When my children were growing up, we lived in an old neighborhood of Fayetteville, North Carolina.Within walking distance of where we lived are the ruins of the Fayetteville Arsenal, which was burned by William Sherman's forces in March of 1865.
The actual arsenal grounds were much more extensive, and following the Civil War much of it was developed into a residential area which, like most such areas in many cities, has had a series of ups and downs over the years.
Apparently no one is sure of just what other buildings connected to the Arsenal were constructed, or where. The only surviving structure is a small wooden house that was part of the officers' quarters; no one knows, for instance, where the infirmary may have been located, but evidently the people who occupied the grounds still remember.
There were a lot of things of a pretty peculiar nature that occurred when my two boys and I moved into an apartment within two blocks of the grounds.
One of my neighbors told me of the odd occurrences in her apartment--most notably of the presence of something very feminine. One afternoon she was napping and felt a bit chilled, only to have an afghan on the back of her couch placed over her. This, of course, was when she was home alone.
It wasn't long before my younger son and I had encounters of our own.
Mine was simply olfactory--I awoke one night to a strong smell of sulphur. Now, I am a history buff, and the first thing I thought was NOT demon or evil entity, but disinfectant. I know that burning sulphur was used air least as recently as the 1930's as a fumigant in sickrooms.
My son's experience was not nearly as mundane.
One summer evening, he was sitting on the porch. At that time, he was about eleven or twelve years old, and across the street was an overgrown lot where a house had once stood. He told me that he'd seen a man in a Civil War uniform in that lot who had half of his face missing. He'd always been one to see things that most of us don't, so he was used to it and it didn't scare him in the least.
Much more common were the shadow figures we frequently observed flitting around at that particular intersection.
We've long since moved away, and both my boys are grown now. The vacant lot is no longer vacant, but now occupied by some business connected with wireless communications.
One of my friends still lives in the area, and I recently asked her if anything is still seen around there. Apparently the phenomena have decreased with the advent of the cell phone place, because she says the sightings have become quite rare.
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