Ghosts in Fort Monroe | Roulez Magazine
May 12, 2020
The Roof! The Roof! The Roof Is on Fire!
A first sergeant with a lengthy artillery career, Thomas Edgar Austin passed away in April 1933 in the post hospital. On an occasion before he died, he had told the post chaplain that if he ever went to church, “the chapel would burn up.” But the fort’s standard operating procedure for soldier funerals involved a service at the historic chapel with Tiffany windows.
On April 27, the day of the funeral, Sergeant Austin was carried into the church. There, the chaplain proceeded with the service. Midway through the ceremony, the ceiling of the chapel caught on fire. Austin was carried out by pallbearers and his casket was placed on a nearby porch.
After the blaze was extinguished, everyone returned to the service and Austin’s burial.
This story made its way into the post newspaper, “The Casemate Chronicle” in 1969. Sergeant Austin was not blamed for the fire and does not seem to haunt the grounds. But he was said to have left in a blaze of glory.