If you follow my Pretend Cajun blog you know that one of our favorite adventures as a family was actually a bit by accident.  As many times as I’ve driven across Louisiana in my lifetime, it would often escape me that I was in the middle of Kisatchie National Forest.  I wonder how many natives actually take it for granted even as they use the trails and lakes and such?

Sometimes beauty becomes so every day that you forget to see it and often that’s what Kisatchie felt like to me… it was just there.  It was part of my world.

But then during the pandemic I was looking for somewhere to explore.  I, like many, had pent up energy and wanted to go somewhere… anywhere!  Hiking.  I wanted to go hiking.  So, I got on google. Most of the places we would normally go to walk and/or take pictures were closed at that time.  But then I saw a listing on google for Camp Claiborne.  How had I never seen this before?  How had I lived in Louisiana all my life and NEVER seen this?

For an outing like this, I almost always ask my husband or son to come with me.  I tend to not pay attention when I’m out shooting pictures.  So having someone to be with me to make sure I don’t step on anything nefarious or trip on a tree root is a good idea.  And generally I just feel safer when I’m not alone… less likely I’ll get lost too!

I honestly didn’t know much that first trip other than where it was located and that it used to be a military base.  My husband and son are both history buffs so convincing them to tag along was easy but my husband was working so off I went with a few supplies, my camera and my teenage son. 

This is what I discovered… the camp was a US Army military camp during World War II and is located just north of Forest Hill, LA.  The birthplace of the 82^nd Airborne and 101^st Airborne divisions, you can actually stand in the place where Sgt. York gave his speech to the 82^nd Infantry on May 7, 1942.   Even though the camp was deactivated in 1945, many of the base roads are still generally accessible and available to explore. 

The first thing I noticed as I crossed the threshold into the area was the energy.  It was said that as many as 600,000 soldiers, including German POWs, were there at one time or another.  So, to say I was literally buzzing is an understatement.

At the time of our first visit, I was still very early in my intuitive development, so actually tapping into the energy was not something I was prepared to do.  I’m not sure I was even capable of it.

There were a 2-3 different sites I wanted to explore for pictures so we wandered a bit to see what we could find.  The first one we found was an old house that to this day I am uncertain of its purpose.  All I know was, I literally started vibrating as I got closer to it.  I managed to take the pictures I wanted but we both felt the energy so strongly that we left.

The next site I wanted was proving harder to find and more than once we headed down a road we decided to give up on part way due to the energy it gave off.  Once, my son, turned to me and said “Mom, we need to go.”  His face and tone in his voice made me immediately back up!  We did a fair amount of exploring and hiking and it was a great time, but somehow I just wasn’t satisfied.  I wanted to find those other landmarks. 

A couple of weeks later we returned with my husband and a better map to try again and I was amazed by how much things had changed in such a short period of time.  The seasons pay a large part in the undergrowth in the forest so things can look very different from one time to the next.  We were able to find a couple of the other sites I was looking for to get my pictures, but the energy was still difficult to navigate for me.  It also truly struck me then how much the forest was retaking the land.  Buildings were falling from lack of upkeep and the forest was growing around them and through them.   The power of nature was never more evident than when you would see a tree literally wrapping itself around a piece of a concrete building that was left behind. 

The energy, for the most part, was peaceful.  Nature has a way of allowing you to feel the presence of God and creator if you allow it.  Letting yourself ground into the Earths energy is absolutely a cleansing experience.  But as much as I loved the peace and beauty, there was often a sense of negativity around.  Not just from the energy that remained from the camp but of the people who were choosing to abuse the area.  Several areas had evidence of someone living there with trash left behind and the buildings covered in graffiti.  It was heartbreaking to see people leaving such negative marks on the land. 

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to try reading the energy.  I’ve actually been working with energy build ups that I have in my body from time to time, I am much further in my development and the truth is, I wanted to test myself.  I wanted to see if I could connect in any way to any of the thousands of young men who had spent time at the camp.

The house that I had a love/hate relationship with was just as energetic as before.  I had to actually stop on the trail and get my energy under control.  It was immediate and strong and at first glance, negative.  What I finally zeroed in on was sad and heavy.  A young man was stuck there.  He felt stuck.  He had been abused while there.  He had died there.  When I told him he could move on, he actually said he wasn’t sure he wanted to.  The forest was peaceful for him.  I assured him that the people who did this were long gone and he could move on and there was no one he needed to protect anymore.  The interesting thing was, a tree had fallen on the building since our last trip.  And one of the first things I saw when I tapped in was his face melding into a tree as if he was becoming one with the forest.  How fitting that a tree was now starting to take over the building he had felt trapped in for so many years.

We also decided to visit the parade area where Sgt. York famously gave his speech. That area was full of energy as well but oddly, it didn’t feel as overwhelming.  I had 3 different men come through right away that I have been doing research on to try and find their names and maybe some information about them but it has proven more difficult than I thought.  There was an emotion that I felt across the board, however, and that was anxiety and worry.  They felt homesick and a certain amount of fear for what was ahead.  But there was also what I can only describe as bravado.  They needed to appear tough in front of their peers, which is most definitely a sign of that generation, but I think it also was a way to survive what they were doing.  They felt it was their duty to fight and to stop atrocities happening in Europe and to prevent it from making to the US.  It was truly fascinating to feel so many emotions that I’m sure were difficult to show at that time, yet I truly believe most all the young men felt it.  I suspect had I stayed for a longer period of time there could have been a somewhat endless supply of young men to connect with.

Lastly, we went to the area where the POWs were held.  I was once again a bit shocked by what I felt.  A couple of men came through but really it was just an overall feeling I can only describe as melancholy.  I’m not sure that the US men wanted these POWs to be here anymore than the Germans wanted to be.  It was a part of war and it’s as if they all knew this. Not to say there weren’t some who took their anger out on prisoners but it seemed that it was all pretty benign.  They were all doing a job, or playing their part in a conflict that, at the end of day, was beyond their control.  Both sides caught up in what had to happen at the time.  

A couple of years ago, I’m not sure I could have interpreted these emotions or calmed the energy enough to read it.  My most prominent sense when I’m reading is feeling emotions.  Feeling all the things someone else felt can be difficult at times.  It can be overwhelming and I have to separate it from my own emotions and then process what mine, what’s not, and what it means.  I love that I am getting stronger and am able to do this.  In this instance, it gave me some insight and maybe even some peace about a time in history that is so important.  I had family that actually served in WWII and I was always curious about their time there but it’s not something they liked to talk about much. 

The very real human emotions of fear and anxiety, coupled with the sense that a duty must be fulfilled made so much sense.  And I found myself reflecting on how this is true in some way for each generation, just in our own unique circumstances.  It also made me a little sad.  There is so much division in the world today.  Wars have brought division but they have also united countries and nations to eradicate an evil.  I wonder if we can ever put aside our differences and recognize our commonalities be united for a common goal of good again.  I certainly hope so. 

In the meantime, I will continue to research the young men I connected with and see where that part of this journey takes me.  And I will continue my journey of teaching and healing.

If you are interested in the “travel” version of this story, visit my sister site here, PretendCajun.com.