Almost every patrol officer from every jurisdiction can tell you at least one story about something... odd that happened while they were working patrol. The longer the officer has been “on the job,” the more stories s/he can usually tell. This year, as Halloween approaches, with its full moon and clock change (for daylight savings time) all in the same night, we decided to talk to our Editorial Director Lt. Borelli and ask him if he had any strange stories to tell from his time on the street. Since he’s been wearing a badge for over 35 years, we really weren’t surprised when he had three.
Spooky School
I remember one of my first nights on patrol as a brand-new rookie Military Police Officer. I was a lowly E2 (one stripe private) and riding with a PFC (Private First Class). He drove us down to a rather desolate part of the base and told me we were going to check out the elementary school located there. This was in the early 1980s and as he drove, he told me a story about the school and how it was generally believed to be haunted. He said that way back in the 1950s or 1960s, a criminal had robbed the Post Exchange and made his getaway in a car. The MPs at the time showed up fast and a pursuit ensued. The bad guy ran and ended up at the elementary school we were going to check. He bailed out, broke out a window of the school and climbed through.
The MPs naturally set up a perimeter around the school before a team could make entry to search the premises. It was a Friday night, so they had plenty of time to search the school before it had to be opened again. They had all weekend in fact. Well, after the perimeter was in place and the search team made entry, the commander on scene realized just how long it would take and called for additional teams. He also requested assistance from the surrounding county’s Sheriff’s office, asking if they had a K-9 that could come and search the building. They did and the K-9 team responded. When the K-9 team arrived, all military personnel evacuated the building, adding to the security of the perimeter and leaving only the K-9 Team – the dog and his handler – in the building … and the bad guy of course. After almost an hour of searching, the K-9 team declared the building empty. The bad guy had not come out though and the commander on scene demanded another search, this time accompanied by at least one MP. The K-9 Team complied, and another search began. Another hour later, they all came out.
The building was empty. The only place they hadn’t searched was the boiler room, but it was locked from the outside. So if the bad guy was in there, he couldn’t get out. No one on scene had a key to it and the K-9 dog had not indicated that the bad guy might be in there. The only way out of the boiler room was the furnace chimney and if the bad guy climbed out that way, he’d have to fall several stories from the top to reach the ground outside. No one could figure out where the bad guy had gone but the building was considered empty, secured properly and the scene cleared. The bad guy’s car was impounded and the money from the PX robbery was recovered inside of it. A year later, on that date, all of the power for the school went out with no explanation. It stayed out for two hours and then came back on. A year after that, someone saw all the lights come on in the school – EVERY light inside and outside the school – even though it was late at night and no one was in the school. The lights stayed on for two hours and then went back out. These power “fluctuations” were observed every year on the same date in one variation or another and attributed to the ghost of the bad guy who everyone assumed had somehow locked himself inside the boiler room and then died trying to escape out the furnace chimney.
As the PFC finished telling the story, we came around a curve and the school came into view. It was well after dark and there were no cars in the parking lot. As we approached, the entire school lit up. ALL of it. Without pause, the PFC turned the patrol car around and drove away swearing under his breath. Being just a Private at the time, and still in training to work the road, I wasn’t about to question his actions. It was odd though, to see the entire school light up like that.
Surprise in the Barracks
The second event I can remember was when I was working with that same PFC on Halloween night. We got a call for “strange lights” coming from some old abandoned National Guard barracks. When we arrived, we saw what looked like flickering lights from a fire through some of the second-story windows. We got out of our patrol vehicle and walked up to check the door and found it open. As the PFC stepped through, he stopped, drew his sidearm and chambered a round. He saw me looking at him, the question on my face and he said, “I don’t know why. I just feel like I need it.”
I didn’t ask anything further but drew my sidearm and did the same thing. We VERY carefully tip-toed up the stairs to the second floor and, looking around a door jamb, we saw a group of people, all dressed in black robes, sitting around a small fire. I won’t describe the rest of the scene because it was too freaky and shocking to the conscience. We had discovered a small group of Satan worshippers. We just as quietly tip-toed back out and called for backup, telling the desk officer what we had found. The on-duty Lieutenant rolled a squad of MPs out of bed, issued them M16s and had them respond. THAT is backup. We arrested 13 members of the group, every one of them armed with some type of bladed weapon on their person. None of them were military or dependents. It was too creepy.
Flowers for Eleanor
The third and last story I’ll share is from a time where I worked a second job with security at a major theme park. I usually worked the midnight shift and there were only two of us on duty for that shift, to cover a 147-acre theme park. That property has now become a major theme park in our country, but I won’t name it. On the property is an old mansion ... and when I say “old” I mean from the 1600s.
On the property in front of the mansion is the grave of a little girl named Eleanor. Her last name has long since become illegible on the stone which was laid flat atop the grave and just big enough to cover the child’s coffin. The dates indicated she died when she was five and folklore said she died after falling down the steps inside the mansion. Her date of death was in July and each year on that date, none of them rides in the park would start until someone went and put flowers on her grave. In fact, for the entire time I worked there, the Director of Maintenance brought a dozen red roses every year and put them on her grave when he arrived at 7am for work.
It saved the trouble of having rides NOT start if the flowers weren’t placed appropriately. While my recollection is from the early 1990s, I’m assured by an officer who worked a secondary assignment there as recently as 2019, that the mansion is still there and Eleanor’s grave stone is still visible for anyone who can get to it. (The general public can’t access that area.)
Closing
So... those are the stories from our Editorial Director. What are yours? Please share them in the comments below.
