Leslie Shakespeare patrolled the Wind River Reservation for four years as a Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer and he says not all his encounters were of this world.
Shakespeare said he experienced strange lights, sounds he couldn’t explain and people who weren’t supposed to be there.
He recalled that patrolling the reservation was difficult due to its remoteness but also because he would see people he knew from his childhood at their worst.
He said that his first case was a homicide, and it was an especially horrific event where the person had been bludgeoned to death.
“I got a cold feeling that wasn’t from the temperature,” Shakespeare said. “When you're around death, there is an empty feeling and that was the first time I felt that.”
He said that over the years, he experienced that same feeling from time to time at certain crime scenes. Other times, he said he would see a flash, like a light in his peripheral vision.
“It was like something was there,” Shakespeare said. “It acted as a warning of what kind of situation I was going into.”
Ride Along
His first paranormal experience was at a public-disturbance call. It was an individual who would routinely get arrested for alcohol-related offenses.
“He would try to fight with the officers,” Shakespeare said. “But he had known me since I was a kid and wouldn’t mess with me because of that.”
He arrested the man after he apparently tried to fight another officer. He had shot Shakespeare a wink, letting him know it was all an act, so Shakespeare wasn’t concerned when he put him in the back of the patrol car.
It was then that another officer looked surprised and said he didn’t know that Shakespeare had a ride-along with him in the passenger seat.
Thinking he was joking, Shakespeare laughed it off.
“I started driving, taking that individual to the detention center, and he asked me who the new guy was sitting beside me,” Shakespeare said.
Shakespeare ignored him because the seat was empty.
After they got the detention, another officer approached Shakespeare and asked who had been riding with him.
Shakespeare then discovered all three witnesses had seen the same thing: A younger person sitting in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead. They thought it was a young recruit, but Shakespeare still insisted nobody was there.
When they reviewed the dash cam, and despite the testimony of three different people, no one was pictured on the camera sitting alongside Shakespeare.
“I never got a sense of someone bothering me,” Shakespeare said. “I was never frightened. Whoever it was, they were just along for the ride.”
Footsteps and Laughter
His second encounter occurred at the old Fort Washakie School. It had been built as a boarding school for boys more than 100 years ago and was abandoned for many years.
Shakespeare was working the night shift, and nearly every other night the alarm would go off. Usually, it was other officers who responded, but this time Shakespeare was sent to investigate.
Reports he had read said the latch on the back door was broken and when the wind picked up it triggered the alarm. Despite knowing it was a false alarm, he was still required to make sure nobody was inside vandalizing the old building.
“Another officer and I went in and started checking one part of the building, and then another group of officers came, and they started checking the other part,” Shakespeare said.
They were all in different sections of the building when Shakespeare and his partner heard heavy steps and a giggle. They realized somebody was in the old school with them and figured it was kids who had broken in.
However, despite looking everywhere, they didn’t find anyone.
“We looked at each other and wondered if what we had heard was real,” Shakespeare said. “I didn’t feel like I was in danger, it just felt like somebody was there teasing us.”
They finished clearing the building and reported the rooms were all clear. When their superior officer noticed them exchanging strange looks they confessed what they had heard.
“He told us that our job was to make sure there's nobody in the building vandalizing anything,” Shakespeare said. “Since we didn't see anything or any damages, that was what we were to report.”
Later, Shakespeare learned graves had been found on the property. The kids who had gone there were required to wear uniforms that would include heavy boots.
“That would explain the walking and the sounds we heard,” Shakespeare said.
The school has since been torn down and a new one built.
The Soldier
It was summertime when a black bear was spotted near Fort Washakie. Shoshone and Arapaho Fish & Game was called, and Shakespeare was also sent.
“We went looking, and then we started talking to the person who called it in,” Shakespeare said. “He told me that initially he tried to call over the other officer who was down by the parade grounds, near the World War II memorial, but I told him that there was no other officer on duty.”
The man insisted he had seen another officer, although his clothes were different and the other officer was wearing a coat and a small hat. Shakespeare was insistent that no one that fit that description was there.
He was then distracted. The black bear had been spotted and he had to take care of the situation.
Later that night, Shakespeare was doing security checks and driving around the neighborhood.
“I remember being at the south end of that strip that goes in front of the clinic,” Shakespeare said. “I saw somebody walk in and they fit the description of the man that had been described to me.”
The man walked between the buildings, and when Shakespeare drove up, no one was there.
Shakespeare kept looking for him without any luck. He called another officer and housing security, but no one had seen the person.
Confused, Shakespeare kept asking questions and finally got some answers, although it was not what he expected.
“Some of the people who worked at the agency said that there's an old fort soldier that walks around the agency sometimes,” Shakespeare said. “He walks around as if it might have been his post and always shows up by the parade grounds.”
To Shakespeare, it suddenly made sense. The man he saw was wearing an old uniform with a wool coat and striped pants.
“I definitely saw that person whoever it may have been, and they were walking the ground,” Shakespeare said.
The solider had always been seen walking around Building One, the first building erected at Fort Washakie. In the early 2000s, a fire destroyed much of the building and the roof caved in.
Shakespeare explained that it wasn’t repairable, mostly due to asbestos and lead paint. In 2023, the building was torn down.
“It was kind of weird because when the demolition was going through and the walls were starting to fall down, a big storm just come out of nowhere,” Shakespeare said.
Shakespeare described how the storm swirled around above Building One and, just as quickly, went away as the last wall came down.
“After that, nobody's reported seeing the soldier,” Shakespeare said.
Guiding Light
Shakespeare also said he has seen strange lights.
The time that stood out the most was related to another horrific murder.
“I remember other officers were applying CPR to the stabbing victim and I was securing the situation,” Shakespeare said. “Another person came up and told me that the person who did this went that way.”
It was five in the morning and still dark when Shakespeare went in search of the alleged murderer.
“I remember walking outside, and I remember seeing a light that lit up the blood tracks,” Shakespeare said. “I kept trying to follow the tracks, then they would go cold and I couldn't see any footprints or anything.”
Then, the light would appear as if someone was telling Shakespeare which way to go.
“I decided that I'll just keep going because it grabbed my attention,” Shakespeare said. “I ended up finding that individual who had done the stabbing.”
The man was hiding but Shakespeare said that he felt he was guided straight to him before he could hurt anyone else.
“Someone pulled me to him and I didn't feel like I was in any danger,” Shakespeare said. “It was almost like I had to go that way just to see what was going on.”
When asked later how he had been able to track the man in the dark, Shakespeare said he had followed the trail lights. He also said it was odd because he was able to arrest him without incident.
“I felt like I had someone helping me,” Shakespeare said. “The entire time I was a police officer, I've never really felt afraid and I learned to trust my instincts.
“If something feels wrong, I'm going to trust that too, because it's guided me so far.”
Shakespeare said he cannot explain what exactly protected him so many times over the years, but he is grateful.
His career as a police officer ended after four years. When Shakespeare started there were nearly 30 officers, but over time their numbers dwindled and the hours increased.
After working nearly 60 days with only two days off, Shakespeare knew it was time for a career change. The day his son was born, 12 years ago, he hung up his badge.
Shakespeare continued to work for the BIA, went on to become a tribal liaison, and has held other positions since, always doing something to help his people on the Wind River Reservation.
“My personal mission statement is I don't want to be a product of my environment, but I want my environment to be a product of me,” Shakespeare said.
He said he believes that although he saw the worst of people during his time as an officer, he also saw the good. Sometimes, that good came in the form of a silent soldier on duty or a guiding light.
Contact Jackie Dorothy at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com
