SOMETHING TOUCHED ME THERE

by Patricia George
(Hanford, California)

Years ago in the fifties when I was around nine years old my dad promised the family to a day trip to visit the castle that was supposedly built by Coronado and his men in a place called Coronado Heights. I was so excited to see a real castle where a band of soldiers had lived with the famous explorer.

We drove up the winding hill enjoying the Kansas terrain and the amazing views. Soon the castle appeared and I was barely able to contain myself. I was the first out of the car and ran into the huge structure alone. I stopped short surprised by the austerity of the place. I had expected to see old furniture and cooking pots in the fireplace. There was none of that. I couldn't understand how anyone could have lived in a huge cold room with no carpets on the floor. I was puzzled by the austerity of the room. Something felt off but I had no idea what it was beyond the barren floors and walls.

A few years ago I looked up the site's history on the internet and discovered that it had never been Coronado's castle at all. That added to my original childhood disappointment finding that it had been built by public works.

Through the years I have always been fearful of huge building that stand alone with an absence of vegetation. It always brings to mind the memory of the castle on the hill.
I asked myself why is it I continue to feel a sense of the ominous when I see a building like that. I looked up the pictures of Coronado Heights, Kansas again only to find that the history includes claims of haunting. I think that something unwanted and not of this world approached me that day in the fifties and has remained with me over the years. Whatever it was I don't know, but something touched me; something cold and brutal.