Fly into Philadelphia, then look out the
left window just before landing. There, you’ll see an odd-shaped structure, sitting on the Delaware River. You’re looking at Fort Mifflin, the “fort that saved America”. With a nod to my U.K. friends, in 1777, a fleet of British ships were trying to make their way into Philadelphia with much-needed supplies.
The British commanding general gave orders for the fleet to sail up the Delaware but the folks at Fort Mifflin had other ideas. The 200 men stationed there were charged with the duty of holding off the British “to the last extremity” so that Washington and his exhausted army could make their way to Valley Forge and safety.
That’s the real history.
But in recent years, the fort has become a favorite for ghost hunters; in fact you can do private or public paranormal investigations there throughout the year. I had seen one on television, so of course when I went to Philadelphia, I knew Mifflin was near the top of my ‘must see’ list.
So, on a July morning, accompanied by
two of my nieces and two fully loaded camera batteries, we entered the Fort’s main gate. There were few people there that morning, giving us free rein in exploring the old buildings as well as the creepy casemates (tunnels), which served as soldiers’ barracks while the fort was being bombarded.
After about 30 minutes, and only taking this handful of photos, my camera battery went dead as dead could be. When I switched out batteries, I discovered the second one had also died, without capturing a single shot.
Now I know that ‘real’ ghosthunters say paranormal activity can drain batteries, but this quickly? I know that keeping the camera on would force the autofocus to continually work, thus draining the batteries. But, having been an avid photographer since kidhood, I always made sure to switch to manual focus if I was leaving the camera turned on. Plus, this doesn’t really explain the second dead battery.
If you want to know more, read this article at GhostMag.com. Grant Wilson of Ghost Hunters, said “ghosts take a lot of energy to manifest themselves through sight, sound or touch. They can’t make this energy; they need to gather it from somewhere to get your attention. So, why not target your conveniently packaged power cells?”
Is it possible that’s what happened? I don’t know.
But I do know that out
during out initial walk, we didn’t see ghostly images in the windows or inside any building. But there was an awfully weird feeling within the casemates. Both my nieces and I felt uncomfortable going back inside one, but eventually we all did. I can say, at least for my part, my anxiety level definitely rose. I took the last photos on battery #1 there, and then we went on, exploring the rest of the fort.
It wasn’t until a long time afterwards that I pulled up the few photos I had, enlarging them on screen so I could check for any anomalies. I had caught several orbs over a cemetery during a night walk in Philadelphia, so thought perhaps I’d see something on one of these photos, as ghosthunters have described Mifflin as a ghost hotbed.
Guess what? I did see a strange orb in one of the casemates. I almost missed it as it was hard to see before I enlarged the image. Do you see the circle on the middle right near one of the benches?
I enlarged the image to 400x and this is what that weird orb looked like up close. I call it the weird green glow.
Could this have just been a reflection? Maybe, I’m not sure. But if anyone reading this has a clue of what this might be, thanks for leaving a comment.
Nancy
Oh they definitely can drain batteries and quickly too. I'm so glad you mentioned Grant, he mentored me many years ago, just before TAPs started their television journey.
I've caught some very interesting EVPs and pictures. I haven't visited this fort yet but it is now on my list of to-dos.
This was interesting. In the last photo of the casemate, I definitely got an uneasy/queasy feeling just looking at the room!