Mist In The Hall

One of my co-workers Who for the sake of her privacy we will call Betty is a huge fan of ghostly things like myself, and when I arrived at work today she called me aside to tell me what had happened to her sister this week. I forget her sisters name but for the sake of this blog we will call her Linda. Linda's mother in law (Whom she did not get along with) passed away four days ago. Last night Linda was laying in bed and suddenly got very cold. She looked out into the hallway where she saw a mist. Thinking it was smoke she sat up and took a second look. The mist was growing thicker, and the room colder. All at once the mist took on a human shape and started to come into the room. Linda Yelled out, NO I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU...And snapped on the light. As she did the last of the mist disappeared and the room grew warm. Linda said she knows it was the mother in law.
Both the girls (Linda and Betty) grew up in a haunted house and both have had these type of experiences before. Betty said she told Linda to set up a video camera tonight and see what happens. I told her to also make sure she has her regular camera close by...Freaky huh

Note from previous post

I wanted to add a note about my last post. I had described the claw marks found in the river bed/bridge area as fossil like. I probably used the wrong word here. They did not actually find fossils but found claw type marks as if someone had tried to claw there way out of the water. The part about finding finger nails is as I remember the story. I would think any type of marks found in wood or clay after almost 150 years would be hardened, there fore I used the word fossil.
Sorry for any confusion. Also please remmeber this is a story that was told to us and there is no documentation that I am aware of.
Thanks

A story from Gettysburg Ghost Walk

I promised to tell you one of the ghost stories that I heard on the ghost walk in Gettysburg. The one that stood out in my mind that night happened here.

The area you see here may not look like much now, but on July 4, 1863 this area was known as WILLOUGHBY RUN. It was all dirt with a creek running through it. During the combat, the Confederates used the seven foot banks of Willoughby Run both as an entrenchment and a place to get some relief from the blazing sun and the heat of the battle.
It's said that on the last day of the battle as the troops were pulling out that a sudden thunderstorm hit the area and cause a flash flood of Willoughby Creek (there actually was a storm like that on July 4th.) It trapped several troopers and drowned them, and you're supposed to be able to hear their cries to this day. The stream crosses town, and it's been reported that if you get too near a storm grate that ghostly hands will grab at your trouser cuffs in an effort to pull themselves out of the surging waters. We were told that the little stream and a footbridge were still there a few years ago, and that when the city went to close it off (as shown in the photo above) that they found both fossil type claw marks and human finger nails embedded into the sides of the dirt. We were also told that Some of the wounded soldiers were down in the entrenchment and that for several days after the battle that the water ran red with blood.
Now I don't know how true any of this is, but it made for a good ghost story, and I don't mind admitting I hurried across that area and on down the sidewalk.

Ghost walk

My copy of "The Ghost Hunter's Field Guide..Gettysburg and Beyond, by Mark Nesbitt" is well worn and has proven to be a valuble resource when I have visited Gettysburg. One of the statements he makes has stood out in my mind and gives you something to think about.
I am not quoting it exactly the way it reads in the book, but it is something to this effect.
"Five-One thousand men were killed or wounded in the three day battle. Out of this three days they actually fought about 24 hours. When broken down this means that for every hour that they fought 2,125 men were shot. Every minute of that 24 hours 36 men where hit, so every two seconds a man was hit. For twenty-four hours."


When most of us think of this three day battle we tend to think of those men, but what is sometimes forgotten is the people who lived in the town of Gettysburg.
On June 1st of 1863 the town of Gettysburg had a population of 2,400. I was told on a recent tour of one of the homes in the area that when the troops pulled out on July 4th, that approx. 23,000 men were left behind. Almost every home had to take in a wounded solider or help to bury the bodies. A lot of these men died within the weeks that followed. It's little wonder with these statistics that Gettysburg is haunted. And of course being haunted everyone has a story to tell.
Look on any corner and you will find some sort of "Ghost Walk"

Mark Nesbitt "Ghost of Gettysburg" tour has been nominated as the #1 tour in Gettysburg, but for my trip this time we choose a different company to take a walk with. We opted for Sleepy Hollow tours.
Sleepy Hollow of Gettysburg Candlelight Ghost Tours is owned and operated by Cindy Codori-Shultz. Cindy is the 6th generation granddaughter of Nicholas Codori, of the Codori Farm, site of Pickett's Charge. Although Cindy did not give the tour the night we went we did have the opportunity to meet her while there and enjoyed talking with her. She seems like a very nice lady and her tour guides were well informed and interesting.
The night we took our tour we went with Amanda


She was a delight and told us several very interesting stories. Unlike the worst ghost tour I ever took in Richmond VA where we were rushed up and down hills and told stories at such a fast pace that we got very little out of the story I was pleased not only with Amanda's story telling ability, but also with the pace at which she told her stories and the way she lead the tour. She made sure everyone was together before she started talking, gave us time for questions and photos and seemed generally interested in having us as her guest.
I will try and relate some of those stories in my next post

Fire Fly From Hell

I'm back from Gettysburg and actually have a few things to report that we found a bit "unexplainable"


Do you remember in the movie Peter Pan, when Tinker Bell first comes in the window and the little boy sees her and starts yelling Fire fly from hell? Well, this is exactly how my daughter felt while in Gettysburg. Everyone had gone inside the cabin but her and she was just standing outside staring into the woods. She said she was seeing what she thought was a campfire. She could clearly see the light. Now no one was camping near us and the woods were not part of the campground so there is no way a fire should have been in that area. She said she stepped off the porch to take a closer look and the light was still there, as she walked toward it, it disappeared and in its place was a ball of light just hovering around the trees. Just about this time I stepped outside to see what she was doing, and as she turned her attention to the sound of the door opening the light was gone. She was quite exacted as she told me what she had seen. I told her I had heard of this type of thing happening before in Gettysburg. I have read several times on the Internet and in books on the hauntings, of people seeing strange lights.
I didn't think anything else about it and we all went to bed. About four A.M. I heard her get up and go outside. Now it was dark and raining so I could not imagine her going far. We had port-potties but they were up the path a bit, so I knew if she had to pee she was probably on the side of the cabin. I waited until I thought she had time to "do her thing" then I went out to check on her. Once again she was staring into the woods. MOM...It is back she exclaimed. I swear to you I saw this BIG ball of light, just dancing around. She went on to tell me that as she went closer to it that it seemed to come closer to her and then start to chase her as she came back towards the cabin. She said it was at lest 6 inches round and there is NO WAY that it was any kind of bug.
My daughter by the way is almost 25 and was not waking up from a night mare. She was fully awake. So what did she see? It depends on if you believe in spirit orbs. I don't think she was much of a believer in any kind of "ghost" before this trip.
Now she will be the first to tell you that it is haunted.
Also while we were there we both heard cannon fire coming from the battlefield. No re-enactments were going on..
We heard voices in the night, and far off singing. (we were not camping near anyone and were in woods backing up to the battlefield. This happened on two different nights when it was well after the ten pm closing of the battlefield and it's roads.)
One night we heard a loud sound. I can't even describe it. At first I thought it was a horse, since there were horses in the area, but it was a horrible sound. More like something or someone in desperate pain.
What ever it was send us running into the cabin.
Is Gettysburg haunted? Do you believe the tales you hear? All I can tell you is what I believe, and what has happened to me...

To be continued