Civil War Ghosts

[shokan]

Has anyone experienced clear evidence of spirits of ACW participants? I haven't, not of Civil War guys, but in other incidents I definitely have. Freaky.

I stress the "clear evidence" aspect, not just imagination or speculation.

 

[Patrick H]

Clear evidence? Hmmm. This ought to provoke some real interesting answers. Without question, many, MANY people could give accounts of creepy experiences they've had. Many of them would consider those occurrences to be clear evident. Many others wouldn't.

As for me, I'm not nay-saying anything. I'm satisfied that strange things happen which seem to defy any other explanation.

 

[James B White]

What Patrick H said. Clear evidence--indisputably clear to anyone--would rewrite the fields of physics and biology.

 

[MRB1863]

I agree with Patrick! Many creepy experiences and many strange happenings. But on the contrary, there are also many creepy and strange folks out there in this world. One must separate the possible experiences from the tales that are crafted for entertainment or profit.

But, there are experiences that occur that are truly un-explainable. Those I do attempt to explain, nor do I challenge them. I just accept them for what they are...un-explainable. I have not ruled out the possibility that these experiences may be related to the past (or passed).

 

[dlavin]

I walked through the Cornfield at Antietam as sunrise. I didn't see anything concrete, nor did my camera, but I had a great deal of anxiety as if I was going to get blown to pieces as I walked south...

But how can there not be some spirits still living at some of these places? Even if I do not have proof to show it.

 

[MajGenl.Meade]

I ain't believe in no ghosts! But I am familiar with the feeling of connection to the past one gets in certain places - a flint in a stone wall that was put there almost 2,000 years ago by Romans; gazing across the Emmitsburg Road before stepping off from the trees. But I think we bring those feelings with us - a sense of awe and . . . something like nostalgia? Which makes little sense in a fire-fight. In other words, we have to know what happened in THIS place in order to feel anything ABOUT this place. Those who know nothing of Gettysburg or Antietam, plunked down in the fields, would feel nothing. Maybe I'm wrong. But I don't believe in no ghosts!

 

[Northern Light]

A lot of people are skeptical of things that they cannot see or don't understand. I have had too many unexplainable things happen to me to not believe in a spirit world.
Once we all thought the world was flat. Maybe someday we will know more about spirits than we know now.

 

[James B White]

A lot of people are skeptical of things that they cannot see or don't understand. I have had too many unexplainable things happen to me to not believe in a spirit world.
Once we all thought the world was flat. Maybe someday we will know more about spirits than we know now.

Works the other way too. Once we thought there were gods in volcanos and behind lightning bolts. That's where the clear evidence comes in.

 

[E_just_E]

well...
Evidence? Like things that will turn an NFL or and MLB call around? Dunno.
Math. Works pretty well. And loads folks' instincts to be open to try to feel stuff, if they do the math. (And, yeah, some of that might be suggestively forced.)

 

[Northern Light]

Works the other way too. Once we thought there were gods in volcanos and behind lightning bolts. That's where the clear evidence comes in.

I suppose so, James B., but life is so much more interesting if you open your mind to possibilities!

 

[James B White]

I suppose so, James B., but life is so much more interesting if you open your mind to possibilities!

I'll just offer the famous quote from Douglas Adams, "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" I've never found the real world boring.

 

[RebCav]

I walked through the Cornfield at Antietam as sunrise. I didn't see anything concrete, nor did my camera, but I had a great deal of anxiety as if I was going to get blown to pieces as I walked south...

But how can there not be some spirits still living at some of these places? Even if I do not have proof to show it.

I toured Sharpsburg in 2008......I was standing in the "Sunken Road" at about sunset and experienced what can only be explained as a "Panic Attack".....I felt fear, a sense of foreboding, and an extreme uncomfortableness overall......And Ive NEVER had that feeling before or since. Not ever. Weird.

Aloha,
Duane.

