The Ghosts of Fort Concho

Steve Haidinger with West Texas Paranormal has a unique gift referred to as “synesthesia.” According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, synesthesia is the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by the stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

In Steve’s case, he smells sounds.

“Loud sounds smell like a campfire. High pitch sounds sound like a man’s cigar,” explained Steve at Fort Concho’s annual Night Tours on Oct. 27. “Calming sounds sound like a woman’s perfume. People who have synesthesia tend to have a certain level of perception, and as a boy, I heard people walking around in my house."

[[{"fid":"16106","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"fort_concho_1(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","title":"fort_concho_1(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","height":"1200","width":"2120","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

When the young Steve would tell his mother about what he saw, she told him he was imagining things--something most adults tell their children.

“I was taught to ignore it," Steve noted.

However, when the paranormal investigator was 15 and in Boy Scouts, he was out one night with 14 other boys at a bridge, and as they got closer to it, they saw this beautiful white horse running toward them. They watched it pass through a fence and figured there was an opening there.

“It comes up the road to us, this beautiful horse, and I reach out and put my hand right through it," Steve recalled.

At that point, all of the boys noticed the horse had no eyes. Suffice it to say, they ran all the way back to camp as fast as their legs could go.

“It was at that point that I said, ‘They’re really are ghosts,’" Steve said. Now, he added, it would have been different if it was just him, but all 14 of the boys saw the same thing.

Therefore, when he retired from the Air Force after 30 years, Steve said he needed a hobby. Steve’s son said they should ghost hunt because they had spent time in places like London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Scotland, Hogwarts and all the wonderful haunted places people can imagine. Once they made up their mind, Steve’s son suggested they start with Fort Concho in Officer’s Quarter 1.

Conversations with the Late Edith Grierson

OQ1 is the place where a lot of paranormal activity occurs. It was once home to Colonel Benjamin Grierson, as many San Angeloans know, and it’s also the place where his 12-year-old daughter, Edith (Edie) Grierson, died of typhoid fever in September 1879. Over the years, many people have claimed to have encountered Edie’s ghost, her mother, Alice Grierson, and the other spirits who once inhabited the Fort.

Steve said during that first encounter at OQ1 in 2007, the group attempted to talk with the young girl.

“We would say, ‘Edie, would you like to come play with us?’ and immediately we heard, ‘No.’”

[[{"fid":"16107","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"Fort Concho. (LIVE! Photo/John Basquez)","title":"fort_concho_2.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","height":"1200","width":"2120","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

Now, they didn’t hear this outright. They heard it when they went back and listened to their recordings.

“This was old technology, so we didn’t hear this until three days later when we were doing review,” Steve said. “And we asked, ‘Could that really be the voice?’"

There were a few members out that night, and because of this experience, the group kept going back to the Fort for 5 years straight and twice a year.

“Over that five years, we have talked to [Edie] seven times,” Steve noted. “It’s the same girl. We take the voice and plug it into software called NHNCH Audio Wave, which is what the FBI uses for voice pattern analysis. We laid one over the other and it’s the same person five different times, and she’s identified herself to us as Edie by her name and her mother calling her name. 

We have Edie talking to us. We have her mother, Alice Grierson, talking to us; we have a Native American who goes by the name White Claw. He’s a Comal Indian from the 1500s who helped Cortez, who was dying here on the Concho River on his way to New Mexico. He brought him back to health, and he’s here."

The group also have a couple of other spirits who haven’t identified themselves. Currently, the group is investigating OQ8 and have encountered a little girl who goes by the name of Emma. This spirit likes leaving footprints.

The West Texas Paranormal Experiences at the Fort

Twyla Tasker volunteers with Fort Concho, and she is one of the few people who dressed up during the Night Tours to inspire history. Like many of the people who work, volunteer or know the Fort well, Twyla has heard the tales.

“I’ve heard several stories about OQ1, about a girl who passed away and who people see and hear,” Twyla said in front of OQ1, Edie Grierson’s old home. “They hear her laughing. My sister actually stayed here when my son graduated from high school, and she heard her laughing. I think that’s very common."

Twyla also said there are many stories on the Fort about seeing shadows or hearing banjos playing.

[[{"fid":"16108","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"Twyla Tasker(LIVE! Photo\\Brandy Ramirez)","title":"Twyla Tasker(LIVE! Photo\\Brandy Ramirez)","height":"480","width":"640","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

“I haven’t heard any of them myself, but there are a lot of stories," she noted.

Stories that many people who attended the Night Tours shared under the full moon. A moon Twyla referred to as the “super moon."

In fact, members of West Texas Paranormal shared their many ghostly encounters as they waited for the groups of San Angolans who would eventually make their way to OQ1 to see Edie’s home and get a look at all the equipment the paranormal group uses during their investigations.

