David (my son) and I have become very fond of the show Ghost Adventures, which airs every Friday night at 8 pm (CST) on the Travel Channel. In this show, three film makers lock themselves inside a haunted location overnight, then use recording equipment to obtain some kind of evidence on otherworldly events.
While the team on Ghost Adventurescan be annoying, they have inspired us to partake in our own ghost hunting. Not overnight and not in very scary places, mind you – I am way too chicken for that. I once visited the House of Torture at Scarborough Faire and was so freaked out, I clung to this strange woman, who in turn clung to me, and we both made it through only because we kept our eyes shut and our mouths screaming. Due to that terror-ific incident, I keep myself FAR away from anything too spooky, including slasher movies and unlit hallways.
No, our ghost hunting is much more mundane. Over New Year’s, David, Raymond and I visited the Fort Worth Stockyards and stayed at the Stockyards Hotel (I give this hotel 5 stars, by the way). We explored around the stockyards station, which consists of old hog and sheep pens that have been converted, for the most part, into restaurants and shops. Towards the now-defunct slaughter houses, however, the original ramps and halls remain pretty much intact. We poked around and caught these “orbs” on camera:
"Orbs" (either disembodied spirits or dust balls) at the animal loading ramp in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
David was pretty excited to have captured what may be evidence from the other side… or evidence of bad air quality.
The next weekend or thereabouts, I took David to Boggy Depot State Park just west of Tushka, Oklahoma, and to Fort Washita, west of Durant, Oklahoma, to do some more ghost hunting. Boggy Depot is now a ghost town, but used to be the seat of the Choctaw Nation, then for a while, the Chickasaw Nation, until the town was abandoned when the railroad bypassed it and the Chickasaw Nation seat moved to Tishomingo. Fort Washita, founded in 1842, served as a supply stop,military depot, was an important camp during the Mexican American War in 1848.
I had told David about a strange encounter I once had at the Boggy Depot cemetery, where I had smelled perfume around a headstone, and my camera had gone berserk on me. David wanted to see if he could replicate the experience, or at least find some other kind of unexplainable phenomena. I tacked on a visit to Fort Washita simply because I’ve heard a number of ghost stories about Fort Washita from different people over the years.
Nothing happened at all that day, except that it was bitterly cold, and my sunglasses broke when I played on the teeter totter (don’t ask). David did record some strange sounds on his Digital Voice Recorder, but that was it. We took some pretty interesting pictures, though. One gravesite was especially intriguing:
This child's grave at Boggy Depot is strange... the sandstone tombstone is worn down, so a new stone was placed in front of it. That in itself is not strange. Notice the broken lamp, however. Why's that there?
Just below the headstone lie shards of a fairly old, white plate. I could make out the name "Langdon" on it. The name was stenciled on the plate in blue, and then was glazed and fired, so the plate may have been a family heirloom. The deceased boy's last name was Langdon.
I don’t quite understand the artifacts. I do respect that each family has their own unique way of mourning, and this may be remnants of their personal grief. The items are interesting and quite mysterious.
So, we didn’t find any ghosts, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop looking. There are a few more places to seek out wandering spirits around here. ..
Red River Historian's Weblog - www.redriverhistorian.com 
I learned a few weeks ago from a book (the name of which escapes me) that the broken plates and lamps around the grave were probably set there during the annual cemetery clean-up. Every year (usually around Spring), families, church groups, and scouting troops get together to take care of community cemeteries. It’s a lovely tradition, usually culminating in a picnic.
Some participants bring old dishes and decorative items that have seen better days to their family’s graves. This “pretties them up,” or so I read. Plates also, supposedly, prevent moss from growing on headstones.
It kind of thrills me to know that people still engage in traditional past times in this fast-paced and mechanized era. I also visit my father’s grave site to clean up and leave flowers or other pretty things, and find it one of the most peaceful activities I do all year.
Heyas. Love your site! Wanted to mention that the ‘orbs’ in your photo are water droplets or dust near the flash of your camera. They are out of focus and thus appear round and translucent. I am a serious believer in ghosts, btw, but also a phtoograher *8).
try this.. go into a dark room.. set your camera to take a flash photo, and spray mist a few inches from the camera and shoot. you’ll get the same effect.
Next time, I’ll tell ya about the ghosts in my old apartment. After living there a year, I believe. *8)
Childs grave stone looks like painted face, larger eye looking up on right side, brown hair, also a dim outline of a ladies face with eye looking towards young girl on left of stone. Boy Langdon I see an eye above the left chip of stone, right eye almost covered. I hope you can see these images, I think your ghosts were there after all. Thanks for sharing interesting history into the past.
Hello! I am not with Ft. Washita so this isn’t shameless self promotion, but during October the Fort sponsors guided tours at night and historic re-creationists tell all the old ghost stories associated with the Fort. It is great but reserve early – call in August to see when they start taking reservations and then call on THAT day. I would hate for you to miss out on it.
Also, in November there are candlelight tours of the Fort that are a little less spooky and more educational – educational but entertaining!
My dad and i work at the stock yards. I mostly run the mechanical bull but i sometimes take turns with my dad who drives the kiddy train which just so happens to go through the tunnel or hallway that you have in the picture. That is the south side of the tunnel. We start at the other end down behind the petting zoo drive all the way through, up the ramp to a sqaure concrete pad to turn around and back down the ramp through the parking lot and park in front of the maze. The tunnel is kind of creepy even after being through it a million times a day.