A Celebration of the Haunts: Ghosts of Gettysburg

Welcome (finally...sorry for the delay) to my "Hauntingly Magical Celebration" hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist!

Before we go any further though, I must warn you: If you're here for the "Magical" part of this Halloween party, you're going to be disappointed. I'm afraid there is nothing magical here today.

HOWEVER...

If you're here for the "Hauntingly" part of this shindig, you've come to the right place.

Halloween or All Hallow's Eve is supposedly a day when the veil between our world and the spirit is at its thinnest allowing spirits or ghosts to pass between the two.  So, when it comes to Halloween there's nothing like a good ghost story. Except perhaps a ghost story that is rooted in history and has the proof in the pictures. Well...if you're a believer.

In true Stonewall family fashion, I'm devoting this "Hauntingly Magical Celebration" to the ghosts of Gettysburg. I convinced the husband to take me to Gettysburg this past week and share with me his vast knowledge of all things Gettysburg, most especially the ghost stories. (With a BA in History and as a reenactor Stonewall is a huge Civil War buff, full of all sorts of stories and tidbits. He could give every tour guide at Gettysburg a run for their money.)  So pull up your campfires and prepare yourselves for ghosts that don't always wait for Halloween to come out into our world.

*Disclaimer: Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took of our trip yielded any haunts. (At least, that I can see. If you notice something I didn't, please point it out!) However, I'll share with you the pictures I took, tell you the stories Stonewall told me, and I'll point you in the direction of some sites that do offer some haunted photos. You can also search You Tube for some visitors' videos of spooky sightings.*

*And on more thing - If you're not familiar with the battle of Gettysburg and you'd like to get more information, please visit The Gettysburg National Military Park Virtual Tour website for a great overview of the battle, as well as detailed information of specific sites.*

The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.  Over 50,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, captured, or missing.  Their spirits are everywhere in Gettysburg.  There can be no doubt (for those of us who believe) that most of the orbs and ghostly images that people capture on film are the thousands of soldiers that fought at Gettysburg.  However, not all of the ghosts of Gettysburg are soldiers.

Stonewall's first story of the day takes place at Devil's Den.

When he was still in college, Stonewall made a trip to Gettysburg with his friend, Andy and his college girlfriend's younger brother, John.  John's mom told Stonewall that John was "special" and that he had a "gift" - meaning that he had an eye for the paranormal.  Stonewall figured that if this was true, John would "see" plenty at Gettysburg.

After their tour of Gettysburg, Stonewall asked John if he thought he had seen any ghosts.

"Yeah. I think so," replied John.

"Where at?" asked Stonewall.

John said, "At Devil's Den."

"What did you see?" asked Stonewall expecting to hear that John saw Union or Confederate soldiers as this general  area is nicknamed "The Slaughter Pen" and "Death Valley" because of the large number of casualties that occurred here.

"I saw a little girl on the rocks.  She was on the edge and then she went off the edge.  I looked over the edge for her, but she was gone and there wasn't enough time for her to run away."

Where John saw the little girl.

"What was she wearing?" asked Stonewall.

"A white dress."

"Was she wearing anything else?" asked Stonewall because this was starting to sound familiar.

"She was wearing a yellow sash on her dress."

Stonewall's mouth dropped in disbelief.  While doing research for one of his many Gettysburg/Civil War reports for high school and college Stonewall came across a report about a little girl in a white dress with a yellow sash.  This little girl was playing on the rocks at Devil's Den when she fell off the edge and was killed.  There have been a few sightings of her ghostly image reported over the years.

It is also at Devil's Den that Stonewall saw his own ghostly image.  During one of his many visits to Gettysburg Stonewall saw a figure in grey standing in the middle of all the rocks.  However, when he turned around to look again the figure was gone. 

For more hauntings of Devil's Den you can visit here, here, and here. 

Next, Stonewall drove us over to Spangler's Spring.

A most popular ghost legend of Spangler's Spring is about "The Woman in White."  "The Woman in White" is said to be a woman who committed suicide after she was spurned by her fiance.  During the nights she can be seen coming from the rocks (which are behind me in this picture) and descending onto the grounds surrounding the spring where she seems to wander around looking for something. 

  
A paranormal investigator captured this photo (little more than halfway down the page) of what she believes could be the "Woman in White" (far left on the outer bank).

To see some photos of ghostly activity at Spangler's Spring visit here, here and here for a video.

Gettysburg College was next on our tour.

The first ghostly story at Gettysburg College is about "The Boy in Blue."  "The Boy in Blue" supposedly haunts a woman's dormitory.  The story says that after the battle of Gettysburg in the late 1800's the Gettysburg orphanage was run by a nasty old lady.  One of the orphans ran away and two girls in the dorm hid the boy in their room.  When their head mistress wanted to search their room (because no boys were allowed), they hid the boy outside on their window ledge...in the middle of winter!  The head mistress took the girls downstairs to question their suspicious activity.  When the girls returned to their room the boy was gone.  Today those who stay in the room have reported hearing scratching at their window and seeing a little boys face, blue with cold peering in at them outside the window.

This is a picture in which the photographer thinks could be "The Boy in Blue."

Gettysburg-blue boy orb by ~Gpilot06 on deviantART

At the time of the Gettysburg Battle, Gettysburg College was used as a makeshift hospital to treat the wounded.  Stories tell of people who have ridden on the elevator down to the basement (either on purpose or because the elevator mysteriously bypasses their chosen floor) and when the doors open they see wounded soldiers, a doctor preparing for an amputation, and nurses who stare at the witnesses with haunted eyes.

To see a Gettysburg College ghost visit here.

Finally, Stonewall took me to the house of Jennie Wade, the only civilian to be killed during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Jennie Wade temporarily lived here with some of her family members during the Battle of Gettysburg.  Jennie and her mother spent the first and second days of the battle distributing bread and water to the soldiers.  On the third day they were preparing the dough for more bread in the early morning hours when a musket ball tore through two doors and hit Jennie Wade in the back and killing her.

The hole made by the musket ball that killed Jennie Wade located on the far right-side of the door just below center.

Visitors of the Jennie Wade house claim to see ghostly orbs in photos and they smell baking bread while in the house.  They also see chains (which block off rooms, so tourists can't touch the period furniture) move all on their own.  Others have also claimed to feel or see the ghostly images of some of the orphanage children that hid in this house to escape the mean head mistress. 

To see some of the Jennie Wade orbs visit here, here, here, and here for a video of the moving chains.

Stonewall also took me around to various other parts of Gettysburg.  He didn't have any specific ghost stories about these places, however they are full of ghostly activity that has been caught on camera by ghost hunters, both professional and amateur.

The Triangular Field is said to be on of the most haunted spots in Gettysburg.

Check out here, here, here, here, and here for a video for what these visitors think are ghosts of the Triangular Field.

The Wheatfield is also known to be very haunted.  During the Battle of Gettysburg so many soldiers were killed here that you could not walk across the field without stepping on bodies.

For some ghostly images in the Wheatfield go here and here.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, there are some things that can not be explained.  Thousands of people encounter just those "things" while touring Gettysburg.  With the use of technology, it doesn't take much to turn a picture or a video into a ghostly image.  Do the photos in this post and the stories that are told on ghost tours really prove that there is a spirit world out there and sometimes those spirits get stuck in our world?  I don't know if these pictures and stories are real.  However, if those that took these photos and those that tell those stories are believers, then I'll take their word for it because it makes things a bit more exciting.