In celebration of Halloween, we’re sharing stories NGA has been hearing about the possibly haunted halls of our Second Street campus in St. Louis, and the inhabitants that roam them.

The U.S. Civil War and the years following brought about many changes to the old St. Louis Arsenal and garrison, and many folks contend that more than memories were left behind. 

Numerous stories of ghostly encounters and strange activities at the current NGA St. Louis campus have accumulated over the years. So much so, that a ghost tour was developed and recorded as an episode of the NGA podcast series “Geointeresting  in 2017.

The Arsenal mission transformed several times after the war, including 1871-1879, when it served as a U.S. Cavalry recruitment post. From 1884-1923 the site was a general quartermaster clothing depot, and from 1923 to 1952 the compound served as a medical supply depot. Throughout the Civil War, the Arsenal campus contained a post hospital, and a new main building constructed in 1918 — now NGA St. Louis Building 36 — included a morgue in the basement. (Pretty creepy, right?)

Over the years, numerous stories of ghostly figures, supernatural events and paranormal phenomena about the old Arsenal post have circulated, taking on a life of their own. Lyon Park, dedicated to Civil War hero Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, and once a part of the Arsenal campus, was used as an encampment area for Union soldiers during the Civil War. Some sources have reported apparitions in Civil War era uniforms milling about in the ten-acre park, located directly across the street from the front gates of the Second Street campus.

In a dark, unfinished basement corridor in Building 36, behind a gigantic old wooden refrigerator door, sits what was once the old morgue during the time when the building served as medical facility and supply depot, from 1923-1952. The old morgue interior is poorly lit, with chain-hung two-bulb fluorescent light fixtures, and all four walls painted flat black, faded from years gone by. A drain in the center of the floor serves as a reminder of the room’s former purpose. As visitors enter, they often feel a chill and notice a significant drop in temperature. 

The room was designed to serve as a morgue and remain cooler than the rest of the building, according to a “ghost tour” guide. An asset manager working in the old morgue told us a story about a former co-worker. The co-worker’s desk faced one of the dreary black walls, so he propped up a mirror on his desk to spot if anyone was coming up from behind him. The man reported that on a number of occasions he heard noises behind him, looked in the mirror and saw something, but when he turned around, nothing was there. After several occurrences, the man removed the mirror from the office, and the incidents ceased.

Today, the old morgue serves as the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services storage area, where wooden pallets are stacked high … with dead technology. 

Another story we’ve heard features a nightshift encounter in 2009, at around 2 a.m., on the fourth floor of Building 36. A lone night-shifter had completed her checks and was en route to the elevators, when suddenly she heard several beeps coming from behind her, indicating that someone was swiping the badge reader attempting to gain entrance to a section that she had just confirmed was empty and secure.

Hearing several more beeps, the night-shifter returned to the door to determine if the badge reader was malfunctioning. Coming within a few feet of the door, she observed a large disembodied head floating at around six feet in the air, that she describes as having a ghostly gray appearance with a beard and flowing white hair. “I blinked a few times, while briefly reasoning with myself, to ensure I was actually seeing a head with no body,” said the night-shifter, explaining that at that point she ran all the way down the stairwell to the first floor and back to her supervisor to report what she had seen.

Not all of the ghost stories at NGA St. Louis stem from the Arsenal and medical supply depot periods, though. In March of 1985, during the construction of what is currently the E wing addition to Building 36, two men were installing one elevator in a bank of four. Both men were on the roof of the elevator near the very top of the shaft, with one man standing on a six-foot step ladder attempting to work on a cable located above his head, when all at once the elevator plummeted some 75 feet, crashing to the bottom of the shaft, killing the man on the ladder and severely injuring the other.

It was not long after the addition opened that stories spread of strange occurrences around the elevators on E wing. People report elevator doors opening, seeing a young man inside in work clothes, the doors close, then open again with no one inside. Others report strange and frightening activities in the E wing elevators, such as all of the floor buttons lighting up at once, passing the selected floor, or scariest of all, feeling a sense of the elevator dropping quickly, only to slow down before crashing. 

NGA chief historian, Lisa Williams, Ph.D., explains that the elevator ghost story has evolved over the years as employees retell it. “The ghost stories shared by employees at the old Arsenal site highlight the long and colorful history of the installation,” says Williams. “A lot of these stories have become part of the oral tradition of the Arsenal, and it is interesting to see how the stories grow over the years.”

Author’s Note: While waiting outside of the E wing fourth floor elevators to interview one of our sources, my co-worker and I witnessed the presumed haunted elevator stop, open and close with nobody entering or leaving — twice.

So, are these stories fact or fiction? We leave that up to you to decide…Happy Halloween!