 

[shokan]

I've experienced the ghost of my mother who died of alcoholism; she hung around for three days, lights turning on by themselves and other weird stuff. Apparently, she found her way to the other side and it all stopped after those three days. It's profound, but, to me it's just what is. There ain't no way anyone can convince me otherwise about some people in spirit just hangin around in rare cases, kinda lost, then just goin on to heaven way after a while. I believe it just happens. Probably more than 99% of deaths are just a natural progression with no lingering-on.

@Meade "I ain't believe in no ghosts!" Ghosts... probable. Seen too much evidence of it.

 

[Frederick14Va]

I've experienced the ghost of my mother who died of alcoholism; she hung around for three days, lights turning on by themselves and other weird stuff. Apparently, she found her way to the other side and it all stopped after those three days. It's profound, but, to me it's just what is. There ain't no way anyone can convince me otherwise about some people in spirit just hangin around in rare cases, kinda lost, then just goin on to heaven way after a while. I believe it just happens. Probably more than 99% of deaths are just a natural progression with no lingering-on.

@Meade "I ain't believe in no ghosts!" Ghosts... probable. Seen too much evidence of it.

In the paranormal research realm... The event you detailed is commonly known and classified as a "Crisis Apparition"... This is actually a quite commonly encountered phenomena... Usually a recently deceased will be seen and encountered in full apparition form.. Usually will only occur once... Some cases reported to give a brief few words.. majority state nothing verbal relayed.. just appeared... then faded away. If such was to happen it generally will occur within 24-72 hours or so after death.... occurrence rate thereafter sharply drops off.... extremely rare after the 28 day mark...

For many people that have ever had a paranormal experience of any sort.. This usually is it... just the one time and nothing ever again.... Many times we would hear people tell us events such as "I don't normally believe in such things... but looked across the living room and saw Uncle Joe standing there smiling at me... few seconds later he disappeared... few minutes later Mom called to tell me that Uncle Joe had died in the hospital just a few minutes ago"....

 

[Frederick14Va]

I have studied and researched paranormal phenomena's and reports/claims of same for several decades... In my own as well as with a large formal organized research group for years... Particular focus on a host of different specific types of known hauntings and their researched characteristics. Many folks tend to gravitate towards battlefield areas... Many proclaiming them to be some of the "most haunted" places etc. Much of it of course is marketing hoopla to attract in the orb chasers and visitor dollars....

Here is a recent video that was reportedly shot around Gettysburg... Real?.. or Hoax?..... Will let folks see and chew on this before I give my take on it....

http://artbell.com/ghost-in-gettysburg/

 

[shokan]

@Frederick14Va: Yes within 3 days, the soul just drifts off to heaven. For anyone to hang on even that long is very rare. Usually, it's just immediate. My mother had a difficult time passing over. I mentioned in a previous post above about lights turning on by themselves. It didn't scare me at all. I just knew it was her, confused and lost. She also turned on the furnace in the middle of summer. We woke up to an oven. The hot switch that overrides the thermostat was in a dark spidery corner of the basement. I believe that people who get stuck for awhile after death experience constant cold and are looking for any means to get warmth. This includes jumping into a living human to vicariously experience the warmth. This is a very rare occurrence, but it does happen. And, it is usually just in degrees, never complete take-over. No one is capable of doing that. I have heard of so called "demons", but I am skeptical about that. I personally have only experienced screwed up people with obsessions who have a lot of anger who want to present themselves as "demons". But, they're really not. These people can be dangerous. They can cause sickness and distress in living people. But, they are not elemental non-human entities.

So, here's what happened last night.


Something spooky happened last night and this morning. Around
3AM, I was woken up suddenly by someone vigorously shaking the
drawer of my nightstand. It was loud. It lasted for maybe 5
seconds. I immediately thought, oh ****, I've got a **** ghost
in my apartment. As I've mentioned before, I've had a lot of
success opening up my mind in the past year or so. So, it seems
it is not a selective skill. I've become open to anyone and
everything. About half of people believe there are phenomena
that are (so far) poorly understood. I personally have seen and
experienced too much throughout my life to discount these
things. Heh, including seeing a UFO pretty close up. Both me and
my first wife saw it one Saturday morning many years ago. Guess
what, it was saucer-shaped, propelled without a sound and was of
a very bright metallic substance, maybe 30 or 40 feet in diameter. Just like the the
stereotypical idea of a UFO. My wife shouted out," Did you see
that!?"

