Case File 09-0321: Fort Wayne, IN
Classification: Historic Site 

Investigators
Matt
Shanna
Erica
Leah
Tom
Ann
Mike (SIGH)
Shelly (Guest) 

History of the Site and Claims of Activity

Many claims of the paranormal have been made in this replica of the original fort that saw action during the War of 1812. The original fort stood across the river.  The current fort is located on the land where the Native Americans would kill the prisoners of war, taking out their still beating hearts, and consuming them (according to legend and lore). It is thought that the fort is haunted by Lt. Philip Ostander, who was in charge of the fort after William Henry Harrison assigned him to protect it. Many stories and speculation surround Lt. Ostrander. He was detained by court martial, and later died mysteriously. No record exists on how he died or why. Research has been done, only to find that pages are torn out of the orderly book concerning his death. It is said that he may have accosted a soldier, or had an affair with a soldier’s wife. Many reenactments are performed at Old Fort Wayne, and almost everyone involved has experienced something out of the ordinary. The re-enactors have accepted that the lieutenant. is still walking the grounds. They ask his permission before entering his quarters, and even leave a ration of alcohol for him every night that they stay at the fort.  Below are the claims of activity. 

• Footsteps heard upstairs when no one is up there.
• A strong smell of body odor and cigar smoke.
• Doors opening and closing.
• When a historical re-enactor didn't ask for permission to enter the Lt. Ostrander’s quarters, his hat was flipped off his head by an unseen force.
• Shadow figures walking the grounds.
• Knocking on the walls.
• A re-enactor claims to have seen a full body apparition of Lt. Ostrander picking up a flag on the table and then disappearing, as well as a bottle being lifted off a table, examined, and replaced, by unseen forces.
• Faces appearing in the windows.
• Orbs of light seen by the naked eye moving around the fort. 

Attempting to Debunk Claims

• The fort is located in downtown Fort Wayne along a busy street. When cars drive by, especially at night, shadows move frequently throughout the fort. There were a few instances where members saw what appeared to be shadows walking along the upstairs of the fort, but were later debunked as the cars drove by.- The windows of the fort are fairly distorted, almost like stained glass. We took a few pictures that appeared to have a face show up, but we have determined that it was an example of matrixing.  

Base Readings

• The base EMF reading throughout the fort was 0.2, with an average temperature of 38-40 degrees. We experienced no fluctuations with the EMF or temperature readings.  

Personal Experiences

• Footsteps heard by 2 members coming from upstairs when no one was up there.
• After setting up a motion detector near the lieutenant’s quarters, the detector went off in every room but one, almost as if something was following us. 
• One member claims to have been touched in the leg while walking toward the stairs, hard enough to make his knee buckle. 
• During an EVP session, a member asked for the spirit to makes its presence known. She then heard an audible (disembodied) male voice say, "No." 

Evidence Collected

• No evidence collected from digital cameras, night shot cameras, thermal imaging camera, or DVR equipment. Some EVPs, however, were captured on an Olympus digital audio recorder.