One member, Cassandra Morgan, has seen many interesting things at the Fort with her husband Chris and with West Texas Paranormal. Her husband has worked at the Fort for almost 20 years. He plays the bagpipes. Cassandra said Chris is a bit of a skeptic, but he’s had encounters with Edie and Sgt. Cunningham, another ghost people claim to see frequently. However, in his building, he hasn’t encountered anything.

That’s not the case for Cassandra.

During Christmas at Old Fort Concho, Chris and Cassandra sleep in that building so they won’t have to drive back home to Carlsbad only to return early in the morning the next day; and on more than one occasion, something would wake Cassandra up and she'd hear someone walking around downstairs. She knew though that no one could physically be down there because of the motion sensors. Plus, the couple would check all the locks. 

“I even got up a time or two and looked, and there was nobody down there,” noted Cassandra.

When Heather Stout, another member of the group stayed with them, Cassandra heard noises again and thought her friend had gotten up to use the bathroom, so she remained in bed; however, when she looked out the door to check if that was the case, Cassandra found Heather asleep.

Additionally, two years ago, after Cassandra retired from her job, she started going to the Fort with Chris to help with the sowing of the Fort costumes midway through October. One time, they were going on vacation for Thanksgiving, and she knew that as soon as they got back, she would be facing ‘hell week” right before Christmas at Old Fort Concho, so she decided to stay at the Fort, in the same building, to finish the costumes.

“I would be in there. Chris would be over there, and I would hear the door open and shut," stated Cassandra.

The woman first thought it was Miss Cindy, another employee of the Fort, so she didn’t think anything of it. Additionally, on another night, after she and Chris had dinner with her father, Cassandra sent the two men home and returned to the Fort to finish the shirt she was working on.

“I get there, get the door shut and locked, and get back to my sewing machine to set up,” Cassandra explained. “And of course it’s like 7:30 at night, and it’s kind of creepy because there’s no one out here.”

Creepy about summed it up that night because as she worked, Cassandra heard something once more and went to look; and once more, she didn’t see anyone. Feeling a bit nervous, she grabbed her scissors and walked around with them in case someone hid in the building. Failing to find or hear anyone, Cassandra returned to her sowing, but she heard the noise again. At that point, she called her husband and asked, “Is it possible for someone to get into the building?”

“No,” he responded. “I set the alarm and it’s motion censored”

“Okay then. Well, there’s something in your building," Cassandra said.

“All right. Whatever,” Chris quipped.

[[{"fid":"16109","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"fort_concho_4.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","title":"fort_concho_4.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","height":"1200","width":"2120","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

With that being said, Cassandra returned to her sowing, and the noise got louder and louder as if it wanted her attention; so, the woman called Raymond Frances, another group member, but he was on a call and couldn’t come. She then called Heather, who was at Walmart, and told her, “Get here when you get done.”

“While I’m waiting for her to show up, I am listening to somebody young run up and down the stairs,” Cassandra recalled.

When Heather showed up, they both heard what sounded like furniture moving across the floors.

“But in his building, there’s nothing downstairs!" exclaimed Cassandra.

Therefore, the curious woman called Steve and they set up an investigation for the following Friday. 

“It was insane! I mean we’re just getting all kinds of noises—all kinds of stuff going on—and we’re trying to get an EVP session,” Cassandra said. “We get this little girl named Emma. We didn’t know what time period she came from because we couldn’t find anything on her, but her name was Emma. She was just very insistent."

During the investigation, the group members moved everything to the side to set up their equipment, and as they conducted a playback and watched film in front of a window overlooking the night sky, Cassandra noticed a reflection in the glass, and it came from inside the building.

“So I’m not saying anything. I’m just sitting there,” she said. “I turned around on the bench and I face this window which is directly across from it, and I’m still watching it, and it’s just all around Steve. So I say, 'Steve, we got company.'"

Steve said he could feel it, but just like that, the spirit left. In addition, Ray heard what sounded like a child learning how to whistle. Since that time, nothing else has happened in that building.

Valori Wilson, another member of the group, said during the first night of the tour this past week, hardly anyone showed up, so the group was in the room of OQ1 with their televisions set up along with cameras in the rooms. As they sat watching the screens, Valori, Ray and other members noticed an orb on the camera.

[[{"fid":"16110","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"fort_concho_5.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","title":"fort_concho_5.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","height":"1200","width":"2120","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

“We don’t normally put a lot into orbs because they can be dust particles or something, but this one, we all caught it at the same time; it was on this camera and it was like a ball of light. It came up towards the camera and went ‘Shrrrroooom,’ and we went, ‘Oh wow!’"

Valori said Steve had just gone upstairs to do an EVP session, but didn’t catch it, and for some reason, the video didn’t record, which the group found strange.

“But we all saw it,” Valorie and Ray confirmed.

