FORT LEONARD WOOD — “GHOSTS OF BLOODLAND”
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LEONARD WOOD
“THE RIOTOUS GHOSTS OF BLOODLAND”
– Missouri –
One of the Strangest Tales of Ghosts & Hauntings on a
Military Post — Do You Believe in the Ghosts of Bloodland?
In December 2002, I was transferred from Jefferson Barracks
to Fort Leonard Wood located in central Missouri. From the start, my
reputation as ghost investigator and author proceeded me to my new unit.
Almost immediately after my arrival, I started hearing ghost stories about
Fort Leonard Wood itself. One of the most humorous, yet interesting stories I
heard is undeniably questionable at best. I think you will see what I mean as
you read on. But I think that you will also agree that the second story about
a haunted preschool has some rather chilling elements. I will let you decide
which story is evidence of a haunting or hoax.
The history of one of the Nations largest military
reservations began with a modest ground breaking ceremony in December 1940.
Constructed as part of the Armys Expansion Program in 1940, the 71,000 acre
fort was named in honor of Major General Leonard Wood. Major General Wood was
a graduate of Harvard Medical School and later the commander of the Rough
Riders during the Spanish American War. Wood later served with distinction as
the Governor of Cuba and as the Chief of Staff of the Army from 1910 until
1914.
Between December 1940 and the spring of 1941, new
construction at the fort continued at a hurried pace. Before long, enough
buildings had been erected to house the new Engineer Replacement Training
Center but when the United States entered the Second World War on December 7,
1941, the post was thrust into the lime light.
Between 1941 and 1946, over 300,000 soldiers trained at
Fort Leonard Wood. At its peek, the post housed over 50,000 soldiers at one
time. In addition to Fort Leonard Wood being a premiere basic training
facility, it was also a Prisoner of War (POW) camp for captured German and
Italian POWs.
In general, the conditions that captured Axis Soldiers
endured at the Fort Leonard Wood were far better than the standard of living
the soldiers faced in their own armies. Private Fritz Ensslin, a former member
of Rommels Afrika Corps, who was incarcerated at Fort Leonard Wood said that
his barracks at the fort was comparable to a Hilton Hotel and that the food
was of a quality that a reputable hotel could not have cooked better.
All Axis prisoners received a daily wage of 10 cents
whether they worked or not. Prisoners could receive as much as 80 cents a day,
or the equivalent of an Army privates pay in 1941, if they volunteered for
additional work. Axis officers were not expected to do manual labor. Instead,
they were given a monthly stipend based on rank. Junior officers received $20
dollars a month while senior officers received as much as $40 dollars a month.
There were several Axis POW camps located in Missouri in
addition to the one at Fort Leonard Wood. In general, escape attempts were few
and far between. This statistic was exemplified nationwide. Of the 425,871
prisoners incarcerated in the United States during the Second World War only
2,222 Axis prisoners attempted to escape. Those prisoners who were successful
were quickly recaptured. The most notable escape from Fort Leonard Wood
involved Rudolf Krause. On September 10, 1945, Krause escaped from Fort
Leonard Wood while on a trash detail. Three months later, he was captured in
Orlando Florida. Krause later said that he had made his way to the East Coast
port in order to get a job as a sailor on a neutral merchant ship.
Much like Jefferson Barracks, Fort Leonard Wood was
deactivated in 1946 after the end of the Second World War. A small contingent
of civilians and army officers remained on site to safeguard the post, but for
the next four years, the post lay dormant and over that time the buildings
started to fall into a state of disrepair.
The military training demands brought about by the Korean
conflict caused Fort Leonard Wood to spring back to life in August 1950. Once
reactivated, the post became a replacement training center for the 6th Armored
Division and in1956, Fort Leonard Wood officially became the home of the
United States Army Engineer Training Center.
