FORT BRAG

FORT BRAG

THE JOHNSON HOUSE

The Lady on The Second Floor

On one of our many trips to Mendocino Cathy, Maude, Barbara and I. Cathy and I decided to cruise Fort Brag again, and see more than we had in the past.

We found The Johnson House which sits in the middle of Fort Brag. It is an old Victorian sitting up on a knoll. This house was one of the first nice homes built in Fort Brag during the Civil War. Mr. Johnson owned the lumber mill, and most of the town. The house then, over looked the bay and then you could have seen the ships as they came and went. Now there are big trees everywhere and you don't have the view like you did then. Fort Brag during the war had NO trees.

Cathy and I walked up to the house, and went in. Paid our $2 donation to the woman at the desk and went from room to room. There was no furniture in this house, it just had display cases and lots of pictures on the walls. The kitchen was shut off. We looked at everything we could down stairs, me feeling those feelings again. I was feeling many bodies around me, but not close like not in the house but close. I walked up to the woman at the desk and asked if this house had ever been used as a hospital during the war. She said no, the hospitals sit wasn't near the house. How far away I do not know. So Cathy and I started upstairs. At the top of the stairs I'm not breathing well, I thought it was the climb up the stairs, and didn't think too much more about it. So we went to the left and went into one of the bedrooms, looked around, came out and went down the hall. We entered the middle bedroom and I wasn't in it two thirds of the way when I turned to Cathy and said I have to leave we aren't the only ones here, I can't breathe. So I left the room and walked down the hall to the other bedroom. It was ok in there. When I came out of the room, I stood for a moment. At the top of the landing at the back stair case I felt someone pacing. This person was coming from up the stairs, down the hall, back out of the room and down the stairs constantly. Now, this was Cathy's first time with me when I have experienced a spirit. She wasn't surprised, but did seem excited, or she didn't tell me what she was really thinking, that I was a little crazy . . . So we went down stairs, I approached the lady at the desk and asked if this house was haunted. To me and Cathy's surprise she stood up and said, "This is a happily haunted house.” I ask her if it was a lady about this height, and shorter than I. She walked over to a closet which was under the staircase we had just come down. She opened the door and pulled out a rack with a very old dress. The color was black with black lace and trim with a black Shaw. Then she shut the door and said nothing more. Well Cathy and I just stood there, surprised, I was validated in my feelings by myself without Donna this time. The feeling was pure excitement. We can't wait to go back and we have our trip planned in February.

I asked Cathy later if she felt anything when we entered that bedroom, she said she smelled a sachet. She smells her . . . this made her even more excited and looking forward to our trip.

I can kick myself for not asking more questions when I was there. But we could tell the lady was a little upset about even talking about the haunting. So we left it that way. Wait till we get there in February with our camera and list of questions.

When reading the brochure of the Johnson House, written there it stated, “ where the house now sits had been the first hospital site during the Civil War.” I was correct in my feelings.

On our next trip to Fort Brag, Cathy, I, Maude and Barbara took another trip through the Johnson House. The lady at the desk who had been there during our first visit wasn’t there. Cathy and I walked upstairs to see if I could feel her, she wasn’t in the room, I did feel some heaviness but it was very scattered.

We went down stairs with Barbara and Maude, they were talking to the lady at the front desk and asking about the black dress in the closet behind her. She had pulled it out for them to look at, of course Barbara was checking out everything. The lady knew about the ghost but never said too much. We ask where the other lady was, and she said she was at a family funeral. Well that answered the question for me, the ghost was with her at the funeral. The other lady was closer to the spirit.

Cathy and I took off outside, and since this was Barbara and Maude’s first time they were inspecting everything, especially since my story about the house. Barbara reads aura’s, and Maude in really into spiritual enhancement. So they were in their glory. While we were outside and in the back of the house, where I could feel a lot of bodies laying around (sprits). We looked up and Barbara and Maude were in the kitchen. They were with the lady in charge of the house. This part of the house was off limits to guest, but leave it up to Barbara, she can open a lot of doors.

On our next visit to Fort Brag months later, Cathy and I stopped at the Johnson House. They were on their winter hours and were not open the day we were there. So Cathy and I walked around the house. I had my Polaroid camera with me because I had come prepared again to take pictures. While I was standing facing the small opening in the rear of the house where there was a small stair case leading to two doors one to the right and the one to the left, which went into the kitchen. I started taking pictures. The first one almost made me fall over. On the stairs you could see the figure of a woman with a long dress on and an apron, like the ones worn years and years ago. The apron had a “U” shaped neckline. You could see here standing there, in the picture all you could see was her body, her head was hidden because she was standing on the second step down the stair case. Her head was cut off by the house. I screamed for Cathy who wasn’t far away. Come look quick I said. Coming over and looking at the picture, she couldn’t believe it either, the woman standing on the stairs. Then all the sudden the picture of the lady started fading away then she was gone.

We both looked at each other, we couldn’t believe what we had just seen. We both knew she wanted to let me know she was really there. Going back to Fort Brag other times I haven’t felt like needing to go to the house. She seems to be a peace right now. If I ever feel anything to the different I will go in and talk to her about leaving. She has been waiting for someone for along time, little does she know he is waiting for her on the other side of the light.