Murder, Mysteries, Mishaps, Maladies And Mayhem At Fort Ontario, 1755 – Yesterday

Private James King of Fort Ontario and his wife Rose Anne Welch represented here by Michael Kelso and Christina Goettel. Photo from Fort Ontario.

OSWEGO – Friends of Fort Ontario-funded Oswego County AmeriCorps member Jonathan Kobelia presents a free public walking tour on the Fort Ontario Military Reservation National Register District. The 1-1/2 hour tour begins at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 30 with a short PowerPoint presentation inside the old stone fort in the Enlisted Men’s Barracks.

The event, “Murder, Mysteries, Mishaps, Maladies and Mayhem at Fort Ontario 1755-Yesterday,” features various locations on the historic site where unusual, bizarre, disturbing, gruesome, grisly – sometimes amusing, and often sad – incidents happened.

Tour highlights will include stories about a conspiracy to blow up the fort, friendly-fire incidents, accidents, crimes, murders, shootings, and an attempted murder stemming from a “fragrant” hog’s head boiling on barracks kitchen stove.

The site of five battles and four forts, a U.S. Army Infantry Training Post, a U.S. Army General Hospital, a New York National Guard Training Camp, a Special Unit Training Post, an Emergency Refugee Shelter, and a Veterans Housing Project, Fort Ontario has also been the scene of many unpleasant and unusual incidents over its 267-year history.

Participants are asked to wear shoes appropriate for walking on uneven ground and to dress for the weather – it is always cooler and windier by the lake. Fort Ontario State Historic Site is located at 1 E. Fourth St., Oswego, NY.

For more information on “Murder, Mysteries, Mishaps, Maladies and Mayhem at Fort Ontario, 1755-Yesterday” contact AmeriCorps member Jonathan Kobelia at 315-343-4711 or at [email protected].

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