Hello everyone. Im brad from Cbus, ohio. Now since i'mnew, I wasnt around
on here to discuss "ghosts" and
paranormal activities around the battlefield. I understand that this
notion of the paranormal on the
battlefield is not supported by the leaders of this site as well as
many other members. I also saw that
there were previous posts a few years ago of this topic, and people
asked if others had any weird
experiences and such. Well I've had. I'm only 26, and in my last 6
visits, i've come home with some very
weird pictures, and one time a "physical" encounter with a 8mm movie
cam turning off and on. Now, i've
worked in photo labs before handling literally hundereds of thousands
of pictures and never seen
anthing close to what ive brought back from G-burg. heres one, at bottom
of web page, i sent to some
paranormal websight http://paranormal.miningco.com/library/blgallery18.htm
. 
I also have two pictures taken back to back with
my anon rebel 35mm camera of the infamous rebel
sharpshooters den at Devils Den. These, well are very baffling to me.
However I do want to point out that
when i go to G-burg, i have no desire for this to happen, for my sole
purpose is to pay respects for
those that fought and died there. I refuse to send them in to
the "ghosts of gettysburg" books, which i
have read for obvious purposes, or the likes of because to me it just
wouldnt be right. oh well, if
you want to discuss this topic more with me , email me at bmbuds@yahoo.com.
By the way, all my weird
pictures, and a single experience with a 8mm video camera shuttin on
and off was in the Devils Den and
Triangle field.
I'm sure about 99% of us gdg'ers have read MARK NESBITT'S GHOSTS
OF GETTYSBURG I, MORE GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG, AND GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG III.
Shoot, i've got most of them memorized word for word by now. But my
question to this group is...has anyone out there (other than me) experienced
some unexplained phenomenon on that sacred ground of gettysburg? I realize
not all of you believe in "ghosts, apparitions, and Haunted places of the
Battlefield", but i am a true believer. If i can get any kind of positive
response on this one, i'll share my stories via private e-mail, or maybe
even post them here. but the rest is up to y'all...
tim goodling
Being April, there was almost no one on the battlefield, so we stopped at the Angle just as night was falling. Thunder was booming very loud in the distance, while lightning flashed over by South Mountain, and we were standing at the artillery position at the Copse of Trees (Battery B, 1st RILA, in fact). I will tell you this; we were most definitely not alone. The spiritual presence of others was most solemn and almost oppressive.
My son, now a combat veteran of Desert Storm (1st Infantry), even now talks about that awesome experience. Generally, I discount my experiences on the field because of my long-time emotional attachment, but his reaction (identical to mine) in his innocence has always impressed me.
Regards,
Jack Kelly
Tim:
I had one on Saturday night. It creeped me out like nothing that I have ever experienced. Mike VanHuss, Billy Howard, Denise Reed and I were standing in the area on the Stony Hill at about 9:45 p.m. I suddenly felt all of the hair on the back of my neck stand straight out, and I got goose bumps all over for no reason. Billy said he felt something pass by him, and go straight to me. Never had an experience like it in my life, and don't especially want to have another.
I would love to hear your stories. I think it would make a most interesting thread.
Best regards.
Eric Wittenberg
Although I am extremely skeptical about "ghost" stories, since I appear in the one I've reprinted below, I'll offer my confirmation that it happened as Eric described. I sensed something in the woods, walked that direction, and felt something go past me towards Eric. I, however, found it exhilarating--not nearly as frightening as the exorcism that might occur if this is deemed too far off topic.
William Howard
Eric and Billy,
I know that ghost. His name is Jack. Jack Daniels. He's been known to hang out there with his cousin Jim. Jim Beam. You didn't go to the Stoney Hill by way of Herr Tavern by any chance? This muster must have been something! ;)
Bill
Tim,
I would be very interested to hear your story (private e-mail of course). I will have one to share with you at that time. We were at Devils Den around 10 PM during the Muster. The moon was full and we understand EXACTLY what Eric is talking about. We "felt" the same thing or person he did! It was so cool, yet really spooky. Totally worth it!
I look forward to your post.
