The hauntings associated with Fort MacArthur are often a conflation of two distinct phenomena: the site's known history as a WWI army post and a separate, more infamous event called the "San Pedro Haunting," which occurred at a private residence in San Pedro, not Fort MacArthur itself. Stories at the fort describe ghostly soldiers, likely from accidents during its active military years. In contrast, the San Pedro Haunting involved a woman and her children being terrorized by what were described as flying objects and apparitions. The haunting at Fort MacArthur is generally attributed to the ghosts of soldiers who died in accidents during the fort's operational years as a WWI army installation. Some claims suggest a connection to the Battle of Los Angeles in 1942, involving unidentified aerial phenomena (UFOs), where Fort MacArthur was a key site.