1862 military post on the University of Utah campus where a murdered sergeant's ghost still walks the barracks
32 Potter St, Salt Lake City, UT 84113
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Admission is free; donations accepted. Annual October ghost tours may charge separately.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved paths between historic buildings; cemetery has some uneven ground
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1862 · Civil War Era Military Post · Bear River Massacre Connection · World War I German POW Hospital · Utah Military History
Colonel Patrick E. Connor arrived in Utah Territory in October 1862 with his California–Nevada Volunteers and established what was first called Camp Douglas on a bench overlooking Salt Lake City. The name honored Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas; in 1878 it was redesignated Fort Douglas. Connor's stated mission was protecting overland mail routes, but the posting carried an implicit political purpose: establishing a federal military presence in a territory where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held substantial civil authority.
In January 1863, Connor led roughly 300 men northwest into present-day Idaho, attacking a Shoshone encampment at the Bear River. The engagement—documented as the Bear River Massacre—resulted in the deaths of an estimated 250 to 400 Shoshone people, making it one of the deadliest attacks on Indigenous people in U.S. history.
The fort expanded through the late 19th century into a substantial garrison. During World War I it served as a prisoner-of-war hospital facility for German soldiers. In World War II the fort housed Italian POWs and functioned as a training and induction center. At its peak, tens of thousands of soldiers moved through the post.
The fort officially closed on October 26, 1991. The Utah National Guard retained a portion of the property; the University of Utah absorbed most of the grounds. The Fort Douglas Military Museum, housed in two original brick barracks buildings, preserves artifacts, photographs, and documents spanning the fort's 130-year operational history.
Sources
The ghost accounts at Fort Douglas cluster around a specific building: the former barracks that now houses the museum's collections. Museum curator Beau Burgess told Fox13 that during paranormal investigations on the grounds, investigators 'keep getting German words and phrases' on EVP recordings—a finding that gained significance when Burgess noted the building served as the German prisoner-of-war hospital during World War I.
The figure known as 'Clem' is described consistently as a short, stocky man with dark hair and a beard, wearing a Civil War-era Federal blue uniform. A Boy Scout troop that stayed overnight at the museum named the apparition after apparently seeing it in the barracks. Staff and volunteers since have reported seeing a shadowed male figure in the collections area that appeared transparent, and hearing unexplained footsteps on wooden floors when no one else was present.
Local accounts connect Clem to First Sergeant John Jackson, who was murdered on the post on August 1, 1899, by a fellow soldier. Jackson is buried in the Fort Douglas Post Cemetery. The cemetery tour, offered each October, stops at his grave alongside those of other soldiers whose histories the museum documents.
The fort has attracted multiple paranormal investigation groups over the decades. The German EVP accounts, in particular, have drawn attention because they do not fit the more commonly reported Civil War-era phenomenon and suggest the building may hold more than one layer of history.
Notable Entities
Free self-guided tour of the Fort Douglas Military Museum, open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 PM. The museum occupies two former barracks buildings dating to the Civil War era and covers Utah military history from the fort's 1862 founding through the Cold War. The adjacent Post Cemetery, where First Sergeant John Jackson is buried, is open to visitors.
The museum hosts an annual October ghost tour of the Post Cemetery and fort buildings, featuring accounts of the resident ghost known as 'Clem'—believed to be the spirit of First Sergeant John Jackson, murdered on the post in 1899. Paranormal investigators have recorded EVP in the former German POW hospital wing. Check the museum website for seasonal scheduling.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Charleston, SC
Magnolia Plantation was established in 1676 by Thomas and Ann Drayton, English settlers from Barbados, and remains under the control of the Drayton family after fifteen generations. The plantation's wealth derived from Carolina Gold rice cultivated by enslaved Africans. Magnolia opened its gardens to the public in 1871, making it one of the oldest public gardens in the United States.
.jpg)
Winston-Salem, NC
The Salem Tavern was built in 1784 to serve travelers stopping in the Moravian settlement at Salem, North Carolina. The Moravian congregation built and operated the tavern — a common enterprise in Moravian settlements — as a source of revenue and a place of hospitality for outsiders. President George Washington lodged here in May 1791 during his Southern Tour, an event documented in his own diary.
Ogden, UT
Architects John and Donald Parkinson designed the current Ogden Union Station building, completed in 1924, after fire destroyed its 1889 predecessor. The station was known as the 'Crossroads of the West' during its peak, handling more than 60 trains per day. On New Year's Eve 1944, two passenger trains collided in heavy fog near Bagley, Utah—killing 48 people—and the station's downstairs ballroom served as a temporary morgue. Amtrak ended service in 1997; Ogden City purchased the property in 2022.