Fort Gaines

Fort Gaines has stood on Dauphin Island since 1821 and played a central role in the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay. It saw use again in the Spanish-American War and both World Wars.

Visitors report soldiers in period military dress on the grounds and on the bunkers outside the walls, screaming sounds, cold spots, and the laughter of children in one tunnel. The Dauphin Island Museum's director has called the fort doubly haunted, by soldiers and by women from soldiers' families, and tells of a six-foot, red-haired chief named Double Head who walks the beach at night leaving glowing footprints in the sand; white lights are also said to rise from the island's shell mounds on certain dates.