Dead Men Tell No Tales

Typical fall from a castle wall

Hello my name is Nicholas Fitzke and I am the ProRanger currently stationed at San Juan National Historic Site.

The majority of contacts I've made this summer have been telling visitors to descend from the walls. Walking on the walls is not only dangerous but also damages the resource.

There is also a hefty fine we can give for such actions but it doesn't usually come to that. 

You may think you are in Disneyland because the castles are so magical but I can assure you that you aren't. Although there is one Pirates of the Caribbean saying that does apply in these situations, "Dead Men Tell No Tales". So make smart decisions out there.

The places I find this happening the most are in the cannon embrasures. These large openings on the castle walls were the holes cannons and soldiers would fire through.

The view through a cannon embrasure

But people love these things. They assume that because they have something to hold onto that they will be safe walking out the edge of the wall. The problem is that these embrasures are slanted downwards making them death traps in the right scenario.

Long range surveillance of a family climbing into an embrasure

These contacts are good practice for my "verbal judo" and public speaking skills. It also allows me to test out some of the surveillance techniques I have learned at the site.

Just two weeks until my last day working here in Old San Juan. Summer went by fast.