C&T Publications Eye On Fine Art Photography - October 2014 | Page 31

A Night At Old Fort Henry
By Kevin Sweeney. Photos © Kevin Sweeney

For one of my son’s grade eight class outings the school principle brought them
for an overnight stay at Fort Henry. It is a national historic site of Canada that was
built in 1832 to replace an existing fortification from the War of 1812. After a
long history of holding British Army members, followed by Canadian Battery
Schools of Gunnery, and even a stint during WWI as an internment camp for
political prisoners, you can imagine that there are many stories of strange goings
on at the fort on long lonely nights.
The staff at the Fort waited until sundown to begin relaying some of the creepy
tales to the eager students. While leading students through narrow corridors and
dimly lit cellars the uniformed cast unraveled yarns of phantom crying young
men, ominous sounds, and floating specters. It was looking like it could be a long sleepless night.
Due to the size of the group of adolescences that volunteered to stay the night, each of the classes were split up in groups. The
group of boys that my son and I stayed with was roughly twenty strong and stationed beside the old kitchen; an organized
collection of pots and pans along with other ancient cooking apparel that surrounded a stone kiln.
A single thin wooden door separated our domicile for the night and that collection of rustic treasures. It would stay locked
throughout the night the staff informed us as they bid us all a good sleep.
Our motley group of students had a very lively mix of believers and non-believers of the supernatural. Due to their young age and
youthful exuberance many took to teasing each-other about the possible haunts to come. I was sure that some of the college
students that were among the staff would cause some minor commotion through the night to frighten the children.
It took quite a while to tame the excited crowd of youngsters enough to close ones eyes, but after a while all was quiet. You know
how an old house creaks at night, well, an old fort does so with twice the vigor. Still, that did not explain the crashing of pots we
heard throughout that night, nor the strange figure that opened that locked door and walked among the cots that night. Some of
the strange sights and sounds could be written off as the nocturnal efforts of students with full bladders, but not all.
The morning did not come soon enough. We were greeted by the rising sun and freshly costumed staff from the night before.
Breakfast was abuzz with tales of the creepy sounds and sights of the past night. All of the grade eight students that spent that
night in the fort swore before they left that that old fort was haunted.
Being someone who prides himself on being logical I still held the belief that our adventures of the night were aided by more
natural means, so I took one of the staff aside. I praised him on the excellent salesmanship of the haunted experience, but he stated
quite plainly, “All of the staff left the fort last night. None of us ever spend the night at the fort.”
I was a little set back by the statement. If the costumed shadows and the clanging of
pots and pans were not the actions of the staff actors, was it possible that the stories
told about Old Fort Henry were true? Could it truly be haunted? I must say I was
swaying toward accepting the premise. If you would like to see for yourself they still
have sleepovers during the warm months, though be warned that just one night there
may just make a believer out of you.

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