Ken Hudnall fell in love with the desert southwest, in particular El Paso, Texas for both it's agreeable  climate and it's rich history. Over the years he as written 3 books alone on El Paso's history and it's ghosts.

A fourth one is currently being written. Below is an excerpt from the book Spirits Of The Border Vol. II : The History and Mystery of Fort Bliss; which he co-wrote with author Connie Wang.

(Editor's Note: The following excerpt is published here with exclusive permission from Ken Hudnall. Copyright 2003. All Rights Reserved Robert K. Hudnall)

BUILDING 54

Building 54 was built in 1919 and contains 8,897 square feet. Heidi Crabtree has written that this building was originally designated as *Building 401. The  L Shaped building, with a basement, is constructed with a concrete foundation, brick walls and a medium-pitched, kicked eave hipped roof. There is a large brick four-story tower located at the building's southwest corner that is used to dry the fire hoses. the tower has a low-pitched hipped roof and louvered opening on all four sides to provide ventilation. The building contains center-pivot steel windows and double-hung wood sash windows. the center pivot windows located on the second floor sleeping area are equipped with projecting wedge-shaped screens that allow sashes to operate. The building contains three segmented overhead doors on the west elevation and two segmented overhead doors on the east elevation **. Today, this building  serves the same purpose as when it was built, so many years ago, it is the home of the Fort Bliss Fire Department.

According to some of the of the stories told about this building, reflections of an individual can be seen in a particular mirror, when no one has been standing in front of the mirror. More than one individual has said that  he can sit in the dispatcher's office and watch someone roaming around at night. However, when attempts are made to identify the individual seen roaming around, no one can be found.

As with most firehouses, there are beds upstairs for the firemen on duty. In this area apparitions have been seen by more than one fireman comping up to catch a quick nap and the security cameras have also caught glimpses of figures in this area, when all of the firemen have been elsewhere. On fireman who did doze off reported that he woke up to see someone standing over the bed. During the Great Ghost Fort Bliss Ghost Tour hosted by Colonel (P) Lennox, these and other stories about this particular building were told to us, though unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter the firehouse. However, we did see some lights that seemed not to have a rational explanation.

Sources

* Crabtree, Heidi Veronica,  An Overview of the Histories and Myths of Fort Bliss' Oldest Buildings. A Crabtree Hollow Book, 2000

**National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the Fort Bliss Main Post Historic District, 2nd Edition, November 2000.

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