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Paranormal Encounters In Gettysburg Part 3

 

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is a destination of very high interest among paranormal researchers and enthusiasts due to record high instances of claims regarding otherworldly activity. My family and I were among the many others who claim to have seen and heard remnants from the town's disturbing history that serve to remind us that the past can never be truly buried or forgotten.

In her lifetime, my grandmother had travelled to several fascinating destinations with her sister Valerie and her brother in law Robert. During the summer of 1990, they decided to spend a weekend in Gettysburg. They had spent the day exploring the town and enjoying the exhibitions that attract several hordes of tourists to Gettysburg every year. One particular exhibition, which has gained a fair amount of popularity, is the Gettysburg Cyclorama, a theater that contains a 360 Degree canvass screen. The screen depicts full motion video of a historical reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg to give visitors a vague feeling of what it was like to participate in the gruesome battle.

They checked into a roadside motel in the country at around three in the afternoon. The motel was constructed beside a vast field and was surrounded by a log fence with loopholes carved all along the perimeter. They surmised that the motel was potentially the remains of a historic fort Union soldiers were stationed within to repel Confederate advances. Their room was decorated with periodic elements to provide the motel with a sense of historic authenticity consistent with the 1860s.

They decided to go to sleep at around ten that night. At roughly 5AM the following morning, my grandmother was abruptly awoken by a series of strange sounds coming from outside in the fields. They sounded suspiciously like several fifes and drums all playing together in unison. She silently stood up and opened the window, careful not to wake my great aunt and uncle. When she opened the window, the sounds grew even louder, thereby eliminating any possibility that it was merely her imagination. She listened attentively for a few more minutes and the sounds soon stopped. She then closed the window slowly and crept back to her bed once all was quiet again. She preferred not to wake the others and decided to wait until dawn to inform them of the incident. Even to this day, my grandmother still struggles to understand how my great aunt and uncle were not awoken by the noise. The only possible theory is that they had become far more exhausted by the day's events and this made it much easier for them to drown out the sounds.

At breakfast, my grandmother described the sounds in the fields and they had no issues believing her. It was a major conversational topic between the three of them during the ride home. Sadly, after one hundred and twenty seven years since the decisive conflict during the Civil War, the spirits of those who became statistics during one of the bloodiest periods in American history were condemned to remain permanently upon the battlefields playing the same wartime music since the day they tragically met their demise.

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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, GingerRead, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Pelatiah (4 stories) (73 posts)
+1
1 year ago (2022-12-23)
Hey all, this is Mrs. Ramsay coming back as Pelatiah (computer issues, then needed to drop the Ramsay, sorry. They are both my ancestors).

My soccer field story, to my knowlege, never got published. Strange, but maybe something violated the rules or maybe the powers that be thought it was paradoliea or whatever. Not sure.
MrsRamsay (guest)
+1
2 years ago (2022-03-20)
I'm with you Caz, and yes, see what you mean. Since I am a military wife and brat, I think the men who fight are often horrified that they find themselves in such a situation. I also believe that since so many are young men who when alive felt INVINCIBLE, they might not realize they're actually dead. So many things we can't know. Thanks for the kind words, I enjoy your comments also. Really enjoy most everyone's insight!
Caz (342 posts)
+1
2 years ago (2022-03-19)
The_ Lost_Voyage_11,
Thanks for the great posting T_L_V! It clarified a lot for me! The very thought that 'souls' would 'choose' to come back and fight all over again in the hope they might win, was absolutely horrendous to me! Good souls deserve to be at peace!
Caz (342 posts)
+1
2 years ago (2022-03-19)
Hi Mrs Ramsay,
I've enjoyed your very interesting comments and don't disagree with anything you've said at all on this subject! I know perfectly well that souls sometimes come back for whatever reason and I look forward to seeing your pics if they get shown. The thing I don't agree with, is the belief that two whole armies of 'souls' would come back to murder each other and suffer all over again! Do you see what I mean?
GingerRead (16 stories) (33 posts)
+2
2 years ago (2022-03-19)
The_Lost_Voyage_11: Thank you for your kind words and input. I enjoy reading about the interpretations of others in regards to the paranormal.
The_Lost_Voyage_11 (7 stories) (233 posts)
+3
2 years ago (2022-03-19)
Hello GingerRead, another great chapter to the experiences your family has has at or near Gettysburg. I always find the sightings and encounters at these battlefield sites intriguing.

I am patiently waiting to read MrsRamsay's recently submitted story, but to add to the comments regarding what phenomenon may be at work surrounding these haunting's as they were, could be another possibility.

While it's entirely possible and probable some ghosts may have remained behind due to the circumstances of their demise and it's true some of it could be residual, it's also quite possible people have been able to look back in time and see the actual battles and the enfolding events around them.

