THE HAUNTED HARLEY-DAVIDSON/FORD TEST TRACK OF NAPLES, FLORIDA

 

Robert W. Teeters experience, as told to and written by K. Scott Teeters

 

You have probably known a coworker like this. They get to work a few hours early and stay way past quitting time. They work weekends and never put in for overtime. Their Life is their Job! This is such a story.

 

This experience happened to my older brother, Bob. Since he is seven years older than me, he always looked after me and today, we are the best of friends. I have memories from the early '60s, when we would lay on the floor with the lights out, watching "One Step Beyond" and "The Twilight Zone." It's what started my interest in the paranormal. While I haven't "seen anything" paranormal, Bob has. Here's his story.

 

In 2000 I decided it was time to do something different. Since I had over ten years experience as a corrections officer for the State of New Jersey, I had no trouble getting hired by Wackenhut as a security guard at the Ford/Harley-Davidson test track in Naples, Florida. I was the night shift guy and my 12-hour shift was from 5pm to 5am. The prototype and parts testing was always done before my shift started, so it wasn't as interesting as it might sound.

 

This part of Naples is VERY rural and sits next to a wildlife preserve. The main road is, "Alligator Alley." I saw lots of small critters, panthers, big gators, and a few mama bears and their cubs. Yes, this is RURAL and VERY DARK at night. The guard shack was situated about a half-mile off of Alligator Alley. My duty every hour was to take the golf cart, lap the track, and do a walk-through in the office/garage building that was about 100 yards from my booth. At night, only the hall lights were on in the building, but from my station, I could clearly see through the windows into the offices, illuminated by the ambient light from the hall. The only lights there in the middle of nothing, were the inside hall lights and one outside light.

 

A local Native American man named Angel worked there as a maintenance man and sometimes he would stay late. This night, Angel left around 11pm and was the last man out, or so I thought. Around 2am while listening to the radio, I just happened to be looking at the office building. It was something I'd done hundreds of times, after all, there wasn't much else to look at out there. That's when I saw someone walking through one of the offices! I said, "Oh shit! Someone's still here!" As I stood there watching, I could clearly see "someone." It wasn't a shadow caused by a far off car headlight. It was the shape of a man wearing a ball cap, walking like he was "going somewhere."

 

I was stunned! As far as I knew, Angel was the last man out. Then my mind kicked in. "Oh, maybe Angel left a helper here. Or Angel didn't know there was one more guy here. Or...." The mind just has to have a logical answer. Thinking that we had an intruder, I picked up my billy club, tamped down my adrenaline, and immediately walked through the very quiet, dark office. But, there was no one there but me. Ford and Harley-Davidson were very concerned about intruders because of the advanced prototype machines that were there. I didn't walk out by the parameter fence because it wasn't uncommon to find a gators there. After I completed my walk through, I thought, "Oh well!" And that was that. Until the next day.

 

The job could be very boring, but this time I was looking forward to seeing Angel. I had a few questions. Like any other evening, Angel was the last man out. We chitchatted a little and then I asked him, "Ah, I know this probably sounds odd, but have you ever seen anything strange while working here at night?" With an expectant look on his face, Angel said, "Yea?" So I told him my story.

 

When I was finished, he said, "Oh, that could have been Joe Turner (made up name)." "Who?" I asked. Angel went on to explain, "Joe Turner was an engineer that used to work here about two years ago. He was ALWAYS here, totally dedicated to his job. He didn't have a life outside the office. His work was his life and so was his death. He died at the office. And he ALWAYS wore a baseball cap."

 

For me it was an "OH-MY-GOD!!!" moment. I felt frozen at the implication of what Angel had just said. I want to reiterate what I saw. It was not a shadowy, wispy, fleeting kind of thing. I saw the shape of an adult man wearing a ball cap, silhouetted by the ambient light from the hallway, that looked as if he was quickly walking into another office to get something. If there had been a crew of men working late and someone was walking through one of the offices, that's what it would have looked like, and I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But that night, I knew I was alone.

 

In odd moments like this, thoughts fly through your head. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights. Angel went on to explain how sometimes while working in the building at night, he has heard foot steps and quiet voices - like someone shuffling about and talking to themselves. He said, "I just figured it must be Joe Turner." Then Angel said, "Bob, have you seen the American Indian maiden that floats out on the test track? Now that really creeped me out!"

