Descent

For Tuesday: A Spooky Photo Self-Challenge Day #2

Spooky Photo Challenge

Cameras in the shop… I decided to try to challenge myself to be more creative in post processing this week for halloween by consuming these "leftovers" in a creepy or macabre way..

Day 2 of 5:  Descent: Ft. Creepsville

It was a very clear, cool January afternoon.  What's awesome about the Winter in a beach town is that you can often find local tourist locales completely abandoned.  As was the case on this spur-of-the-moment after-work trip to Ft. Morgan, Alabama.  It was cold and I only had a few hours before the Fort was to close but.. as was said in this fort's wartime, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" 

A lot of the architectural details struck me about this Fort's era, as did the history of the Battle of Mobile Bay. The masonry here is.. just breathtaking in places. The overall scale of the grounds is especially chilling when you are absolutely alone on them in a cold afternoon near sundown.  

However, in keeping with this week's theme of creepy places, I was also abundantly aware that many young men's lives had likely come to a violent end, here.

Look, I'm not particularly worried about ghosts and ghouls, aliens and zombies.  I'm quite aware of the many real dangers in this world than to occupy my limited brain cycles on such things.  That being said, I descended into the small catacomb-like entrance pictured here (to the right and down from center) for some exploration.

As I descended the very steep stairwell into the lower areas there was a disorienting blackness like I've seldom experienced. There, in the cold, you could almost hear the gunfire, smell the powder and hear the orders to fire being shouted to young men on shore guns.   Again, I'm not one to really put stock in hauntings and the like but I do tend to feel that different locales have a palpable "feel" or "energy" to them.   One particular room in these lower areas led me to believe it was time to leave.  

So, I did just that. ;)