Haunted Pythian Castle & Fort Leonard Wood, MO

Haunted Pythian Castle & Fort Leonard Wood, MO
Paul Dale Roberts, HPI's Esoteric Detective
Halo Paranormal Investigations
www.cryptic916.com/
Email: jazmaonline@gmail.com
Sacramento Paranormal Haunted Hotline: 916 203 7503
www.lulu.com/spotlight/httpswwwlulucomspotlightjazmapika1

During my stint in the Army, I was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for 2 weeks. I wanted to make the best of it, so I planned on my weekend off, that I would visit Pythian Castle. Rumor has it from one of the NCOs is that the Pythian Castle was haunted. Pythian Castle is also known as Pythian Home of Missouri. It was founded by the Knights of Pythias. Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society. This secret society was founded in Washington, D.C., on February 19, 1864. The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded by Justus H. Rathbone, who had been inspired by a play by the Irish poet John Banim about the legend of Damon and Pythias. This legend illustrates the ideals of loyalty, honor, and friendship that are the center of the order. You are probably wondering how Pythian Castle became haunted. After the Knights of Pythian moved out, the Pythian Castle became a holding camp for German and Italian POWs. This occurred during World War II. There were rumors of torture and suicide that befell the POWs. How many POWs died during their incarceration at Pythian Castle is anyone's guess. Sgt. Leon Russell who has lived in Missouri all his life says that he actually encountered three full body apparitions laying on the ground. The apparitions wore torn sleeping clothes and seemed like they were in pain. Leon was 14 years old when he saw the apparitions and he was with his mother. The odd sighting was seen by Leon, but not seen by his mother who was standing next to him. Leon believes at a young age he was psychic and somehow as he got older, lost those abilities. Leon tried to point out the apparitions to his mother, but his mother couldn't see what Leon was seeing and simply thought Leon was playing games. Leon explained to me that Pythian Castle was built in 1913 and the Knights of Pythian have 2,000 lodges in the United States and around the world, with a total membership of over 50,000 in 2003. Some lodges due to their structure are referred to as Pythian Castles.

I found 2 Army buddies that would go with me to Pythian Castle over the weekend. Pythian Castle is an hour and half away from Fort Leonard Wood. That Saturday, we packed up and did a road trip to Pythian Castle. Fortunately, I was traveling with Private Mark Hanford who was a resident of Branson, Missouri. During the road trip, Mark explained to us that the entities at Pythian Castle can become violent. They also mimic the living. Mark says that his uncle went to Pythian Castle and an entity scratched his neck. Mark's uncle was thrashed across the neck. Mark's uncle was bleeding and had 3 deep claw marks on his neck. When we arrived at Pythian Castle, things started happening. I felt a tugging on my t-shirt. Mark felt a cold breeze as he entered one of the rooms. Our other buddy named Michael felt vertigo as he walked down one of the hallways and made claim that he heard a whispering in his ear. The whisper was from a male spirit, and it said..."Jax will get sick". Michael was in total shock. Jax was his dog! When this happened, Michael said "this is too much, let's go!" Michael was the driver, so we had to go. Michael was very freaked out over this incident. Come to find out, 3 days later Jax did get sick. Jax had canine influenza. Jax was sick for 3 weeks and after 3 weeks was normal again. Michael had no desire to ever visit Pythian Castle again. I talked with a few ghost hunting groups in Missouri, and it appears that these ghost hunting groups didn't have a hard time in finding evidence or experiencing something supernatural at Pythian Castle.

Now, let's talk about Fort Leonard Wood. I can tell you that all Army forts are haunted. During my 12 years in the Army, I knew about soldiers that committed suicide, or overdosed on hard drugs and a couple that were murdered. Of course, more soldiers die, during time of war. The barracks that I was in at Fort Leonard Wood had a reputation of being haunted. A soldier committed suicide in the bathroom and another soldier died of a heroin overdose. There were soldiers in my barracks that said they saw moving shadows on the barrack's walls and one soldier saw a soldier ghost coming out of the bathroom and then disappear. I never witnessed anything paranormal in the Army barracks and only had a slight tug of my shirt at Pythian Castle, but other soldiers have witnessed the paranormal at Pythian Castle and at Fort Leonard Wood, and I have a tendency to believe them.