The Haunted Cherry Point Air Station
Ghosts by nature are strange things.I don't pretend to know everything about ghosts and creepy things that go bump, but there are a few constants that I've learned about haunted places and the things that haunted them. Some exist for revenge, some for love long gone or gone wrong. And some are attached to a particular spot they remember fondly even if what they remember is no longer there.
Such is the case with Miss Mary. A seventy year old woman who appears about once every 6 months to talk to those around her old chicken farm. The only issue is her chicken farm is now gone and has been replaced by Cherry Point Air station, the largest Marine air station on the east coast. Miss Mary means no one any harm and has even been known to talk to people about the weather and her long lost home.Sgt. James Segura was so sure of his encounter with Miss Mary in 1975 that he had himself checked out medically to make sure he wasn't crazy.
Sgt. Segura was on night patrol in November of '75 When a woman approached him from behind some stacked oil drums and began to chitchat with him. She mentioned how nice the weather had been and how she lived on a chicken farm but was going to be forced from her home.
The marine found her quite polite but got an eerie feeling from the woman in a long sleeved dress who'd just walked in to a military base with flood lights and 2 sets of chain linked fence. He knew she was a ghost, and excused himself to get his supervisor. When they returned, she of course, was gone.
All the tests Segura took indicated he was a healthy man mentally and his commanding officer said he believed the soldier had the experience even though he could find no explanation for it.
A sociologist who dealt with ghosts and the unexplained came and interviewed Segura and the other men who claimed to have met Miss Mary. in doing research on the local history he found that the area had once been chicken farms in the area but all the farms had been bought out to make room for the military base. I guess that's why Mary was complaining she was being forced from her home.
As far as I know she still appears to the marines on the station, still making small talk, still scaring the bee jeebus out of the people she talks to.
Comments
I was born on this base in Jan of 1979. Lived on base with my Marine father and mother for several years. I have heard this story for my whole life and have spoken to several Marines who have had run ins with the ghost.
I was present at Cherry Point in 1975, and remember hearing about this incident.
Any pilot stationed at MCAS Cherry Point knows about this apparition. She is not as benign as the story states. There are several documented air crashes related to her sudden and unexplained appearance on active runways, especially during take off. She seems to enjoy appearing directly ahead of full-throttle aircraft precisely before they attain airspeed, when they are rolling too fast to stop before hitting her, but not quite fast enough to fly. The resulting evasive maneuvers have cost several aircraft and some lives. I have personally read several accident reports (dated many decades apart) involving this same 'little old lady' on the runway, and the descriptive details about her are frighteningly similar in each report. The woman might not be real, but the air crashes certainly are. I don't recall what they called her, but Miss Mary doesn't sound familiar to me. Knowing Marines, she has probably earned herself many, many names over the years. She has cost Marine lives, and several costly aircraft.
Her age was not fixed in the reports I read, so I don't know how you arrived at 70 y/o. She was simply described as female caucasian, well under 6' tall, with grey hair tied in a bun behind her head. Several reports cited her as wearing a blue long-sleeved sweater, regardless of the NC summer temperatures.
The reports included conclusions regarding Line of Duty and Misconduct, as required any time an active duty Marine is killed or gravely injured on-duty, not as a result of combat action. They included information about Military Police searches of the immediate areas following each crash (trying to find her), statements of several survivors, and some transcripts of recorded intercom conversations among aircrew when they saw her (and she was seen by several witnesses in the same aircraft before the accidents). She has apparently never been seen from the Air Control tower, altho taped emergency conversations btwn aircraft and tower have been included in some of the reports. "Miss Mary", or whatever else you want to call her, is not a joke. She's a killer, not to be forgiven.
And by the way, First Writer, the title "Marine" is spelled with a capital "M". And henceforth, NEVER refer to a Marine as a 'soldier'. There's a very large difference btwn the two.
I think you should keep those kinds of comments to yourself. Obviously there is a difference between marine and soldier, but he's just sharing the account. Ive spent some time reading these stories and tales, doing my own research about them as well and i find them very intriguing.
Personally i think you should keep those comments to youself. Obviously there is a difference between marine and soldier but he's just relaying the account. And you further prove my reason for thinking that all 'Marines' are rude in behavior. I have been reading these accounts and stories, doing my own reasearch on them and they are very intriguing!
I was stationed at CPNC and heard many stories about this. The name of the apparition is Sarah not Mary and there is a grave site on a remote part of the base with a headstone with only the name "Sarah" on it.
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