Other Encounters at the Fort

At the officer barracks during the Night Tours, a group of teenage boys dressed as Fort soldiers stood waiting at attention for visitors so they could tell the story of the barracks and how there used to be about 40 or 50 beds in that building where the soldiers once slept. The beds were made of hay, and the rails were mixed with arsenic to get rid of bugs and rats. 

They also discussed how water was used, and how the iron furnaces kept the room warm; and they talked about their own paranormal encounters. One of the young men said he and his brother were there doing some work about three weeks ago when he heard footsteps on the gravel, something many people have reported over the years.

[[{"fid":"16111","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"fort_concho_8.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","title":"fort_concho_8.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","height":"1200","width":"2120","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

“I don’t know if it was one of the guys working here or not, but that’s something I personally heard," said the young dressed-up soldier.

Another young man said last year during the tour, some people were coming by the barracks and they took a picture through the window. That's when they noticed a man standing there.

“He was dressed like one of us, but he had a different hat on,” the young man stated. “And we were all in here."

San Angelo LIVE! and the Moving Mirror

After hearing the stories from Steve Haidinger, his group and the young men dressed in soldier costumes, four of us from San Angelo LIVE! who attended the tour returned to OQ1 when things slowed down and all the people left. We wanted to see if we could have our own personal encounter with Edie Grierson, as we have this past month at other locations people reported haunted.

It was about 9:15 or 9:20 p.m. when we returned, and at that time, Valori, Frances and one of our staff stayed downstairs where the television monitors were so they could watch the rest of us on camera as we attempted to make contact with Edie in her old bedroom--the room she also died in.

Heather was kind enough to take us up to the room and walk us through the proper way to “attempt contact” with the little girl. Heather has had her own experiences at the Fort and once heard the sound of someone playing jacks, something Edie loves to do. We also learned that Edie loves people to talk to her. She likes to be complimented; she’s mischievous, and she loves little kids. In fact, she gets pretty sad when they leave, and we learned that on the audio recordings of edie responding to the group’s questions, she’ll say things like, “I think you’re pretty too,” when someone complements her. She’ll also say, “Don’t go,” when someone says they have to go now.

So with this background, we attempted to make contact.

[[{"fid":"16112","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"fort_concho_9.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","title":"fort_concho_9.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","height":"1200","width":"2120","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

“Hello, Edie. It’s nice to meet you,” I said. For a few moments, nothing happened. I continued to talk and ask questions, but nothing.

However, after what felt like five minutes, I noticed the mirror in the room moving. It was a slight movement, and with the lights off, I didn’t catch it at first, but then I noticed the bottom of the mirror going back and forth.

After telling her, Heather got a bit closer, and then she saw it too.

“Is that you, Edie?” Heather asked.

As if in answer, the mirror moved again. When that happened, the two other people in the room moved closer to me, a bit frightened. One of them, however, went to stand next to Heather to see if she could see the mirror move. When I asked her to move it again, and it did, I heard the poor girl’s “Huh?” and intake of breath. She too saw the mirror move.

“Do you like mirrors, Edie? I like them too,” I said. “You’re a pretty girl.”

With those words, I automatically felt a tingling sensation along the upper part of my neck and softly down my spine. The hairs on my arms and neck stood on edge.

“That’s what she does,” Heather said. “That’s her way of saying, ‘I’m here.’”

I felt that same sensation a total of three times after I asked questions, and we witnessed the mirror move about 4 or 5 times.

When we finished, Heather said, “Good girl, Edie!”

[[{"fid":"16113","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"fort_concho_6.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","title":"fort_concho_6.(LIVE! Photo\\John Basquez)","height":"1200","width":"2120","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]

As we walked downstairs, the group sitting in front of the televisions were laughing because of our faces. They figured we saw something when they noticed the two members of our group get closer to me on the bed. One of those girls, poor thing, stayed quiet the rest of the night.

Overall though, when we left that night, we felt a sense of accomplishment, even though we didn’t get Edith Grierson’s voice on our recorder. However, we went to the Fort hoping to catch a glimpse at what people claimed they have experienced, and we left having done so.

That was indeed a unique experience, and another great story we can tell on Halloween.

[[{"fid":"16114","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"Edith Grierson(LIVE! Photo\\Brandy Ramirez)","title":"Edith Grierson (LIVE! Photo/Brandy Ramirez)","height":"480","width":"640","class":"media-element file-default imgbody"}}]]
Above: Edith Grierson (LIVE! Photo/Brandy Ramirez)

Author’s Note: I want to thank everyone who has followed my ghost stories this past month. I also want to thank West Texas Paranormal for all the great leads and helping us do our own amateur investigations, and John Basquez for following me around with his camera to help capture these stories. I am saddened that this is the last one, at least until next year. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Happy Halloween!