Robin
Tim,
I do a first person talk as BG L A Armistead....While driving home from work one morning last year, I got a chill...and my mind became very clear on something I had been thinking about...concerning the General. When I got home, I told my wife to just sit and listen...while I talked for an hour about what had happened at some point in the Generals life....just like I was there and new it all. Anyway it seems real enuf that I'm working on a book....which will probably never get published! But something is driving me to write it. Please...don't even ask what it's about!
Jeff J
Despite actively setting out to "find" ghosts this weekend, sorry
to have no sighting to report, except for someone with a flashlight in
Devil's Den!
Sultron
Not at Gettysburg, but I have convered with two people who disappeared after I talked to them and was told o both occasions that I could not have talked to anyone under the circmstances I was in. Once at Ft. Duomont (Verdun) and once at the Dnkard Church (Antietam). I also have felt the Cold spots in the Bloody Lane.
Vic
The "ghost" at The Devil's Den is a Confederate who appears at
the upper area during DAYLIGHT. He has been reported to direct people to
the Round Tops saying "What you want to see is over there".
You Shoulda went there during the morning.
In both my experiences the "ghost" appeared as a normal person and
talked as a normal person. Not as floating vapor or translucent beings.
Those that cause chills or a feeling of forboding are described Biblically
as Familiar Spirits. The spirits at Iverson's pits are classified as such.
Vic
Did you mean Familiar, such as a witches Familiar? or something more akin to familiar, such as a familiar face..
I find this thread fascinating. I wanted to go to the muster, but couldn't make it this year. I hope there is another one next year as I will try to be there...
So many people died so painfully on the field, that I would imagine there would be some sort of 'impression' still left...
what if??......
Unfortunate, in this day and age, that we are 'trained' by society to block this sort of stuff out..
yours in insanity...
suzanne
I don't know about ghosts on the field, but I have no doubts about the angels watching there. The full moon that bathed the field and carved dark shadows around each monument and rock during the muster created the perfect theater of the supernatural.
Take Care
Dennis
Concerning Ghosts of Gettysburg
My mother lives in Gettysburg, on the periphery of the battlefield, about 1/2 mile North of Barlow's Knoll just off the Carlisle Pike. Her home is on the site of a farm used as a Confederate Hospital after the First Day's fighting. I have a lifelong best friend who lives just off US Business 15 (Old Harrisburg Road), again on the periphery of the battlefield. The most direct route between my mother's home and my friend's house is Howard Avenue, following the Eleventh Corps position across Barlow's Knoll and past the Old Almes House Cemetery.
One evening several years ago I had been at my friend's house until just before midnight, and we had been talking at great length about Gettysburg and Civil War Ghost stories, possible explanations, etc., etc. As I headed home I turned onto Howard Avenue, and drove towards Barlow Knoll. Cresting the rise by Gordon's Brigade marker, my car's headlights picked up a group of animals standing at the base of the hill. I thought, "My God, It's Wilkerson's U.S. Battery!" and I got goosebumps. As I continued driving forward (I didn't want to miss the experience) I realized that the "Battery Horses" were in fact a local farmer's cows that had escaped through a hole in a fence.
Sorry folks, I have been visiting Gettysburg and dozens of other Civil War battlefields since my first memories. I have camped on battlefields, slept on battlefields, driven and walked through them at midnight, been by myself at allegedly haunted places, and I've never seen, heard, felt, or perceived anything out of the ordinary.
Doug Cubbison
At 02:16 PM 7/06/96 -0600, Doug Cubbison wrote:
Sorry folks, I have been visiting Gettysburg and dozens of other Civil War battlefields since my first memories. I have camped on battlefields, slept on battlefields, driven and walked through them at midnight, been by myself at allegedly haunted places, and I've never seen, heard, felt, or perceived anything out of the ordinary.
Doug Cubbison
Well said Doug. I guess it all comes down to how hard people WANT something
to be true. All the discussion of Gettysburg, the Battle, the participants
etc.. all that is great, and I guess there are a few people out there who
want to believe so badly that the ole mind plays tricks on them in a situation
they themselves have dreamed of for probably many months, if not years.
It's lovely to romanticize about that famous battle, and indeed it
would be great if there was 'substance' to the ghostly beasties, but somehow,
I feel the propogation of the 'Battlefield Ghost stories' are fanciful,
wishful thing at best, and very reminiscent of the kind of illusion that
surrounds the Loch Ness monster. You see, for area's like these, the illusion
of whay might be there is a necesary part of the tourist industry. Sad
as it may seem, this affliction seems to flow over to areas like Gettysburg.
