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My Little Bighorn Battlefield Experience

 

I visited Montana for the first time in June of 2004. I would later move there from my home state of CT and live in both Eastern and Western parts of the state for 9 years.

My friend picked me up from the Billings airport and suggested that we see the battlefield. He was a bit of a history buff. When we arrived, we were driving along the road past the visitors' center. I got very quiet, suddenly feeling very heavy and serious. We got to a point in the road that looked down some rolling prairie and we decided to get out and walk. My friend, a Montana native, didn't seem to be disturbed very much, but as I looked down into the coulees and saw the white stone markers bunched together closely, I became overwhelmed with terror and a deep sadness. I knew that the people who died in that area had been trying to hide and were unable to defend themselves. I could almost see it. I tried telling this to my friend and he seemed perplexed. I started to cry and couldn't stop. It alarmed my friend and he decided we should leave. We left the park and pulled over for a few minutes and I started to calm down. I couldn't explain my experience to someone that had never felt those things and it was a little embarrassing.

It is not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last that I encounter an intense residual like that. A word of advice to any empaths or sensitives visiting the battlefield: ground yourself well before entering or prepare to be overwhelmed with the emotions of those unfortunate souls, both native American and non.

I am interested to read any similar stories that you have. Please share!

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, alicerp, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

MrsRamsay (guest)
+3
4 years ago (2020-10-10)
Hi Alicerp,
Such an interesting story! I never really knew what an empath was until I started reading here at this website maybe a year or so ago. One reason I started seeking out more information are some experiences I've had at the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, a national park just NW of Atlanta.

I never thought twice about some of the feelings I've had since childhood in various places, until I started really noting the presence of the spiritual world through other situations, specifically I've had a lot of people in my family pass away and I feel they've contacted me at various times. It's like you don't get it at first, and then the more and more you notice things are "weird" the more you start getting it... Bit by bit like a snowball builds if you never literally came face to face with a ghost, but just had these "things" happen over years... Things that suggest a spiritual experience.

Anyway, as a kid moving around on Army bases, many of them historic, I had "feelings" and was scared on many instances, and that was just never my personality. For example, at Ft. Sill, OK, we visited the jail cell that once held Geronimo. I remember, 50 years ago, it was almost a panicky feeling I had as I walked in. Even though there was a mannequin and really beautiful examples of Indian handiwork like a headdress, clothing and moccasins (which I was REALLY into back then), I could NOT stay and look at them, despite my interest and curiosity. I had to get OUT of there! I know my parents thought it was the mannequin and small, dark cell that scared me, but it was the unfamiliar feeling INSIDE me that scared me!

As I got older I never thought much about any of that, just thought I had a good intuition about places. Driving through small towns, etc. Atchison, KS was a town we drove through a lot on our way to our grandparents' house, and I remember being scared to death of that little town, even though we just drove right through and never stopped. It's been only recently getting attention as a very haunted place... Which now makes perfect sense to me.

But the real experiences I've had are at the battlefield. I used to be a runner and there are ten miles of trails there, but I never felt good about running there, always mighty uncomfortable despite the serenity and great trail conditions. I would NEVER go alone. Then a couple years ago, my son and I sort of accidentally got some amazing EVPs (I wrote the story but not sure how to actually find the link). At some point, my husband and I were out to dinner one night near there and, after a couple glasses of wine, decided to stop by and take another look at the Illinois Monument, which is where I made my recording. He's a huge skeptic. Anyway, it was dusk, and there were a lot of people there walking. We sat on a bench and nothing seemed amiss, though I felt something touch my hair from behind (didn't realize at the time it was a touch, I thought it was a bug). We walked down the hill and stood there. Husband thought he smelled "wet canvas tents" (he's a Marine). I didn't smell anything, and not sure I'd recognize it anyway even though I was a Girl Scout Leader, haha. But then he'd had enough and decided to walk up the hill, while I stayed behind for a moment of quiet. Then, walking back up the hill (called the Dead Angle, where more than 3,000 Yankees died in a forlorn hope assault against heavily entrenched Confederates) I started to get REALLY out of breath. Ok, I kept walking, thinking "wow, how out of shape have I gotten?!" But then my anxiety went through the roof, my heart started pounding and I was so out of breath, I had to stop and lean on a post. The feeling almost knocked me to my knees, and it was almost exactly the spot that is described as where so many men lost their lives, almost at the very top, yet where the gunfire was the thickest. It took me a few minutes to recover and make my way down the path to the parking lot where my husband was waiting for me. I wish to this day he had seen me, because he sort of looks at me like I'm nuts when I describe it. But I feel somewhat like I bet you would feel during such an assault.