Again, during the Vietnam War, Fort Leonard Wood became a
virtual fulcrum of activity. Basic Trainees from around the country arrived at
Fort Leonard Wood for Basic and One Station Unit Training (OSUT) prior to
shipping out to South East Asia. This tradition of training the finest
enlisted soldiers and officers in the U.S. Army continues at Fort Leonard Wood
even to this day.
It is no wonder that with all of the soldiers (over three
million men and women) who have passed through the gates of Fort Leonard Wood
in the past 63 years, a few ghost stories were bound to surface.
One of the most far-fetched ghost stories I have ever heard
deals with spectral residents of the small town of Bloodland. It is a little
known, but established fact, that the U.S. Government used the right of
immanent domain to acquire much of the 71,000 acres to build Fort Leonard
Wood. The history of the post may have started with a modest ground breaking
ceremony but the fact remained that the residents of many small towns and
villages were forced to move from their homes to make way for the new post.
Bloodland was a town of about 40 buildings which were
occupied by approximately 100 people. Bloodland was a very old settlement, a
town where established, hard working people, mainly of German decent, lived
and worked. On the night of October 31, 1940, (Halloween) the residents of
Bloodland had gathered for an annual community celebration.
It was at this grand party that it was unceremoniously
announced that the town, to include all buildings and land, were being taken
over by the government to make way for the future construction of the new
fort. The citizens of Bloodland were rightfully outraged by this news. It was
later reported in a local newspaper that this venom towards the government,
spurred on by a day of drinking, resulted in a small riot breaking out in
Bloodland. Later it became apparent that the former citizens of Bloodland were
destined to get the last laugh at the U.S. Governments expense.
According to authentic local newspaper stories, a soldier
named James Klown was court-martialed and imprisoned for a year in 1942 after
he was found intoxicated and unconscious while on guard duty. Klown had been
assigned to patrol a part of Fort Leonard Wood which had been the previous
location of Bloodland. Klown stated that while he was on sentry duty, he heard
several strange noises near his post. Klown claimed that when he went to
investigate the source of the eerie noises, he was taken captive by riotous
ghosts, who language he did not understand, and that the band of ghosts forced
him to drink hard cider through a straw until he passed out as a result of his
inebriated state.
Again, in 1943, the riotous ghosts of Bloodland struck with
a vengeance. This time, a young soldier named Randall Ellsworth suffered the
same fate as Klown. Rather than court-martialing Ellsworth, military
commanders allegedly placed that part of Fort Leonard Wood where the haunted
town of Bloodland was once located off limits to all military personnel.
Thirty one years later, in 1974, the ghosts of Bloodland
struck for the last time. This time, as in the previous two attacks the
ghosts victims were three soldiers from the post. Each soldier later claimed
to have been taken hostage by a bizarre group of ghosts and forced to drink
hard cider through a straw until they were so drunk they collapsed.
In an article printed by the Gateway Guide on October 30,
1975, an unidentified reporter recounted the experiences of Klown, Ellsworth
and the three unfortunate soldiers in 1975. When author Joan Gilbert
researched the story for her book Missouri Ghosts, she contacted the newspaper
but found that who ever had written the article in 1975 was no longer on
staff. Gilbert also learned that no one at the paper remembered the article,
the incidents that it portrayed or if the whole thing was just a hoax. The
only thing in the article that Gilbert could verify were the facts surrounding
the demise of Bloodland at the hands of the U.S. Government and that the story
of the riotous ghosts did appear to exist outside of an anonymous writers
fanciful imagination.
What became of Bloodland you ask? The site of the former
town became a small arms firing range. According to the unnamed author, all
that remained of the little town in 1975 were the foundations of an old school
and the boarded up remains of the Methodist church. Today, two reminders that
Bloodland ever existed can be seen along west bound Iowa Avenue within just a
few miles of the main post.
The Bloodland Cemetery is located near Range #11. This tiny
historical burial ground predates the creation of the fort and it is the only
remaining evidence that the little town had once thrived nearby. The only
other testament to the former presence of Bloodland is the fact that the
forts command and control building for the various ranges on post is aptly
titled Bloodland Range Control in the towns honor.
