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.