But all in all, it's a case of believe what you want to I guess ........
cheers,
David.
I have an interesting, and as yet unexplained occurrence to share.
Last April we were spending a weekend at the burg, and had taken my sister along for the trip. At this point she was not yet "turned", didn't know much about the Civil War, and we were getting her acquainted.
She was really impressed by the folks who had a living history encampment outside of Larson's, near Gen. Lee's Headquarters. So she was starting to get involved. Of course, we wanted to take her to some of the more well-known areas, so we started a basic tour.
We were near the site of the jump-off point for Pickett's charge, not
far from the Virginia monument.
I was taking some pictures. There was a group of kids making the "charge",
and I decided to take some panorama shots. Except for the kids crossing
the fields no one else was around.
When I had the pictures developed one of the panorama shots has the "shadows" of what appears to be 3 people standing behind me. They're standing very close together and seem to be wearing several different styles of hats.
In actuality,
the "shadow" grouping bears a resemblance to the very familiar photo of
the 3 Confederate prisoners taken at Gettysburg.
In short, I can't explain what's there. It's not us (we were hatless) and not standing together anyway. No one else was around, and it's not the VA monument in the background.
In any case, the whole incident has served to bring my sister into the ranks of CW people.
Pat Caldwell
GDG, I just got a call from a friend of mine that is with the Franklin Institute in Phila. It seems that there was some discussion about the myth about camcorders not working in the slaughter pen. Ibelive this stems from wgal channel 8 news interview with Mark Nesbit last year. They went to gettysburg and used compasses and found that when they would go near some of the boulders that the needle would point to the rock. Thus they belive that the rocks are a type of load stone. We are planning to try it again this year, this would explain the camaras not working. I thought it was spooks!
Angel DeJesus (adejesus@mcis.messiah.edu.)
Beth Wojiski
I had heard about the WGAL channel 8 news videocameras not working, as well as standard point-n-click cameras...while most people will attribute it to ghosts, I tend to be the person who has to test something out for herself. I have taken both point-n-click cameras and video cameras into the slaughter pen on various days, and have had no problem whatsoever with my equipment. Got some great pics, actually, so, who knows? If it's a natural occurence, it's inconsistent, and if it's ghosts, they are too. :-)
-- Beth
Beth -
The area where cameras have failed on occassion is not the Slaughter
Pen, it is the "Triangular Field" an area about 50 yards in front of the
muzzles of Smith's Battery above Devil's Den. I have been told that a number
of scientific tests have been conducted to determine some other explanation
for the failures and no scientific evidence was discovered.
Tom Desjardin
GNMP
This is in regards to recent posts pertaining to the triangular field
Durring my first trip to Gettysburg last year I ran into a group of people gathered in the street who were listening to a man dressed as a Union soldiertelling ghost stories. Presumably he was from the park service, I'm not too sure.
One of the stories he told was of the triangular field and of how people would run into problems taking photos in that area. He also mentioned one instance where apperantly a woman was trying to take a picture in tha area when she was approached by a young man with a beard that appeared to be homeless. His clothing was dirty and torn. The man suposedly said something to the effect of "You should take your pictures over there" and pointed in a direction. The woman turned to look where he was pointing to for a second, but when she turned back towards him he dissapeared. The storyteller explained that this apparition was a member of the 1st Texas regiment. So Nikki, just to answer your question on fields, The 1st Tex. engaged in their heavyest fighting in the within Triangular feild and suffered a good deal of thier losses there.
There is another sort of errie story that I would like to share with Y'all that I experienced personally durring the same trip.
The same night I had run into the crowd was the night before I was to see a battle reenactment at Herrs Ridge. After staying up all night at the Lincoln diner- (The reason being, that I had decided to take a trip to GB on a whim on the fourth of July weekend. I didn't plan on having trouble finding a hotel there. God, did I learn My leson, I ended up being a weekend transient)- I left and began walking on the Chambersburg Pike, towards Herrs Ridge in the pre-dawn darkness. The trees and monuments of the first days battlefield were but dark shapes cut into the sky. There was absolutly no traffic on the road. When I got somewhere near the McPhearson barn I halted to observe two trees growing at the side of the road that appeared to be sparkleing. Yes sparkleing; as though they were lit up like a Manhattan Christmas tree. There were literally thousands Of tiny flashing lights. I was soon braught to my senses to realize that they were but fire flies, however I couldn't help but be awed by the specticle. It seemed to me a very strange thing because I had passed other trees before and after these, and they didn't seem to have any FF activity; none but these two trees. I personnaly like to think of it as Mother Natures aknowlagment of that terrible 3 day event. A natural memorial so to speak.
