Roy McCoy roy@robconews.com Robertson County News HEARNE — Camp Hearne’s most talked about tradition is back. The WWII historic site will host its annual Ghost Walk on Saturday, December 13, 2025, inviting visitors to gather at the old barracks at dusk, which is 5:45 p.m., for an evening that blends history, mystery, and one of the camp’s most unsettling true stories. Camp Hearne served as a prisoner of war camp from 1942 to 1946 and housed nearly five thousand German prisoners during its peak. Much of daily life inside the camp was surprisingly routine, with prisoners gardening, building furniture, staging theater productions, and even publishing their own newspapers. Tension was always present, especially when fiercely loyal Nazi prisoners targeted those they believed did not show enough support for the Reich. One of those conflicts turned deadly in December 1943 when Hugo Krauss, a German prisoner accused of disloyalty, was beaten to death by other inmates. The killing shocked the camp and led to a federal investigation that revealed the power struggles happening inside prisoner of war camps across the country. The Ghost Walk guides visitors to the locations connected to that night. The event is not designed to frighten visitors. It is instead an opportunity to walk the grounds in the quiet of early evening and hear the story in the very place where it unfolded. Guides also share details about daily life in Camp Hearne, which once included workshops, makeshift theaters, sports leagues, and some of the most organized prisoner activities of any World War II camp in Texas. Admission is free, and many participants bring jackets and flashlights for the relaxed evening walk. For many local families, it has become a yearly way to reconnect with a part of Hearne’s past that still captures attention more than eighty years later. The Camp Hearne World War II Exhibit will also be open for anyone who wants to learn more about the camp before or after the tour.