Photos and Report by Patric Hedlund (with help from Adelyn Halfand)

Ghosts and apparitions from the dark nights of 1856 were gliding through the dry grass on Saturday, Oct. 16, haunting Fort Tejon State Historic Park.

Time travelers are fond of Halloween too, it appears. So—after a delicious barbecue dinner and lots of fun activities for children of all ages—the Fort Tejon Historical Association took over 100 people on tours back into time, to the nights when the spirit of Lieutenant Thomas F. Caster walked through the fort, dead, too young, of tuberculosis. His widow mourned over his coffin and wore black for two and a half years. Peter Lebec lost his fight with a grizzly.

James Anderson was knifed in the road on his way back from the gambling halls of the now-vanished town of Tejon. John Conrad was jailed and court-martialed for the evil deed. Coffin makers were on hand in the quartermaster’s cabin, and in the back room, Company A’s 20-year poker game continued.

This is part of the October 22, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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