January 4, 2008
The Hanging Soldier
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Chris, Nyack, New York, Fall 2001
Back in the early 00s, I attended Nyack College and my friends and I often
went out and tried to investigate this area that has much history. This
includes Tarrytown, the town that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place
in, which is right across the river. We had many great experiences but one
will always stick out in my mind.
It was a first trip and we decided to go up to an old fort and tunnel system
that exists at the top of the hill. We had heard things had happened and we
wanted to put these "myths" to bed. You see, most of us did not believe in
this kind of thing. That is until this night.
The very small building that overlooks the river used to be barracks at one
time and had a full first story and a partial second story. It has two
exits. The main doorway which has so much damage to it that you can not get
through that way. The other way is through the escape/travel tunnel that
crosses the hilltop.
We entered through the tunnel and progressed slowly trying not to disturb
the bats that call it home. We realized there was a lot of trash (beer
bottles, soda cans, etc.) as we started out but it reduced to nothing about
halfway through. After a little while we entered the building and saw what
bad shape it was in. There was no roof left and you could see the old beams
that used to hold the roof were down throughout the open area. There are no
walls, so you could see the whole building. The floor was covered with
leaves and it was very hard to get around.
We spent a little while but were not very impressed. We decided to stay a
little bit longer, but in silence. Shortly I looked over at one of my
friends and he was staring up to the "roof" area and his mouth was wide
open. This caused me to turn and look and what I saw changed my view on
hauntings completely. Eventually the whole group turned and saw what could
only be described as a man in uniform hanging from a beam. That beam was not
there when we arrived, and obviously the rope and man were not there.
Suddenly there was a noise and it broke my concentration. It was one of my
friends running for the tunnel. We all took off with little regard for the
bats on our way back and we did not stop until we were safely back at our
cars parked a short distance from the end of the tunnel.
I am a born again Christian and did not believe in this kind of stuff until
this day. After that, we visited many other places and had many more
experiences which I'd love to share.
