(images:flickr/ 23472949@N07)

Plattsburgh Air Force Base was a former United States strategic air command base, spanning nearly four thousand acres in the northeastern corner of New York, just twenty miles from the Canadian border.  Plattsburgh, New York lost their air force base on September 25, 1995 as a result of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990.  The base now serves as a civilian airport and industrial complex that is operated by the Plattsburgh Air Base Development Authority and known as the Plattsburgh International Airport.

Plattsburgh Air Force Base, while running, was the oldest military post in the United States.  It provided a stronghold for United States presence since December 30, 1814 and has served during the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and Interwar.  As a result of its great success, it was repurposed and provided support for the United States Navy in 1944.  Switching gears, the base provided housing for college students from the late forties until the fifties.  After that, in 1953, the base’s control returned to the Federal government and Plattsburgh Air Force Base, as it was last known, was officially founded.

Plattsburgh Air Force Base was so large that its runway was on the list of backup landing spaces for United States space shuttles.  It was also only one of four major missile launch sites in the United States and it was the only one east of the Mississippi River.  As a result, there were many environmental issues facing the base, including issues with contamination, nuclear waste, and soil vapor intrusion.  Some speculate this is the reason for so many of the odd reports that stem from visits to the old base.

(images:flickr/ncpr)

Some of the most common reports include random cold spots that are unexplained.  Certain places throughout the old base just give people the chills.  Other unexplainable phenomenon include random flash lights and other lights turning on and off by themselves.  Objects have been known to move by themselves and doors will randomly open and slam closed, even if no one else is near them.

Even more alarming, visitors report hearing the sounds of old time gun blasts and even smelling the gun smoke, but never being able to locate the source.  Soldiers have been heard to march, along with the sounds of horses’ hooves pounding on the streets.  Some have reported seeing what appeared to be an old time movie of the French Indian War battle playing, without warning, in the middle of a field.  Ghost children have been seen playing and a ghostly soldier stands guard in a particular area, seeming to have kept his assignment even into the afterlife.

Other places seem to incur strange events more than others.  For example, the old gymnasium was once a wartime morgue.  Often, screams and pounding can be heard from that area.  In the nearby cemetery, it is not uncommon to see ghostly marching.  The finance building is another area of interest.  Once serving as a hospital, residents share stories of painting the walls the drab gray, as it was the only color that would mask the red blood stains- which continued to appear long after the hospital was closed.