Fort Phantom & A BBQ

As it's name might suggest, Fort Phantom Hill is an eerie local tourist attraction.  But it's also free, and we're all about the bargain.  In all my years living in my hometown I had never gone to see the relics of the old Fort, nor had I ever gone to the lake.  So it was a first for many of us yesterday.

It also was a lot of walking - which I needed considering what I ate at the BBQ.  Up above are my own photos, and below are some links about the site.

Welcome to the Fort Phantom Hill Home Page
Investigation of Fort Phantom Hill
Investigation of Fort Phantom Lake

Now the reason I had never gone out there was because of the Lady of the Lake.  It's a local legend that apparently changes with each generation, but it's said that if you go out to one of the cemetaries three nights in a row you can conjur her presence.  As evidenced in the photos above, an eerie apparition that looks to be wearing a long white dress does show up on the digital photos. 

Not one for one on one confrontations with ghosts, I made my maiden voyage to the Lake in the daytime.  My guests still want to make a nighttime visit, and I'm prepared to meet them halfway and go at dusk.  No cemetaries though.  You can't have a person with an imagination like me and plant them in the middle of a spooky environment - there's just no telling what I'll come up with. 

At any rate above are the daytime photos.  The most bizarre incident that happened to us involved the commissary at the Fort itself.  As we went in, my one cousin Jen got bit by a bug, and then a bee started to chase Jay.  We left, because it appeared what lived in that commissary surely didn't want us there.  If you see the photo above, there is a fuzzy part of the picture right in the center that, at first glance, appears to be someone standing there.  It was more than a little creepy. 

You mean to tell me you believe in ghosts, Ginger?  Um, that would be a big ol affirmative.  I believe, and this includes life in outer space, that the universe is a big too big and a bit too complex for my wee human mind to fully grasp - so rather than discount things automatically I leave room open to make up my own mind and trust my own instincts.  When we went to the Alamo I fully expected to feel a spiritual connection to all the events that took place there.  I was surprised to find that, aside from the inside of the Alamo itself, which is now a shrine to those who died in battle, I didn't feel the heavy oppression I thought I'd feel.  In fact, I felt peaceful.  The shrine is where I felt the heavy blanket of oppression to where it took my breath away. 

Actually there's kind of a funny story regarding sensitivity to the paranormal.  We went to another local historic site in nearby Buffalo Gap, where they have preserved a bunch of buildings from earlier times.  There's a dentist office, a post office, a bank, a gas station, even a frontiersman shack - all from an earlier time, preserved to their specific dates.

Anyway so we went there last year when Dan was still alive.  We walked through the house of the first Sheriff, and my kids asked me if I felt anything.  It was only very marginally, which is what I told them.  Next we headed over to the first county courthouse.  I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary downstairs at all.  Since the lady at the front desk told us we absolutely had to go upstairs, Dan and Jeremiah headed up to see what the big hubbub was all about.

I lead Steven and Timothy up just shortly after, and all at once that heavy oppressive feeling hit me as I was a few steps up the stairs.  It was a horrible, nasty, ugly feeling.  So I paused and told them, "I feel something here."  At the same time, Dan exclaimed from upstairs, "HOLY SH*T!"  Scared the you know what outta me. 

Turns out the upstairs was the jail, and it had a really eerie little solitary confinment room.  Inside this room is a mannequin sitting on the cot inside - this is what surprised Dan.  I wouldn't even look into it.  That nasty feeling followed me all the way up the stairs and just permeated around that room. 

So thanks, but no thanks. 

Anyhoo, so that's my take on ghosts.  There are a couple of orbs on my photos, but they're hard to see because it was daylight.  I did feel that oppressive feeling in a couple of places there at the Fort, but it was highly unspectacular considering the expectations I had.  The one place that gave me the creeps worse than anything, aside from the commissary, was the guardhouse.  The fact it was a locked room and it smelled of urine not withstanding.

As for the BBQ I did pretty good.  I didn't eat all day to leave room to splurge, and I ended up meeting my caloric requirement and blowing the fat requirement by 5%.  So not too bad overall.  I'm still scared of the weigh in.  I've been missing my calcium and my water requirements, which is not going to help me in the losing weight department.  But given that I tend to go nuts when off schedule, I think I've done exceptionally well.  And that I'm finding creative ways to exercise, even better.

I'm going to focus on the good.

DAILY AFFIRMATION: I pamper myself by treating my body well, not splurging on the bad.

Calories: 1845 / 35%
Sodium: 2763mg (REALLY proud of this)
Calcium: 600mg
Water: 72oz
Exercise: walked 1.5 miles

RED means I didn't meet goal
*Projected