U.S. Helium Plant No.1: Warehouse #9
Facility History
Built in 1918, U.S. Helium Plant, No. 1 was the first Helium plant built in the United States. It was built by the U.S. Military for the purpose of filling dirigible air ships in World War I.
The process used at the facility at the time was brand new and top secret. Because the area is not Helium rich, instead of extracting straight Helium from the ground, the facility was designed to pull Hydrogen. Then through an experimental process, for the time, Hydrogen would then be converted into Helium by a succession of nuclear reactions that change four protons into a helium nucleus, two positrons, and two neutrinos. This process would later become the foundation for nuclear energy and weapons.
The process was dangerous and expensive. It cost $2.1 million tax dollars to build the facility with the proper equipment needed for the operations. Since its purpose and location had to remain top secret, the community was lied to about what it was for. The cover story given to the local papers was that it was a chemical plant being operated by Lone Star Gas.
When 1921 rolled around, the facility was ready to fuel its first airship. Realizing that there would be no way to hide filling up a zeppelin from the public eye, the government needed to come clean to the community about the purpose of the facility. While doing this, the military used an additional $3.4 million to add new facilities and make it a fully operational base.
In 1922, during the additional construction, one of the pumps exploded and caught some of the surrounding buildings on fire. The explosion caused several injuries and two immediate fatalities. Four more would die later in a civilian hospital from severe burns. Documents suggest they might have had better chances of survival if the base had an on-site infirmary. As a result, the infirmary was added to the construction plans and was built as soon as the pump machinery and buildings were repaired. The building now known as number 9 is part of that infirmary. Building 9 housed several exam rooms, offices, and patient wards. It is connected by a bridge to building number 7 which also housed on site medical facilities.
At the end of 1929, Helium production moved to Amarillo. The government figured out a cheaper and safer way of extracting Helium, and ultimately abandoned the Fort Worth operations. The base was then only used as a housing and officing facility for local military operations. In 1941, Carswell AFB was installed, and the base was no longer needed for any military related operations. No longer having a need to run the facility anymore, the complex was transitioned over to the FAA.
After the FAA moved to their new facilities in 1990, the buildings sat abandoned for several years as restricted government property. In 1997, the facility was declared surplus military property and was sold for public/private use. It sat vacant for many years without an owner and was almost scheduled to be demolished. Locals wanting it preserved started the process of registering it as a historical landmark. But before that process was completed it was sold to a private party for commercial use.
As private property, the buildings have all been sub-leased and used for various operations. The main facilities belong to a company that uses the area as a wrecking yard and many of the buildings as warehouse storage. Auxiliary buildings have been used for S.W.A.T. team drills, Paintball and Airsoft tournaments, and Hangman’s House of Horrors.
Eye-Witness Reports (Building #9)
1999: Urban Explorers, filming a video in the building, made their way up to the second floor. When they got to the top of the stairs they got scared and fled the property when they saw a tall man in a white “lab coat” in the second-floor hallway walking around. The figure reportedly walked through a wall. Nobody matching their description worked on the premises.
2000: When the building was operated as an Airsoft tournament facility, one player had an experience on the second floor in the “big room”. While he was hiding in one of the rooms upstairs, waiting to ambush someone, he felt a hand grab him from behind and pull him backwards onto the ground. He thought it was one of his teammates, but when he turned around, there was nobody else in the room.
2000: In the “add-on” building some teenagers who brought a Ouija Board were playing with it out in the add on building. While they were playing the game, they saw a flickering light from one of the opposite doors that looked like a flashlight. A second later they heard a man shouting at them and saw someone in a uniform coming after them. They ran out of the building and to the fence to escape. When they turned around, there was nobody there. There is no uniformed security that works on the premises.
2001: A police report from shows there was a report of screams coming from this building that sounded like a woman being attacked in the building. When the police arrived, they searched the entire property and there were no signs of anything unusual. The witnesses who reported the screaming were still at the property when they arrived. They did not see anyone enter or exit the property before the police got there. They were too afraid to enter, but stayed until authorities arrived to investigate.
