I could go on for hours about this funhouse. It stands empty, and at present, boarded up. When I took this shot I had just come out. It wasn't boarded up yet, and I obtained the keys and James and I went in, September 1998. I snapped one last shot outside, and this showed up in the window. The sun was behind the mountain, and it wasn't a reflection. I had a few pro photographers look at it and they can't figure it out. Working with it in photo software shows the "light" to be 3 dimensional. The building is empty because he former employees refused to keep working there. Apparitions were seen, sounds, lights going on and off, footsteps, toilets flushing, you name it. Bldg 4 was built in 1914 as an isolation ward for sick and dying soldiers. Contrary to what has been published elsewhere, it was not designed as a morgue; it did serve as one temporarily when little bldg 9, nearby, filled up. The Flu Pandemic, consumption, and other diseases brought sickness and suffering to the area. A doctor apparently still roams the place. A woman was in the building's basement one evening after dusk. She was making Christmas decorations, and was the only one left inside. She looked up to see a man in an old Cav uniform with knee boots, a white lab-type jacket, and surgical mask walk down the hall. She dropped her work and left. I know of someone else who, more recentlu, saw the same type apparition on the outside of bldg 4, but with his Stetson hat on instead of the mask. A young dark-haired woman in a bright blue Flapper style dress and hat has been seen by at least 3 different people that I know of. She stands outside bldg 4, looking in to the distance before disappearing. MPs have told of voices and footsteps when called to investigate something there. I was there this summer when one of the boards to the basement had been found busted open from the inside! Several MPs took one of the dogs inside, and that dog did NOT want to go in! When the MP came out he said he'd never want to go back in wihout his gun, another said he thought he heard someone whispering behind him. I was stupid enough to take video cameras in on Halloween 1999. I had four others with me, and we set a camera in the basement and one on the top floor. My camera upstairs picked up interference, odd sounds, and shook at times. The one in the basement refused to stay on all night. The scariest part was early in the evening. The five of us sat on the first floor chatting quietly, when LOUD footsteps came down the stairs, just on the other side of the wall from us. We froze, then ran out of the room to the stairs. Nothing was there, but my friend's electromagnetic meter went nuts...Another time I drove by and saw some people by the building. I pulled over to talk to them and they had heard the stories and wanted to go inside. This was before it was boarded up. The basement door was open and we went in a little ways. "Ding-Dong!" I thought I was hearing things, but the other two guys heard it too. I showed them that the electricity was turned off, and the antique doorbell upstairs didn't work; we tried it. Others who got brave and went in at night told of hearing someone say, "Help me move this..." coming from the basement, then the people heard something dragging down in it. They ran out, only to drive off and have their young daughter, who they left in the car when they went in, ask, "Daddy, who was that woman standing outside the building?" Last year a big group of us went in with an night-vision videocamera. We stood upstairs in darkness. One by one we noticed "lights" floating up and down the hall; but we only saw them in the camera viewfinder. You couldn't see them just looking down the hall. We watched this for a while before we had had enough and left. The same type lights were caught on tape in the basement as well. A friend, CPT Hellmeier, and some others, including another MP, were upstairs on one end of the hall, and the same camera was on a tripod at the other end. There is a door in the middle of the hall for some reason, and that door all of a sudden closed shut by itself, in front of everyone. The MP went down the hall to the door and moved it open, and said later that it took some strength, it couldn't have been a breeze. I could go on and on about this sad place, there's more, maybe another time.

Building 13-Aptly Named...
I talked with a few people here and several have sworn that a soldier, in a Cavalry uniform, walks the top floor. One officer who, years ago, was always the last person out at night, regularly turned off the lights and closed all windows. Sometimes he would get outside to his car and glance up to see a light on and/or a window open. Loud banging has been heard coming from behind a storeroom door, and the swinging doors in the courtroom have swung by themselves. Rumors ran through the place that a suicide had occured many years ago, and the soldier who hanged himself still walks the halls. Nice legend, or so I thought. While doing some research at UTEP I happened upon someone else's earlier handwritten notes on old Fort Bliss. The person had jotted down something about a suicide at Fort Bliss, June, 1919. I went to the microfilm room, and there it was on the front page of the El Paso Times. A soldier had hanged himself with a wire the day before getting out of the Army. It didn't state which building but I can wonder...

Building 117-No More Copies...
I talked with a couple of MPs who are now stationed in Germany. When they were here at Bliss a few years ago something happened that made them refuse to enter this building at night. The MPs would have to go into 117 to use the copier sometimes. One guy went in late one night, using the door behind the building, as this was nearest to the MP station. As he was inside 117, he heard footsteps overhead from upstairs. He went up to investigate and found nothing. Then, SLAM! The door he entered through was now shut and locked from inside. He had to unlock the front door to get back out. Other people have reported noises in the basement, lights coming on after dark, and some refuse to go in after dark. It was built in 1915 as barracks; maybe some soldiers are still sticking around?

Pershing House
Pershing House was built in 1912, and yes, "Black Jack" Persing did liver there from 1914-1916. A very old sprinkler system was spotted running itself one day by a soldier assigned to watch the house when the residing general was away. This happened several times, so a work order was put in to check it out. Imagine being there when the ground was dug up and...the sprinkler was NOT hooked up to any water supply or pipe. Another story I have heard from a few people concerns a dinner which took place here in the 80s. An African-American soldier was seated with others at the dinner table, and asked the person next to him to please pass the salt. The guests watched as the salt shaker lifted up into the air, floated right past the soldier, and landed upright in front of the soldier next to him! Seems someone in the house has a prejudice. The current occupants are BG Howard Bromberg and his gracious family. His wife, Glenda, told me of a time when the family was seated and a water glass lifted itself up into the air, in front of General Bromberg! I was over at Pershing House last fall, ironically helping Glenda decorate for a Hallowen party. She, her two daughters, and I caught a whiff of potato peelings in the kitchen area. It as pretty strong for awhile, and there were no peelings in the trash. It faded after a short time. Glenda has told me of waking up early to smell coffee, and sometimes the family hears pots and pans rattling. She believes it is a very tidy female spirit! The family doesn't feel threatened by it in any way. The house has seen many people come and go, and in WWII it was a home for WAACs.

Also, you can purchase Lisa Farwell's new book Haunted Texas Vacations from your fave bookstore
and read about yours truly and some local investigations
in El Paso. It is a great read for anyone interested in Haunted Texas!