Halloween—Visits from Beyond

      I love this time of year—pumpkins and cider, ghost stories and creepy movies, costumes and treats. But October 31 also has a mystical and occult significance, which is, in fact, the root from which the secular holiday evolved. That deeper meaning is something I always remember.
      For practitioners of Western Celtic Wicca, there are eight “power points” on the Wheel of the Year, Eight Ritual Occasions that mark important shifts in invisible forces on our planet. October 31, Samhain, is one of those power points. In keeping with ancient Celtic tradition, this is an occasion for giving thanks for all that was reaped during the harvest. It is also the time when the “veil between the worlds” is thin—a potent time for magic and mystical insight, and for connecting with those who have passed to the other side. This is the occasion, Wiccans believe, for celebrating eternality and triumph over death. I know there really is something to that.
      There’s an air of power and imminent mystery at this time of year, a sense that something unseen is very close—I’ve felt it. And I’ve had some uncanny and memorable experiences on Halloween.
      After handing out treats to the little visitors who come to my door—a custom I really enjoy—I sometimes do a small ceremony or prayer late on Halloween night, to honor the deeper meaning of the holiday. One year, when Samhain/Halloween coincided with the full moon, I lit a candle and did a special meditation to bless my loved ones who had passed over.
      I had an older cousin who had died a few months before. Shortly after I began my meditation, an impression of his tall, lanky figure flashed unexpectedly into my mind. I heard, more as an idea than a set of words, that he had come to say goodbye, and to let me know he was proud of me. Whoa! I didn’t expect that. I hadn’t even been thinking about him when I started the meditation.
      And then a procession of people—some of whom I hadn’t thought about in years—began to stream through my mind. Their images, their energies, were so vivid and clear. They had come to wish me well, and to connect with me again for just a little while. When I had lived on the East Coast about twenty years before, I had worked in a nursing home, and had become really close with the residents. So many of them came back to visit me that Halloween night. I was awed and amazed.
      My father, who had already been entering my meditations for years since his death, came that night, too. He offered words of encouragement and approval. And: there was a neighbor from my childhood who had committed a huge wrong against me and my parents. He also appeared. And he apologized for what he had done.
      October 31 really is much more than just the Halloween festivities I love. So: along with the fun this Halloween, I might light a candle or send a blessing to someone who’s passed on. I could raise a cup to immortality. Maybe I'll have some visitors from beyond. It would be the perfect time for it.

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction … and Fact

Haunted Battlefields—Gettysburg, PA, Part Two

     From July 1 to 3, 1863, a fierce Civil War battle was fought in the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. The town today is the site of the National Military Park, operated by the US National Park Service. The park, once the scene of death and terrible bloodshed, is filled with grass, fields, trees, and restored historical buildings; memorials stand in various locations, in honor of the men who fought there. But Gettysburg has a paranormal legacy as well—in the form of innumerable reports of strange phenomena from all around the town.

     The odd occurrences at Gettysburg began shortly after the battle ended, and have taken a variety of forms. Multiple incidents of phantom sights, smells, and sounds have been reported. Visitors to Baltimore Street sometimes notice ghostly traces of the scents of vanilla and peppermint. In the days following the battle, the streets of Gettysburg were littered with the decaying bodies of the dead—and the ladies of the town used handkerchiefs saturated with vanilla and peppermint, “pressed to their faces to combat the horrible smell of death.” (www.prairieghosts.com)

     The Devil’s Den—a forbidding outcropping of rock where an especially bloody skirmish took place—is reputed to be one of the most haunted areas of Gettysburg. People have reported hearing the sounds of gunfire & men shouting. The reports of apparitions—some of whom have actually interacted with the living—date back to the days following the battle, when two hunters in the area saw a dim, gesturing male figure who then vanished. (For more details on the earliest reports, go to http://annyoungfiction.blogspot.com/2016/07/haunted-battlefieldsgettysburg-pa.html.) People have also seen a phantom rider who vanishes. And a barefoot, ghostly figure in ragged clothes appeared next to a visiting woman, actually speaking to her before he disappeared.

     One of the most haunted buildings in town is Pennsylvania Hall at Gettysburg College. At the time of the battle, the college was in the thick of the fighting—and the building was used as a Confederate lookout post and field hospital. Ghostly soldiers have been seen pacing in the cupola, shadowy figures standing in the tower; another figure was seen gesturing wildly at a student below, and then vanished. There is also the story of two college administrators who worked in the building. The elevator in which they were riding inexplicably took them to the basement, where—the elevator doors opened onto a bloody, phantom scene of a field hospital filled with horribly wounded soldiers and medical personnel in bloodied garments.

     This is just a small sampling of Gettysburg’s paranormal history, which has been explored in a number of books. Predictably, the town has also become a favorite destination for ghost hunters and others fascinated with hauntings and ghost lore.

http://www.prairieghosts.com/Gettysburg.html

http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Gettysburg_Facts/Gettysburg_Facts.php

            http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction ... and Fact

 

Haunted Battlefields—Gettysburg, PA

     The town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War. The town’s long, chilling history of paranormal occurrences began a short time after the battle ended.

     The Battle of Gettysburg, fought in the hills, forests, and streets of the town, raged on for three days, from July 1-3, 1863. During this monumental battle, 70,000 Confederate men faced off against 94,000 Federals. When the fighting ended, the Confederates, led by General Robert E. Lee, had lost the battle. The casualties from both sides, including the dead, wounded, captured, and missing, are estimated between 45- and 51,000.

     In the aftermath of the battle, the once-quiet town of Gettysburg was a scene of human devastation. The bodies of the dead, scattered in and around the town, lay bloating and decaying in the summer heat. Houses and businesses, and even the Hall at Pennsylvania College, had been turned into makeshift field hospitals to accommodate the wounded and dying. Reports from the period tell of blood-soaked carpets and bloodstained walls in peoples’ homes, with the wounded being laid out side-by-side. The scene at the field hospital in Pennsylvania Hall was especially intense: blood-sprayed walls and floors, amputations without anesthesia, and the mortally wounded being taken just outside the operating rooms to die.

      The process of cleaning up the carnage at Gettysburg would not be swift—but the reports of strange occurrences would be much more immediate. Rose Farm was the site of one early report. The farm had been used as a field hospital and burial ground for slain soldiers, and hundreds had been buried in rows around the house and property. A few weeks after the battle, a man who worked at the farm reported a “strange glowing shape” appearing near the graves just after dark.
     Other early incidents occurred at the Devil’s Den, a “tangled outcropping of rocks” that was reputed to be haunted even before the battle—and was the scene of an intense, bloody skirmish on the second day. After the day’s fighting ended, the men who stood guard that night spoke of a “macabre and unnerving” atmosphere among the “looming rocks” and corpses. In another, later report, a pair of hunters became lost in the woods near the rocky ridge. They saw the “dim figure of a man standing atop the boulders,” gesturing. They realized he was showing them the direction they needed to go. And then he vanished. (www.prairieghosts.com)
     These strange events at Gettysburg were just the beginning. In the 151 years since the battle, innumerable incidents have been reported all around the town. And the reports continue, even to the present day.
     Next entry: Gettysburg today, and its most ghostly locations.
     To learn more about the Battle of Gettysburg and its legacy of paranormal occurrences, visit:
          http://www.prairieghosts.com/gettysburg.html    
           http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Gettysburg_Facts/Gettysburg_Facts.php