Fort Matanzas is a National Monument located outside of St. Augustine. This island has a long and
varied history. In 1564 Spanish troops massacred 127 shipwrecked Frenchman who had been sent to attack St Augustine.
This is how the fort and surrounding area received its name as Matanza in Spanish means massacre.
In 1569 it was recognized that the Matanza area, needed some kind of defense or early warning system as
it was the "back door" to St. Augustine. Then the fort consisted of a wooden watch tower and a thatched hut surrounded
by a wooden fence. Watching and warning St. Augustine of any sighted ships was the primary objective since the fort
had no armament.
The fort as we know it today was built in 1740's on the small island, 2 acres, surrounded by water
and marshland. The main purpose of this fort was to prevent enemy vessels from passing through the inlet, and therefore
protecting St. Augustine.
The fort usually had a compement of 7-10 enlisted men and one officer. The lower, first floor room
were the enlisted mens quarters and the 2nd top floor housed the one officer on duty. The top or observation
deck was the most difficult to reach.There was a small hole in the rock with a straight ladder to climb up. This deck
provided an excellent view of the inlet to the south.
The fort history shows that in the 80 years it was operational they only needed to fire the cannon twice
at enemy troops and that no one died there during this time.
The United States took possesion of Fort Matanza in 1821 but never occupied the fort. In 1916
the St. Augustine Historical Society started the initial repairs and stabilization of the fort.
We conducted a pre investigation of the Fort on June 9, 2007. Investigators present were Sherri, Mike,
Shereen, Jenny, Lynn, Mac and Erin.
During our investigation we did not receive any deviations from our baseline EMF or temperature readings.
We also did not obtain any photographic evidence of paranormal activity during this investigation.
