Beyond The Shadows

Beyond The Shadows

A suspenseful mystery short story by Rod Jones Artist-Writer

 

It was like trying to find a black cat in a coal mine. Before me was a steep awkward looking ladder with handrails. 12 flights of stairs and now facing a ladder, which I assumed would take me to the tiptop of the abandoned building. I had seen this concrete warehouse building that sat on the end of a narrow finger of land when looking for interesting things to photograph. The formidable structure was the first significant building that Mariners saw when they entered the mouth of the San Pedro harbor. Compared to anything else in the vicinity it was a colossus of a structure. A proud landmark of a bygone era.

My fascination for old buildings, many of them historical, but all too often they have become disregarded derelicts. Started when I learned the phrase "Urban Archaeology." The building before me was the perfect candidate to explore and perhaps discover the past when it was totally operational. I could have never imagined what this building was about to reveal to me and how frightening it was to become. Often walkers that came anywhere near this building were indifferent, disinterested, and very rarely even looking up. I felt there was something magical about this building and I desperately needed to explore it, not knowing what this formidable structure was going to put me through.

My adventure began by making sure no watchman could be seen in on or around the building. Walking around the perimeter was no short jaunt. The construction was poured concrete, made to last centuries no doubt, providing it did not slip off its pedestal finger of land and slide into a watery grave. The base of the building had numerous loading docks on two sides. Above those were various access openings suggesting that cargo could be loaded from cranes, trains, and other ships. In its day it must've been a very active building. The nautical flagpoles on top were designed to signal ships coming into the harbor. The ocean side of the building had a welcome to Long Beach sign that you can see from quite a distance before you even entered the harbor.

I had a mission to get into this building and explore it. On one of the far corners of the loading dock was a severely weather worn door. I thought I would give it a gentle push. Apparently that was enough it almost fell on top of me, but it did afford an opening so I could enter the building. The first floor was probably a match for all floors above. Much of the interior had been stripped away; there were no lights anywhere. The light coming in from all the cracks and misalignments of the loading doors allowed dust filled beams of light rays to zigzag across the interior. The first floor was not all that interesting. I managed to locate an interior stairwell. The outside of the building had fire escape stairs, but I wasn't about to attempt those, especially because I was reasonably certain I was trespassing.

The stairs going up were not all that steep, but each floor had in my estimation 35-foot ceilings. I knew I was in for a serious climb if I wanted to go all the way to the top. Each floor was almost a duplicate of the preceding one. Empty, dusty and lit by the cracks of the various loading doors and fire exits. I did not bother to explore any of the floors I was passing. My goal was to reach the top. If nothing else, the view from up there should be incredible. I reached the 12th floor and there did not appear to be an opening anywhere to go any higher, but I knew I wasn't at the top.

I walked around the perimeter to see if I could find a ladder, and by luck there was one hidden behind some wooden pallets. It did not take much to move them away, and I proceeded to climb that ladder, which was about 35-feet of a vertical climb. I thought to myself, “A: I'm glad I'm not afraid of heights… and B: Should I really be trying to get up there.” Fortunately I did not bring a camera case, I only had my camera hanging over my shoulder to contend with. Although, periodically, it would bang into me and then bang into the ladder, no worse than its usual wear. When I reached the top of the ladder there was a trapdoor of sorts which I easily pushed open. All of a sudden there was a lot of daylight coming in a bank of windows on one side of the room.

Managing to get up the last rungs of the ladder, I was at last standing in the shadowy room. I still wasn't at the top of the building, but there was a steep awkward looking stair like ladder with handrails that went up into the darkness. At this point I was tired and terribly thirsty. Foolishly I brought no water with me. I went over to the bank of windows to look out at what I expected to be an incredible view. There wasn't anything like that. All I could see was a misty fog. I thought maybe there were clouds outside, but I knew there were none. It was a bright sunny day. The light was filtered and somewhat pulsating. It was casting interesting shadows across the floor throughout that small room. After resting I looked at that last passage upward, which I assumed was going to get me to the top of the building and outside.

Reasonably well-rested, but still terribly thirsty, it was time to go up to be what I hoped was the last ladder. All I could see was darkness. It was as dark as anything I've ever seen before. I imagined what it would be like in a coal mine. From all the climbing I had done earlier, my legs were a little shaky. I was glad there were handrails to hang on to. I was becoming apprehensive and climbing a ladder into pure darkness. I had no flashlight, but I did remember I could use the light on my mobile phone when I got closer to the top. It looked like there were only a few steps remaining. When I reached the last few steps, my head and upper body were now in what I assumed was a room. It was pitch black dark. I cannot feel or see anything around me.

I had a very strange feeling inside. I started to hear very faint voices. It sounded like men talking. But I also heard moaning as if someone was in pain. Even though it was as dark as dark can be in that space, I could tell there was a lot of activity going on. I could hear what appeared to be equipment rolling over a hardwood floor. I could even hear the sound of chains being pulled around. All this commotion and yet the room was perfectly dark, no light could be seen anywhere. From my perch on top of the ladder looking into the blackness of what I guessed was the final floor, I could not see anything but I certainly could hear people talking and lots of movement. How can all of that be happening before me in the darkness?

