Working the night shift

By Chanuga Rollins

 

Just weeks after 9-11 I got a job as a state security guard in New Jersey, the job gave me a chance to go to school during the day, sleep a few hours, then go to work and do my 11pm to 7am shift. To say that the job was easy is an understatement. I couldn’t believe that it paid almost $30.000 a year for doing pretty much nothing other than study for school, there was one hitch.

The part of the state house where I worked was called the Annex, it was dark, creepy, and definitely haunted. All but one or two emergency lights per floor were shut off on the night shift, we had a small light at the desk but that was pretty much it. On my second night on the job I came in about forty-five minutes early because I had to fill out a bunch of forms, which turned out to just need my signature, it only took ten minutes. So, I figured I’d let the guard that I was relieving go home a little early, instead, he stuck around for a while and told me a little about the Annex.

He told me that in the late 1990s, the Annex was completely renovated and that right away weird things started happening. Up until 9-11 and the renovations, no guards were assigned to the Annex. The first night with a guard in the Annex it was reported that a huge roll of keys was heard clanking in the Annex, elevators going up and down on their own even though they’re not supposed to do that, voices were reported, and so on.  

Since I got the job I’ve heard the keys, I’ve seen shadow people, and the elevators really do go up and down on they’re own, sometimes you could hear footsteps getting on and off, but no one is there.

But what was most jarring happened about a month after started this job. The Capitol Police are in charge of the security guards, they do the hiring and firing, and they are also the ones who check on us and are responsible for our safety.

One night I came on duty just like normal, and the guard I relieved told me that the ghost with the keys was really acting up tonight on his shift, we both just laughed, and he went home. About two hours into my shift a Capitol Police officer came around to check on me. He asked me if everything was quiet, and I said that it was, then he asked if the building was empty, and I once again said that it was.

When I come on duty it’s the 11 to 7 guards responsibility to make sure that the building is empty of all employees. Employees who stay late have been known to die at their desks from time to time, it’s not all that uncommon, so now it’s a rule that all employees must be gone by midnight.

So, this Capitol cop decides to walk through the building I guess to kill some time the night shift could be boring, the Annex has eight floors so a thorough search should take you twenty minutes or so. Our guards know the building much better than the Capitol Police do, I could do it in ten minutes including checking the restrooms.

The officer gets on the elevator and takes it up to the 8^th floor, and I return to my homework. Ten minutes later the elevator goes to the 7^th floor, which is unusual. Other than the restrooms the offices are one big open room it shouldn’t take ten minutes to check. Several minutes later the elevator goes to the 6^th floor, the Capitol cop was on that floor for well over 15 minutes, and I knew something was wrong. I was just getting up to jump on the elevator and go up to the 6^th floor when it started coming down.

When the doors to the elevator opened I’ll never forget the look on that officer's face, it was pure fear. As soon as he walked out of the elevator he asked if I was sure that we were the only ones in the building, absolutely I checked all eight floors myself when I came on duty at 11pm, and at 11 the lights were still on in the building until the cleaning crew is finished. By 11:20 they shut them all off.

With a perplexed and frightened look on his face he told me the following: The minute he stepped off the elevator on the 8^th floor he heard a huge roll of keys, then growling and several voices, next came a hard punch in the back, then kicking, something also knocked his hat off of his head. He said something kept trying to take his gun and at the same time kept slapping him in the face, the scariest part was shining his flashlight around the hallways and not seeing anyone. On the 6^th floor, something actually tackled him, that’s when he had enough and jumped back on the elevator and came back to the lobby.

I had to get the Capitol cop some water he was so shaken up, that before he left my post he asked me to not tell anybody what happened here tonight, it’s a secret I kept for twenty-five years until now.

The end