This experience among others is what made my first trip to Gettysburg truely memorable. Its an incredible place.
Well, thats It. Thank you to those who have taken the time to read this far. I hope you found it enjoyable
Have a wonderfull day Yours Truely
Mark Maritato
Nikki -
The famous sharpshooter photo in Devil's Den is of a soldier who is shown in other photos lying in the triangular field. Bill Frassanito's JOURNEY IN TIME explains that the body was moved and the photo staged. Ghostly folks have connected this with the "hippie looking man" that some claim to have seen and they say it must be the soldier in the photo.
Tom Desjardin
GNMP
Addie,
You asked if anyone had done a scientific study of the "Triangular
field" to determine why cameras wouldn't work. I attempted to do just that.
In 1994, after reading the book "Ghosts at Gettysburg" I became curious
about the triangular field, I admit that I am a sucker for a good ghost
story, as I am a photographer, of at that time eighteen years standing,
as well as a skeptic.
I worked at the triangular field for three days, May 17th, 18th and
19th. I used a full repertoire of cameras, a Contax RTSII, which is a 35
mm camera with both an electronic as well as manual release and wind capability,
a Contax 139, also a 35 mm camera, but with only an electronic capability,
a Mamiya 645 which is a medium format SLR that is manual only, and a Horseman
4X5 large format manual camera. I also used a full gamut of films, including
both print (C-41 process, ISO's from 25 to 1000) and slide (e-6 process
ISO's from 50 to 800, and K-14 process, ISO's 25 to 200) black and white
(T-max, ISO's 100 to 3200
Over the course of the three days, I took over 1000 exposures. I varied the time of day. On the supposition that the "ghost" was a Confederate soldier, I at times wore a Union Kepi, and sang "The Battle Hymn of The Republic" at the top of my lungs. If you had ever heard me sing you would agree that if anything was going to bring on wrath, this was it!
I varied my exposure times, from 10 seconds, with Neutral density, to 1/4000 th of second. I varied where I took my pictures from, basically using 9 sites, and using each camera from each site.
I regret to report that all of my equipment functioned flawlessly at all times. When the film was developed there were no anomalies. In the thousands of photos that I have exposed at historic sites, both in the US and abroad, I have never had an anomalous photo.
I wouldn't claim that this was a scientific study, just an adventure by a photographer and Civil War buff. Although I am a skeptic, no one would have been happier that me if my equipment had malfunctioned, or if something had appeared on one of my shots. I would like to point out that I am fascinated by this, yes I realize that this isn't the X-Files discussion group, and if any of you have ever actually taken a picture with "something" in it, I would urge you to send it to Eastman Kodak for an analysis.
By the way, this year I did take some photos of the exterior of the Cashtown Inn (nowhere near as extensive a study as the Triangular Field). Nothing turned up there either. Next year, I'm going back to regular photos of positions, sight lines, etc.
By the way, thanks, I never thought that any of this would ever be of interest to anyone else!
Hey, somebody had to do it,
John Dynia
To all GDG members:
The photos I took while at the muster are back from the processor (
most of them anyway.)
One in particular I think you might find interesting. It was taken near
Oate's Boulder on LRT.
Gordon:
Big deal. You've managed to get a shot of Casper Oates, William's third cousin twice removed who died during a visit to Little Round Top in 1900 when he accidentally stepped on a dynamite charge being used by workers to blast away rocks for the construction of Chamberlain Avenue. Casper was also featured in a Hollywood movie recently that starred Bill Pullman, although Jeff Daniels was originally offered the role. Casper is sometimes mistaken for the spirit of Buster Kilrain. But if you want to know about Kilrain, you have to ask Tom Desjardin, who usually tells Buster's life story, from County Cork to Little Round Top, to every visitor who stops by the 20th Maine Monument on LRT.
Glenn