I needed to see what I could not see but only could hear. I pulled my mobile phone out from my back pocket. The screen was bright and I turned on the flashlight and pointed it into the room. The light fell short within inches of my phone, and all you could see was deep blackness. At this point nothing really made sense, and to be quite honest it was frightening. Before me in the dark was a tremendous amount of activity, yet it could not be seen. By the sounds I was hearing it sounded like stuff was being moved around and large stuff at that. I could hear wheels rolling across the floor. I knew the sound that a Chain Hoist made. I could recognize the sound of a Come Along Winch. All these sounds were coming out of the room from different locations with muffled voices both near and far.

Well this urban archaeology venture of mine is certainly taking a very weird turn. Frighteningly much to hear but nothing to see. I started to think that maybe I should go back down that ladder and leave it well alone. But I had come so far and even though I was very thirsty and very tired I needed to find out what was going on. While I was thinking about a possible retreat, another strange thing happened. I felt like someone brushed against me. In fact, it was stranger than that, it was almost as if I felt something move through my whole body. I could hear a voice, although it was faint, but I could reasonably understand what was being said. It sounded like someone said, "Move that damn crate down from there, could fall and kill somebody."

That comment made me think that there were longshoremen moving everything around, but it certainly cannot be, and certainly not in a pitch black room. Something had to change. I didn't feel like standing on the last rungs of the ladder with the hatch open put me in any real danger. But something was desperately not right here. The sounds continued pretty much the same. Faint voices talking and a lot of stuff being moved around. I knew that I was not at the top of the building. There must be stairs or another ladder leading to the roof. There was no way that I could find it in this darkness. Plus, I was definitely concerned about all that movement. After all, jokingly I said to myself one of those crates could fall on me.

It may be somewhat of an irony, but it looked to me like the darkness was starting to become less and less. I could start to make out faint images. I could also sense that there were people moving around me. Quite frankly, I was hoping nobody would fall on top of me and we both would go down that ladder with the potential of great injuries. I started to be able to see more of what was going on. There were lots of men moving cargo around. Judging from the way they were dressed, and the way they acted and talked, they were from a different time when they were referred to as Stevedores. Absolutely none of this made sense. I did notice that some of the men walking around would fade in and out, never really truly forming into what you would consider a real person.

In the middle of all of this fading in and out of activity, I could see another ladder positioned in the middle of the room with a fence-like corral around it. It didn't take me long to realize that it must be the access to the roof. While I was standing there by the open hatch, some men were moving a very large crate. Although it was very surreal, I could tell it was heading my way, I needed to move and move quickly, so I dashed over to an outside wall. Again, one of the workers moved near me and before I knew it he walked right through me like I was completely invisible, and I guess to them I was invisible. At this point I was starting to question what I was seeing, and what was going on, and began jokingly thinking maybe I fell down one of those ladders, hit my head and I was hallucinating. Because there was no way in hell this could be real. Were they ghosts of men? Why were there so many? Some of them, I could see, had bandages wrapped around their heads, others had their arms in slings. The Stevedore job is a dangerous and grueling occupation, especially during that time period. These men often got hurt and unfortunately killed from accidents associated with moving unmanageable crates in and out of ships especially when it was stormy. 

To me it made sense to head for the ladder in the middle of the room, and take my chances climbing it out of this frightening scene. I had every confidence that it was going to take me to the rooftop. I didn't know what was going to happen when the shaft of light from the rooftop hatch came pouring down into that room with all of these seemingly trapped souls. The people, equipment and the crates were still pulsating in and out. Sometimes they were more defined visually than in other times. I didn't think that if I ran into any piece of cargo I would feel it based on the fact that some of the workers had literally walked through me and for the most part I didn't feel anything except maybe a cold chill throughout my body.

Once across the room, I grabbed a rung on the ladder and started the climb again. It was a good 30-feet. When I reached the top there was a large hatch or trapdoor, fortunately it didn't appear to be locked. It did take some muscle to get it to open, especially from the awkward position of standing and holding on to the ladder. The last thing I wanted to have happen was to fall down onto the floor with all of those wandering longshoremen that appeared to be more ghostlike than human. A final shove and the rooftop hatch opened. The brightness of the daytime sun blinded me. It took a while for my eyes to adjust. I quickly climbed out onto the roof. I walked away from that open hatch. I thought I should go and look back down and see what was going on. Before I could actually reach the opening something very strange started to happen. I could see the men, the workers below,  floating up towards the opening at a rapid pace. Within minutes the first one reached out into the open air and simply evaporated. They appeared to be expressionless. But then again, I believe I saw smiles and expressions of relief as they rapidly floated by me. 

My greatest disappointment as I explored this building was that I stupidly never used my camera to photograph what was going on in that mysterious top floor. If they were ghosts and I told someone about them they surely would have thought me to be crazy. And I guess I was. I certainly did not have the presence of mind to take my camera and photograph what I was seeing. And now all those that I saw on the floor below were flying through the open hatch and evaporating into the sky. Maybe just maybe they will now make their way to heaven where they belong instead of that warehouse purgatory. Mysteries happen all around us every day. You may think that I'm crazy for going into these old empty buildings and perhaps I am. This is one experience you have the option to believe or not believe. I am in no position to argue the point one way or the other. You be the judge if the story is true or false it's up to you.