Fort Stevens, a former military installation near Warrenton on the Oregon coast, was built in 1863 during the Civil War to guard the mouth of the Columbia River. The fort remained active through World War II, when it became the only military installation on the U.S. mainland to be fired upon by a foreign power — a Japanese submarine shelled the fort on June 21, 1942. The fort was decommissioned in 1947 and is now a state park. Visitors and park staff have reported seeing the apparitions of soldiers in both Civil War and World War II-era uniforms walking the battery corridors and earthworks at night. The underground magazines and tunnels produce unexplained sounds — footsteps, whispered commands, and the clanking of metal — that seem to emanate from within the concrete walls. Rangers have described seeing lights moving inside sealed gun emplacements and feeling sudden temperature drops in the underground passages. During the annual Civil War reenactments, participants have reported encountering figures in uniform who did not appear to be part of the reenactment and who vanished when approached. The fort's remote coastal location, surrounded by fog-shrouded forests and windswept beaches, enhances its haunted atmosphere.