The events of the battles were profoundly emotional, many lost their lives and it was an incredibly charged atmosphere. Science is beginning to come around to the notion that its possible what we conceive of as time, past, present and future is merely separated by vibration. If there was enough energy in the form of such raw emotion at the battles, then it might have been enough to pierce the veil and allow people in the present to 'see' into the past, neither involving ghosts or a residual playback.

I cannot fully comment on MrsRamsay's experience to date as her story is not available (hopefully soon) but what she mentioned about the soldiers appearing to watch the game she was at, well the door swings both ways. If there is a pierce in the veil between what we consider past and present, then those solders could also in theory see into the present and were just as she said, curious about what they were seeing.

When the Titanic sank, there were accounts of people who foretold it either in dreams or visions. The same is true of 9/11. There seems to be some scientific evidence regarding shifts in the earths electromagnetic field on 9/11 as well. Both were polarizing events with a lot of emotion, and loss of life. In the case of 9/11 the entire world was watching what was happening as it unfolded. We have no idea what such outpourings of energy can do. The possibility is though that such strong events could have been picked up by more sensitive people, again 'seeing' through the veil, in those cases the future and not the past.

It adds to the this mystery we call life and is always food for thought, thanks again for another great read GingerRead!
GingerRead (16 stories) (33 posts)
+2
2 years ago (2022-03-19)
Caz: Allow me to elaborate. I meant to say it appears as if they have been condemned. Thereby clarifying these are just my theories and leaving it up to interpretation.
MrsRamsay (guest)
 
2 years ago (2022-03-18)
Oh, Caz, I completely forgot to say, my experiences have been on a bright, sunny afternoon as well as a drizzly summer twilight on the battlefield. Last week had been a rainy day that cleared up a few hours before the soccer game. I just submitted that story with photos to the website, so hope they post this one.
MrsRamsay (guest)
+1
2 years ago (2022-03-18)
Caz, I might have agreed with you at some point, but my own experiences near battlefields of the Civil War point in another direction. First, thanks for the story, Ginger. I would've been so intrigued to hear what your grandma heard!

Caz, just the other evening I was at my daughter's high school soccer game which was taking place just a couple hundred yards from the Dead Angle at Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield. I have recordings from that place of a young boy saying, "Them soldiers is dead" which seems to be a response to a question I was asking my own son during a hike up the tragic hill where so many died in 1864. I also have a man's voice saying, "There's something here I don't trust." Which seems to be a Class I EVP (if I have learned anything) although it could be classified as residual by those who like to classify. Then, the other night, I noticed an interesting mist/fog at the far end of daughter's soccer field. It was not acting normally, as it stayed in the tree line and did not seem to gather on the low spot, the field, as normal fog would. There were suggestions of figures in the mist, though I'm the only one who seemed to notice. I took photos, finally, and looked closely the next day. Out of 4-5 photos, I captured what appear to be two figures in Civil War pose, one of whom was crouched and peeking around a tree and a more obvious one of a guy just standing. The figures weren't visible in sequential photos, which rules out it being branches that LOOK like a guy or whatever. My initial thought was, perhaps they are spirits and perhaps intrigued by our young, modern girls playing soccer.:) Why would they not be?! I would love to know if anyone at this high school has seen anything else interesting down near that area, and I happen to know one of the custodians of the school and plan to ask her if she's heard of anything.
Caz (342 posts)
+2
2 years ago (2022-03-16)
Sorry Rajine, but I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I still feel that these 'replays' are solely down to the atmospheric conditions at the time. Other ghostly battles have been replayed in quite a few different parts of the world, but I seriously doubt they are coming back to win. If there are any winners, it's the bad men sitting well back on top of the hill.
Rajine (14 stories) (740 posts)
+1
2 years ago (2022-03-15)
Hi [at] Caz

I don't think that any God would condemn those soldiers, I believe that even in death they have a really strong determination that's what's keeping them here on earth. They have become earth bound because of possible unfinished business, or a will to fight to win, I'd assume that passing so suddenly and tragically is the cause of these soldiers not being able to move on.
Rajine (14 stories) (740 posts)
+3
2 years ago (2022-03-15)
Hi GingerRead

Truly an amazing yet eerily creepy experience, I've read a lot of Gettysburg ghostly incidents, that's what actually interested me on researching and learning more about the war that happened there.
It is a tragic incident that took place and unfortunately those lost souls are still here up to this day.
Caz (342 posts)
+1
2 years ago (2022-03-15)
Hi Ginger Read,
Great story and must've been very interesting for your Grandmother to see. However, I don't really know, but I seriously doubt any of those spirits would be actually present to go through the pain and suffering they'd endured in the past! I'm not sure, but perhaps it's an athmosferic thing that somehow can 'replay' like a video recording at times.
I seriously doubt that any 'good God' would condemn those poor men to re-live all that horror again and again. I hope not anyway!

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