The Haunted Observation Post Rock in War Torn Afghanistan

Strange lights and sounds have been reported on from the war ridden Observation Post Rock. Remains of Russians, Taliban and perhaps even older groups of soldiers have been found in the ground that perhaps still are haunting the place.

In the Helmand Province in Afghanistan there are more than the living that patrol the observation point as paranormal sightings have been seen around these parts for a long time at this place called The Observation Post Rock that the American Marines took use as a base and a observation spot. What is it about this particular observation post that makes the ghost linger?

Before being taken over by the American troops, The Observation Post Rock or O.P Rock was a Taliban controlled fort, almost falling to pieces. The Americans also dropped a 900 kg bomb on the place before taking over the place. Situated only a few hundred meters south east of Patrol Base Hassan Abad, The Rock is a desolate place.

Read More: Another place haunted in the desert by war is The Ghost of Khar Khot, The Black City in the Gobi Desert.

It was at the hands of NATO since it was captured from the Taliban in 2008 and used as a military base for soldiers stationed there. Although today, The Observation Post Rock has fallen into the hands of the Taliban once again when they took control of Afghanistan in 2021.

Who are the Taliban?

A big part of the supposed hauntings is said to be from rebel forces like the Taliban who used to control the Rock, and are today the ones using it as an observation post. The Taliban is a group of islamic fundamentalist and pashtun nationalist and a militant political movement in Afghanistan. It ruled the country from 1996 to 2001 after the Afghan Civil War (1992-1996), before being overthrown following the United States invasion.

They are deemed by most countries as a terrorist group with little regard to human rights, especially women’s right to both education and autonomy of their own lives. They enforced strict Sharia laws.

In 2021 when the US troops left Afghanistan, they came back into power again after only a few months, and by August they controlled every major city, enforcing many of the same laws they used to have last time they were in power.

The Dead Bodies of Soldiers from Ancient Wars

According to the locals living in the area, The Observation Post Rock was a place where they claim rebel fighters were buried alive during a missile strike when the Americans started bombing the place to fight the Taliban. And when the American Marines that were clearing out the place to use it as a base for the US in the early 2000s, they found more than one body, buried in a shallow trenches.

The US troops reburied the dead they found and turned the observation rock into a base for operation. But the horrifying things didn’t stop there as the soldiers working there noticed they were not alone.

Read more: Interested in haunted military bases? How about checking out Conn Barracks Ghosts of Nazi Soldiers and Bloody Nurses or The Haunted Babenhausen Kaserne.

When the Americans dug into the place they found human remains in the collapsed cave system that used to be under it. But there were not only victims of the war they were currently fighting as some of the bones were from previous wars, even ancient and thought to be hundreds of years old.

The Helmand Province is one of 34 provinces in Afghanistan and the largest in area and also said to be one of the most conservative areas. Throughout the 2001-2021 war in Afghanistan it was often considered at the time to be Afghanistan’s “most dangerous” place and it witnessed some of the heaviest fighting during the war, where at its peak hundreds of civilians were being killed monthly.

The local Afghans in the surrounding Amir Agha villages as well as the soldiers who have been stationed at the base claim that The Observation Post Rock is haunted and cursed, and has been for a long time, even before the wars in modern time.

The Observation Post Rock is not a new fort at all, and has been used for many wars over the years, and new holders keep building on top of what used to be there. The locals claim that the place has been used as a fort of some kind even back to the time of Alexander the Great when he invaded as far back in 330 BC.

Strange Lights and Static Sounds at The Observation Post Rock

Considering the danger to those living in the area and the history, there is no wonder that the place got some haunted rumors about it. But what is going on in this place that makes the hardest of soldier sure something paranormal things are going on?

Soldiers that are stationed at the military outpost are tormented by mysterious sounds and seeing things not belonging to this world. Reports about radios giving off static sounds, sudden temperature changes from hot to cold and a general feeling of uneasiness have left the soldiers with a feeling of being watched.

There are also those who claims to have seen flashes of lights when patrolling the barren landscape in the night at The Observation Post Rock. A trick of the eye perhaps of overstraining in a war ridden zone where you always have to be on guard? Perhaps, but the strange light around the place is something that more than one soldier reported on.

Soviet Remains and Ghosts that Lingers Still

One of the supposedly paranormal things we hear about from The Observation Post Rock is the foul smell filling the observation palace. A rotten smell is also some of the things that have been reported by the soldiers on random parts of the night at The Observation Post Rock, a smell eerily similar to the one of rotten flesh.

Read More: Interested in ghost stories from the battlefield? How about checking out some of our other articles like: Ghost Stories from the Gettysburg Battlefield or The Black Cat of War?

There are also talks about strange sounds coming from the dead of the night, and one of the sounds they have heard are voices of not only the victims of ongoing war, but also something that sounds like Russians are heard in the darkness. Problem is, the Russians left years ago and the only russians left were the dead soldiers from another war in another time.

During the Soviet occupation of the country for many years, there used to be stationed a fair amount of Russian soldiers at The Observation Post Rock as well. And many rumors say that the Russians that used to be stationed at this place ended up being executed by the Mujahidin, the guerrilla-type militant groups led by the Islamist Afghan fighters in the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979-1989.

Could the ghosts of these Russian soldiers be the one being heard in their native tongue, haunting the The Observation Post Rock, even to this day?

The Observation Post Rock Today

If the legends from the locals are correct, the The Observation Post Rock has been used as some sort of fortress and place of war since the time of Alexander the Great, living over 2000 years ago. Sadly, it looks like the place will be used for war for a long time still and the victim of the many wars seems to be piling up.

Read Also: So many stories about fallen soldiers coming back as ghosts exists. How about reading about Yeongdeok Haunted House or The Red Man haunting the Jardin Tuileries in Paris.

What the fate of the observation post now, is more of a bigger question. The U.S army pulled out in 2021, and the Taliban quickly regained territory over the whole province again during their weeks of fighting and heavy bombing across the whole Province. Perhaps in a few years time we will hear the ghost stories of soldiers being haunted by war again?