09/04/2026
Have You Been Here? Do You Think Camp Claiborne Has Paranormal Activity?
While Camp Claiborne doesn’t have an officially documented haunting, it has long been considered an eerie and mysterious location, with numerous rumors of paranormal activity shared by locals, visitors, and urban explorers.
Deep in the woods, surrounded by the overgrown remains of the former military installation, some visitors describe an unsettling atmosphere and even the feeling of being watched as they explore the old bunker foundations and other remnants of the camp.
But the history of Camp Claiborne is just as fascinating as the paranormal stories surrounding it.
Camp Claiborne was a massive World War II U.S. Army training facility built in late 1940 near Forest Hill in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. From 1940 through 1946, more than 500,000 men passed through the camp for basic training, artillery practice, and specialized military training.
The camp was home to the 101st Airborne Division and became the birthplace of the all-Black 761st Tank Battalion, famously known as the “Black Panthers.” During the later years of World War II, Camp Claiborne also served as a German prisoner-of-war camp.
In 1946, the Army deactivated Camp Claiborne and returned the land to the federal government. The former military grounds were eventually incorporated back into Kisatchie National Forest, where remnants of the camp can still be found today.
Today, nature has reclaimed much of the area, but the history remains.
And for those who believe in the paranormal, the question remains:
Are those strange feelings simply the atmosphere of an abandoned military site… or could something from Camp Claiborne’s past still be there?