Hauntings of the Great RebellionEver been to the Triangular Field at Gettysburg at night? Do you know any good Civil War era ghost stories, the kind you tell your friends around the campfire? Read and post about these ghostly experiences here.
Old Green Eyes is the name of the demon who hides in the bushes of the park. The humanoid creature has glowing green-orange eyes with fang-like teeth. It wears a cape, which is partially hidden by it's waist length hair. The ghoul was first seen prowling among the corpses after Civil War battles. Since then, the phantom has been reported by both park rangers and visitors, and in the 1970's it caused two seperate automobile accidents when it was spotted alongside a road. Old Green Eyes is most often encountered on Snodgrass Hill, site of a bloody Civil War battle. In September 1863, over 35,000 men died in three days of fighting.
The ghost of a lady in white is also seen roaming the grounds. She is said to be searching for her sweetheart, who died in the carnage.
I was recently on Snodgrass Hill. If you're familiar with the area, it was the area where there's several Indiana and Ohio monuments-before the large Tennessee infantry monument.
It was odd. I had the strong-and strange-feeling that someone, or something, was watching me.
I don't spook real easily. I walked to Bloody Pond by myself late one January afternoon, and didn't feel the unease I recently experienced on Snodgrass Hill.
I hear Snodgrass Hill is the most restless place in the Park. I believe it.
I didn't see Ol' Green Eyes but I definitely found cold spots on the Chickamauga field, in places that were more off the beaten path. (I'm getting *****ly neck just remembering.)
One place that wasn't haunted was the Gordon Lee Mansion, Rosecrans's headquarters and later a field hospital, which was at one time a bed and breakfast and now belongs to the city of Chickamauga. I spent the night alone there one night and ranged all over the house. I found no manifestations. The next morning I told the host that the place wasn't haunted as far as I could tell, and he said that a professional psychic had told him the same thing. He'd even had an invitation from Riki Lake to go on her show and tell about the haunted house, and he refused, because it wasn't haunted!
A few years ago,I spent a night in the cabin next to the Gordon Lee Mansion. I can't say whether there were ghosts around; they may not have wanted to manifest at that time or to me.
I've spent considerable time at the battlefield...never saw Green Eyes.
I'm not superstitious, and don't particularly believe in ghosts.
But...
We visited Chickamauga last Spring, and took a walk to look for a particular monument near the extreme west end of the hill. We found the marker and before I read it, I took a look around. It was a day off the equinox and right at 2PM by the sun, so my thinking was that the light would have been similar.
From an essay I wrote on the visit:
... Before we read the marker, I stop and look around. I want to commit this view to memory. I expect no emotion and feel none, until I turn to the monument. I am surprised by a sudden sensation of a hole in the atmosphere. An empty shadow of a darker thing than I care to know, it exists for less than half a second and abruptly slams shut. I am a little shaken as I read these words:
"...gained this position by assault at 2 PM and held against all attacks..."
...
So, yeah, I'm not superstitious, but I'm not about to make fun of someone who's experienced something I haven't.
Did you happen to feel anything at the Vinard Field? I am told that the rivine just past the LaFayette Rd to the west, at times has been known to have had action there.
Richard.
__________________ Located near Indianapolis, home of Col. Eli Lilly and the Eli Lilly Civil War Museum
Well. That caused cold chills. Were you on Snodgrass Hill?
...
Yeah, on the extreme west end of it (113 OVI). It wasn't spooky for me, at least not in that sense. It was unexpected, though. To better describe it, it was as though a small hole opened up just to my east revealing a noiseless but very great violence, then slammed shut before I could know too much.
It's just as likely that it was a product of my own mind as anything, but it did not detract from the visit in any way.
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