August 11, 2004
The Phantom Sentry
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Phil Husselbury, Israel, 1947,
info@ghostvillage.com
My father is a very level-headed man (boringly responsible) so
you could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me he'd seen
a ghost.
In 1947, my Dad was a British soldier occupying what became the
state of Israel. Dad was due on guard duty in a gun tower, complete with
search light, in a camp guarding "terrorists" (think of the movie
The Great Escape and you're there or thereabouts). There was
one set of stairs to the tower and a little room in the tower so the
duty guard would come down first. This duly happened but in those few
seconds Dad decided he needed to use the bathroom, so he asked the first
guard to pop back up. He then went to the bathroom, returning to clearly
see a soldier in the tower. The duty corporal then appeared and in
rather basic military English enquired as to why dad was not in the
tower. Dad replied that the previous guard had gone back for a moment
but the corporal put a spanner in the works by informing Dad that he was
drinking tea in the Guardhouse. The duty NCO and my Dad evidently both
had the same thought "Who, then, is in the tower?" and shouted up,
receiving no reply. Both men ran up the stairs to the tower, finding it
empty. It transpired that a passing Sergeant had also seen the phantom
sentry and here's where the story takes an interesting twist, the
Sergeant had made a note to give the sentry a verbal rocket as he
clearly saw the man had a bayonet fixed to his rifle. This practice had
been outlawed some weeks previously as a sentry had become bored and
messed around with the searchlight, accidentally touching a wire with
his bayonet. The man was killed instantly. Was the phantom sentry this
man for last guard duty? Dad doesn't know and, presumably, neither does
the army as nothing more was ever seen. Incidentally, Dad did not face
an absence charge as the duty corporal swore blind there was a man in
the tower.