 

I was already dumbfounded! I said, "Ah, no... and I really don't want to know about it. I still have a long night ahead of me." I worked at the test track for another year or so and never saw Joe Turner again. But then again, I wasn't really looking for him.

 

Submitted by K. Scott Teeters

NORTH BY NORTHWEST

When I was still living in Denver, CO. and my wife (before we were married) was coming out to visit me, she used to bring her favorite travel bag with her. On one occasion she could not locate the travel bag. She looked and looked and looked for it but it was nowhere to be found. After we got married I moved in with her and we live in this home to this day. The home is a 6,300 sq. ft., 3 story home built in 1912 and we have a lot of unexplained things that happen here. The home was built with a maids quarters with her own private staircases so she wouldn't have to be seen by the family. There is a cedar closet that has been built over the maids' staircase from the second floor to the kitchen but it is still accessible via a trap door. My wife used (and currently uses) this closet as our travel closet: lot's of luggage and anything travel related. Its packed floor to ceiling. There were enough suitcases, even before we got married, on top of the trap door that if you wanted to get down there you had to move them.

When I came to visit the first time before we were married, she wanted to show me the trap door and the hidden staircase. We moved all of the suitcases out of the closet and opened the trap door. There, down in the staircase, was her travel bag - along with two Kool Menthol cigarettes, and the light bulb was missing from the light socket. The strange thing is how those things got down there. The trap door was covered with suitcases. You literally have to lift that door and hold it because it will not stay up on it's own. Kool Menthol smokes? We don't know anyone who smokes Kool Menthols. And who took the light bulb? And why and how? The house is locked up tighter than a drum with a very good security system so we are dumbfounded as to how her travel bag, for one, got down there. The smokes and the light bulb? Who knows!

I tell you that story so I can tell you this story:

One morning after we were married we heard footsteps walking down the hallway just outside our bedroom on the second floor. The footsteps went down the stairs and we heard both sets of front french doors open and close. We freaked! We carefully walked around the house together checking every nook and cranny to make sure no one was in the house. The alarm was still set and the front doors were locked! Once in the basement we checked the walk-in storage closet where we store all of our videotapes (this was before DVD's). The tapes stood vertically on end on wall shelves and there were probably 200 tapes on those shelves. When we opened the door there was a tape standing vertically on end on the floor directly in front of the door. The video was Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest. The space where the videotape had been on the shelf - was no longer there. All the tapes had been pushed back together.

Here's the intriguing thing about this story: The maids' bedroom is on the North side of the house and the hidden staircase is on the Northwest side of her bedroom - North by Northwest! We're not certain if it's a message to us or simply a coincidence. We have surmised that the first owner of the house had an affair with the maid, something went wrong and he threw her down the staircase and killed her and it is her spirit that continues to haunt our home to this day! These are two of many, many unexplained events that happen in our home.

Submitted by Marc

 

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DOPPLEGANGER????

 

One Night me and my mother (I was about 17) followed my dad down stairs....

 

We started on the 2nd story of our house, from the main living room, where the couch and TV are. Down the hallway (20ft), down the first flight of stairs (8ft), down the second flight of stairs (8ft), down the first level hallway (10ft), down another hallway (5ft) to the house/garage door entrance and into the laundry room

 

Me and my mother followed my father all the way from the upstairs to the down stairs a total, of at least 41ft, if not more. Keep in mind that we were two steps behind him the whole time, all the way from the upstairs room to the laundry room (down stairs), prob about 3 ft away from him the whole time. (if I would have taken a "double step" I could have touched him in the back)

 

Each time my dad turned a corner, 1 sec later, me and my mother turned the corner, with my dad in sight for 98% of the journey (from upstairs to downstairs)

 

When we turned the corner down the last stretch of (downstairs) hallway, ending in the Laundry room, we froze.... my dad was nowhere to be found.

 

I paused... said "what the hell" turned to look at my mom, (she gave me a weird look) and we both started calling for my dad. Who happened to be sitting upstairs where we started the journey.

 

My question is, WHO THE HELL DID WE FOLLOW INTO THE LAUNDRY ROOM IF IT WASN'T MY DAD???????? WE HAD OUR EYES ON WHATEVER IT WAS THE WHOLE TIME, AS WE FOLLOWED IT DOWNSTAIRS!!!!!!!!

 

Submitted by Bekindtoyurbuds

 

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