to know they were "on duty." Pretty amazing. Strangely, as long as there was nothing threatening, or people don't feel terrified, I think this would be a good thing. There must be SOME reason certain people are allowed to come back, or choose to come back to certain locations. If we believe in evil ones, why not also believe in guardian-types?
The-Cool-Bus (2 stories) (5 posts)
+6
5 years ago (2019-12-07)
Hello lealeigh

Yes I'm sorry I forgot to mention that those crosses represent where a fatal car crash happened. That is a montana wide thing, these particular crosses stick with me the most since I was one of the first responders on scene for those accidents. And I have tried looking up information on the area and couldn't really find anything but I'll keep trying!
Lealeigh (5 stories) (512 posts)
+4
5 years ago (2019-12-07)
Hello Cool-Bus,

When you say that there are crosses on the highway are you talking about the crosses that people put up after there has been a fatal car accident?

Maybe in your spare time you could do a little bit of research on the area and find out what was there before the fire station.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

- Maria ❤

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