Hotel Congress

So, in 1897, Mayor Joseph Carlos Rich decided to make an official redlight district so that the illegal activities would be contained to one specific area. The ploy worked and this seedy section of Mobile would continue to operate well into the 1910s. Unfortunately, homes like the Hall-Ford House were right in the middle of all this, and they would see their fair share of the violence and troubles that usually accompany saloons and brothels.

Today, the old Hall-Ford House is known as the Fort Conde Inn. It has been completely restored, and if that’s not enough, two blocks of classic Victorian homes and cottages were also restored along with it. This area is now known as Fort Conde Village. Interestingly, the actual Fort Conde was reconstructed in 1976 (at 4/5 scale of the original) and now sits close by.

As for the ghosts of the inn…well, as previously stated, it all has to do with the history of the area. Most of the ghostly activity seems to center around the second floor of the inn where the most well-known spirit, that of a Civil War soldier, has been seen staring from one of the windows. This same entity has also been spotted outside as well, where he appears to be staring at the house.

In addition to the soldier, passersby have seen the ghost of a bordello girl. She is said to wander most of the second floor and can be spotted through the windows. There also seems to be the spirit of a dog in this same area. Glimpses of a shadowy canine running down the hall as well as sounds of him scratching (maybe he wants to go outside?) have been reported.

The inn offers a number of rooms to rent in the main house, as well as three cottages. You, of course, will want to stay in the main house on the second floor. Breakfast, as well as an “honor bar,” are included with your stay, and there’s plenty to see with the new version of the fort and the Gulf nearby. Sun, surf, and ghosts—sounds like a great vacation to me!

Fort Morgan Historic Site

Gulf Shores, Alabama http://www.fort-morgan.org/

What kind of twisted individual would want to be purposefully trapped inside a haunted fort? Besides me, that is. If this sounds like something you would enjoy, then look no further than the historic Fort Morgan and their unique escape room experience.

When you participate in this particular event, you are pretending to take part in Fort Morgan’s glorious history. You will be playing a Union spy who has been captured by Confederate forces in 1864, and you must escape if you are to provide federal troops with what they need to conquer Mobile Bay. Sound fun? It is, and there’s a lot of history behind this activity, too.

Built on the former site of Fort Bowyer, construction on Fort Morgan began in 1819. It was named after Revolutionary War general Daniel Morgan and built by the US Army Corps of Engineers using slave labor and materials from as far away as New York. It was completed in 1834 and would stand watch over the Gulf of Mexico relatively peacefully until the onset of the Civil War.

After that war began and the state of Alabama seceded from the Union, Confederate forces peacefully seized Fort Morgan (though this actually meant some soldiers left and some simply switched uniforms) in 1861. The battlement watched over the Gulf, as well as blocked the entry of warships looking to sack the city of Mobile, without real incident until Union ships attacked in 1864.

Admiral Farragut of the US Navy had already taken nearby Fort Gaines and blasted the Confederate Navy in the bay before turning his sights to Fort Morgan. Knowing how many men were stationed there, he planned a coordinated assault with Major General Gordon Granger, who would lead a ground attack while the navy ships bombarded the fort.

The maneuver worked, and the Confederates surrendered after two weeks of almost constant bombardment. The fall of Fort Morgan would lead to Union control of Mobile Bay and eventually the downfall of Mobile, Alabama. Amazingly, less than twenty people died from both sides during the battle, but more than six hundred Confederate soldiers were captured.

Fort Morgan would go on to watch over the Gulf until 1944, but it would never see any more action. Today, it is a national treasure—and for a historic site, there’s actually a lot to see and do. You can take a tour, visit the gift shop, do the aforementioned escape room, and even take advantage of the fort’s location to do some fishing. And throughout all of these, you can always keep an eye open for the resident ghosts.

While there are many tales about hearing a baleful cry or the sound of a cannon firing, there are three main ghost stories. The first concerns the spirit