I went back a few months later when I heard there was going to be a guided walking tour. Went on it and never felt a thing, except the normal level of empathy. I still don't know what to do with this, so thank you for writing your story and inviting us to comment. It's nice not to feel like the only one who's experienced this! All the best.
Tweed (36 stories) (2529 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-10-05)
Hi Alicerp,

Hope you don't mind my asking, but do you get any warning before an emotional onslaught or does it just come from the blue? Pretty glad I don't have this ability but we all must to some degree.

When I was a kid our neighbours lounge room would turn green whenever I entered and it petrified me. I wrote about that here:
Https://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=23488
But it's the only time I felt anything extreme.

In the interest of balance my man and I both had a positive experience while in New York. We visited a tree (wow!)... No, we're both fans of a band called Type O Negative and their bandleader passed some years back. We're also fans of trees, but I digress.
Some fans planted an oak in his honour at a park where I think he used to work. He was groundskeeper at some point. We were standing at the tree thanking him for his music and being an all round awesome dude. This beautiful feeling came over us, like a warm hug. We think we were feeling all the love from all the fans and friends who've been at that tree doing the same. Felt wonderful like being a part of something bigger or universal. So cool.

Do empaths get good stuff as well, or does it only seem to be activated by certain moods or location history? Sorry for all the questions, it's a fascinating, if not bothersome trait to have.
Also did you hear the battlefield?
Okay I'll button it now.
The_Lost_Voyage_11 (8 stories) (257 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-10-03)
Hello alicerp, great story! That is the crux of being an empath, sometimes not knowing whether what you're feeling is your own or someone else's. Situations like this though certainly put in perspective what is yours and what's not though! I think everyone senses things like this at battlefields and other areas where great emotional upset has occurred, but for some it may be a quiet unrest that they shrug off. Empaths however at such a location can easily be overwhelmed with unwanted and unwarranted emotions and only in leaving the site as in your case seems to relieve it. I look forward to hearing more from you!
Lealeigh (5 stories) (512 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-10-03)
Hello alicerp and Welcome to YGS,

People read about famous battlefields and what took place on them and it's usually emotional to read about them or watch documentaries. I think it isn't until we are present at the battlefield that we can grasp a real echo of the fear - maybe it is only sensitive people that do this. Perhaps most people go through life never sensing anything that isn't physically present. Maybe, but what I really think is that most people insist on ignoring feelings that they can't explain.

Battlefields make me upset because it hurts me to think of any living creature being afraid. I've been to several battlefields in the East; but I have always wanted to go to the one you visited.

- Maria
LightMight (4 stories) (137 posts)
+1
4 years ago (2020-10-01)
hey alicerp, you know what I find ironic about the other empaths I've met - they really don't seem like emotional types, in fact they usually appear to be very calm and composed 😉 funny how life works!
alicerp (1 stories) (1 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-10-01)
LightMight, wow are you an empath! I do understand what that feels like, thanks for sharing your experience. I actually heard some stories about Virginia City while living out west. Take care.
LightMight (4 stories) (137 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-10-01)
Hi alicerp, and welcome!

Great little storyline you have here, and you gave some very wise advice!

I had a very similar experience to yours, but mine took place in Virginia City, Nevada. Years ago, I was visiting a friend who lived in Carson City, who wanted to show me as much of Nevada as she could before my visit was over. Everyday we took short, little road trips to various charming, small towns around her area. One morning we decided to make a trip out to Virginia City; it's a small western town full of old mining history, but mostly it's a tourist trap. Our plan was to have lunch there and do a bit of shopping before leaving. Once we finished lunch, I suggested that we work off all the calories we just consumed by signing up for one of the walking tours - we chose the Silver City Cemetery tour. With bellies full we trekked down a narrow, dusty path to the cemetery, where we met up with our tour guide. We were told this was the first tour of the day, and we noticed that nobody else was joining us. As the tour started, the guide stopped at various grave markers and headstones to point out notable facts and prominent names attached to the area. Personally, I love cemeteries because they can sometimes provide an insightful glimpse into a towns past that isn't always apparent. About 10 minutes into the tour, I was suddenly hit by an overwhelming sense of grief and a dreadful dizzy feeling. I then started noticing more and more headstones with names and dates of young children, buried next to their mothers who died after their babies passed. The culprit in most of the deaths were influenza and pneumonia. Beside the footpath I found a rock to sit down on to steady myself. At that point I just couldn't contain my emotions anymore; I began to cry. My friend came to sit beside me and ask if I was feeling well enough to continue the tour. I reassured her and the guide that I was fine, I was just taken by surprise from feeling really depressed and shaken. I was thankful that we were alone, because I was feeling like a fool. The guide then commented that this wasn't unsual for this part of the tour; that many people complained about feeling sickly and experiencing heavy sadness while walking through the 'family area' of the cemetery...
Best wishes, LightMight

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