In reviewing the story about the riotous ghosts of
Bloodland, there is no doubt that the citizens of the small town were outraged
by the way the U.S. government treated them. It is quite possible that the
anger of the towns folk could have spawned an untold amount of supernatural
energy in the area. That aside, what I think this story really shows is how a
bits and pieces of information from a practical joke can be woven into the
tapestry of folklore for generations to come. Being the kind of person who
errors on the side of caution, I would be cautious if you are out wandering
Fort Leonard Wood at night and someone offers you a sip of hard cider.
The second ghost story directly associated with Fort
Leonard Wood is definitely more traditional fare. Located in the heart of the
fort is the Partridge Preschool. Allegedly, a four year old girl was killed at
the school. To this day, the spirit of the small child refuses to pass on.
People have observed the childs favorite swing, swinging for no reason by
itself on the playground. Each time this is observed, witnesses report that
the air is deathly still and that none of the other swings appear to move.
Other visitors to the school have reported that if you rattle the door knobs
inside the building and sit back and wait, the ghost of the little girl will
rattle the door knobs almost like she is acknowledging your presence. Workers
in the building late at night have heard the sound of music emanating from a
classroom closest to the little girls favorite swing. Sometime the music
stops abruptly or it is played as loud as possible depending on the little
girls mood. Another one of the little girls pet peeves is the placement of
her favorite playground toys. Observers have commented that she likes HER
toys to be put in HER special spots and it is not uncommon to find them
moved back to their original places if you leave for a little while.
I was unable to find any concrete evidence that a girl was
killed at the preschool. While it is sad enough to think that such a young
life may have come to an end at the Partridge Preschool, what I find more
puzzling is the fact that if the spirit of the little girl is not causing the
paranormal activity there, who or what is?
Today, Fort Leonard Wood is the headquarters for the
Maneuver Support Center (MANSCEN). Here, soldiers and officers from the
Chemical, Engineer, Military Police, and Transportation Corps, are taught the
combat skills needed to survive on the modern battlefield. Annually, over
16,000 young men and women receive their basic combat training at Fort Leonard
Wood.
Training the total force is the goal of Fort Leonard Wood.
The Engineer, Chemical, and Military Police schools located at the fort, train
not only army personnel but also soldiers from the Marines, Navy, Air Force,
and students from military organizations from around the world. In addition,
MANSCEN hosts Primary leadership Development Courses and advanced
Noncommissioned Officer Courses at the post.
Fort Leonard Wood is also the home of one of the countries
finest military museums. The John B. Mahaffey Museum Complex, formerly known
as the U.S. Army Engineer Museum, features informative exhibits on the history
of the fort, and detailed historical information about the Engineer, Chemical,
and Military Police Corps.
As part of its designation as a World War II Commemorative
Community, a 25 acre portion of museum complex allows visitors to glimpse life
at Fort Leonard Wood during the Second World War. In 1981, 12 World War II
buildings, which include four barracks, two mess halls, three day rooms, two
orderly rooms and a regimental commanders quarters were set aside as part of
the forts museum. The buildings have been completely restored and today they
serve as the only interpreted World War II community in the Army.
Several of the spares wooden buildings dramatically
interpret life at Fort Leonard Wood in 1943 while others chronicle the Life of
Major General Wood, and the Axis prisoner of war camp that operated at the
fort between 1943 and 1946.
Annually, over 100,000 people visit the Walker Museum and
its historically restored WWII company area. As the popularity of the museum
continues to grow, it has been commended for it value as a time capsule for
generations to come.
MUSEUM INFORMATION:
The John B. Mahaffey Museum Complex
South Dakota Ave and Nebraska Ave
Fort Leonard Wood, MO
(C) Copyright 2003 by Dave Goodwin. All Rights Reserved.
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