Fort Ontario was originally built in 1755 during the French and Indian War. It’s original name and therefore its name at this time was Fort of the Six Nations, until it was destroyed in 1756 by the French. It was then rebuilt by the British in 1759 and went through many more battles and it was also destroyed and rebuilt a number of times as well. The last time it was used before the 20th century was during the American Civil War where it was rebuilt in fear of British help from Canada. The 2nd Brigade of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division then used it as a home base until its deactivation in 1940. Then the fort was used for what it’s most popular for today, helping refugees. The fort held a little under 1,000 jewish refugees during world war II and was then called the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Center. It held the refugees from 1944 to 1946 until the war was over and it was proven to be safe for the refugees. This history is where the stories of hauntings has come from. There are reports of multiple ghost sightings at the Fort and at its cemetery. Some of these sightings are things like the sounds of children giggling or crying or even just civil war soldiers seen walking around. There are also stories like if someone were to walk over George Fikes cemetery they would be haunted for the rest of their lives, but if you jump over it you can choose someone to be haunted for the rest of their lives. There’s also said to be a headless civil war soldier who can be seen roaming the tracks that are between the fort and the lake.