2001 – Present: There have been several eye-witness reports of blue and green lights on the third floor that can be seen from the street. There are several times it was reported to the police, and they have investigated for trespassers, but nobody was ever found. The running theory is that headlights are reflecting of the windows on the third floor. But several witnesses say that they have seen the lights even when there is no traffic.
There are several volunteers at Hangman’s who have stories about personal experiences in the building. It is sometimes used as storage and for the Valentine’s dinner/tour. Many of the volunteers do not like coming into the building alone, or volunteering for the valentine’s event, because they feel like they are being watched and followed.
Some of the volunteers have reported seeing a dark shadow at the end of the first-floor hallway when they come in the main door, that walks toward the piano room hallway. Some of them have told us that they have been touched, scratched, or heard voices when nobody else was in the building. Other volunteers started doing their own investigations after our team have captured their own mixed results.
Burning, itching, and Scratches are common complaints in the downstairs rooms by volunteers and guests. Sometimes on tours people have said they thought an extra group member was following behind them up the stairs only to find they were the last one in the group.
In addition to the happenings in Warehouse 9, other facilities on site have had their share of strange activity.
NTPI Documented Events (Building #9)
NTPI been running private investigations and tours in building #9 since 2017. In that time, we have experienced and documented several events on audio/video that did not have easily repeatable explanations.
In the main “dining” room, Eli and Ashton heard loud banging noises that were coming from the “Piano Room.” The loud banging can be heard on the video that we were live streaming at the time. The room is also under surveillance with a CCTV camera and the sounds can be heard on the room audio as well. However, there is nobody in the room and there is no visible movement happening anywhere on the video until we enter to investigate.
We captured a very loud EVP in the “Kitchen” area. Eli and Ashton were the only people in the building at the time when Eli heard and felt something speak in his left ear. The voice was captured on the video. Nobody in the room was talking at the time of the recording.
In the main hallways of floors 1 and 2, we have set up rows of motion detection lights. On both floors they have gone off in sequence when there was nobody on those floors, as if something was walking through. These events have been documented with CCTV video.
On the third floor, a trail camera that was secured to the wall moved on its own snapping several pictures in the process. With the way the camera was secured we cannot explain how it happened.
On the third floor, an NTPI photographer saw a figure standing in the corner of an area where she was taking forensic photographs a mere four feet from her. It scared her so bad she called for help and had to leave the area.
On the second floor, laughing and whispering can be heard coming from the bathroom area where nobody was located. The audio was recorded with a directional camera mic. The captured audio coincides with feelings of dread and being followed by the person holding the camera.
While on the second floor, loud rapid bangs can be heard coming from the third floor. The event was captured on video. The team immediately went upstairs to debunk and found the source of the noise, but no explanation for why or how the noise was happening.
In the add-on room, NTPI and a partner team have captured several voices on audio recorders and video. Many of these EVPs have been accompanied by strange EMF spikes, and external sounds in the environment that could not be explained. On one occasion a strange light was spotted flickering above our heads before it disappeared.
During a tour of the “machine room” we documented EMF spikes that seemed to respond directly to questions that were being asked about the building. When one of the people in the tour group said aloud “This is Bull S@#t.” A large bolt was tossed across the room and hit a pipe near one of the other tour participants. There were eight witnesses to the event.
While running an EVP session with a tour group in the “Zombies Room” the session was interrupted by a large metallic dragging sound. Two of the tour members who were standing in the doorway at the time ran inside because they saw a chair move on its own in the “Add-On” room. One immediately left the tour.
In the “End Room” a couple of guests, who wanted to take pictures, reached for a chair to sit that was being recorded and monitored with a laser grid. As the guy grabbed for the chair it slid away from him about 2 feet. The event was captured on a guest’s video. Additionally, during the same tour, a woman who had been drinking stood in the utility closet of the same room and shouted obscenities at any present entities. She immediately felt a burning sensation on her right arm and when she came out of the closet had a bloody scratch on her arm.
In several parts of the building, NTPI has captured the sounds of loud banging and machine noises when nobody else was on the property (like the third floor banging sounds). Also, while packing up or taking breaks we have captured the sounds of someone running up and down the staircases. We have also had instances of hearing what we thought was a team member moving around in an adjacent room to find out that they were in a completely different area of the building.
Audio / Video Evidence