Anyway, back to what happened last night. The next morning after when I was woken up at 3AM by someone violently shaking my nightstand drawer I
went to use the washroom at 6:30 AM and the cleaning product containers on
the sink counter were all turned upside down. What?! I couldn't
believe it. Absolutely I would have not done this. Someone else
did. No one except me is ever in this apartment. So, something
is going on. Wild, eh?

This kind of stuff doesn't scare me at all. I just don't want it
to disrupt my daily life. I especially don't want to be rudely
awakened in the middle of the night like what happened last
night. If it happens again.... actually, I don't know what
course of action to take, but if it becomes a problem, I'm sure
I would come up with a plan. My impression about what happened
last night is that it is the spirit of someone who used to live
in this apartment or one nearby and died here. This building has
a long and sometimes troubled history going back to the early
decades of the 1900s.

I also got the impression he is a skinny dark-skinned man, maybe
Caribbean or African or maybe Mediterranean.

Why he is trying to get my attention, no idea. It is interesting
that when I first moved in here I had a super vivid short dream
one night. In it I walked into the bathroom and there was a man
crouched down, face down, in a fetal position and trembling in
front of the bathtub. He was dark-skinned, skinny, had on a
shiny bright blue shirt. Obviously, I could see he was in deep
trouble. I asked him "Bud, how can I help you? How can I help
you?!" He started to turn his face up but then the dream ended
suddenly.

I think there is a connection between that and what happened
last night.

It is interesting to note that when I finally woke up around 6:30 AM, my leg and arm muscles were sore, as if I had the previous day or during the night been doing heavy exercise. I am completely in the dark why that would be, but I believe it is somehow connected to what happened during the night. I am prone to epilepsy. I am thinking I may have had an episode while asleep. I have been told that people who are prone to epileptic fits sometimes are "psychic". I'm thinking this may be the case with me.

 

[FarawayFriend]

That is absolutely fascinating, thank you for sharing. I find it interesting that you are not scared, I'm already scared by just reading that.
I deeply believe that something stays after our physical existence has ended. It would be an enormous waste of emotional energy if not. And I have met a lot of people here I do absolutely trust to be honest when telling about their experiences. I like the thought that there still are some mysteries and not everything can be explained and controlled.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Has anyone experienced clear evidence of spirits of ACW participants? I haven't, not of Civil War guys, but in other incidents I definitely have. Freaky.

I stress the "clear evidence" aspect, not just imagination or speculation.

It depends what people consider evidence. I took a random photo at the Jennie Wade House two years in Gettysburg. After downloading the pictures to my laptop I discovered an orb in the photo. People doing paranormal research might say that is probable evidence of an entity being present. Personally, I do, but it depends what people believe.

I'm at the office now or else I'd dig up that photo and post. I'll try to remember to do so later when I get home.

 

[shokan]

Yeah, find that photo if you can. Thanks to 1st Lieutenant and Anna Elizabeth. Good to know there are people who sense there are things other than what we ordinarily perceive. Me, btw, born at Jamaica Hospital, Queens, NYC. My Civil War ancestor is likely buried somewhere around there, maybe Brooklyn. He was shot twice. He was a Dockmaster there after the war. Died in his sixties around 1900 (served 1861-5, mustered out in DC). I have a a couple of ancestors who fought in the Civil war also War of 1812. C.C. Van Aken was one. I was privileged to see the ebony drumsticks of the man (actually, boy) who served in the War of 1812. They are in the possesion of the Buddington family of Somers, CT. I have direct lineage to him. His name was the same as mine. Peter Van Aken. Dutch, all of them Dutch Reformed Church and Methodist, settlers along the Hudson River, approx. 1670. I did not get a sense (about recent ancestors) that they were particularly religious, however. Just hill-folk, ordinary. Definitely just ordinary. But, to think of them, I recall they were very rich in personality, not distracted by society and just, well, good people. It has been said often that people that lived in the 19th century had simpler values. I believe that. There was also an element there, at least with my grandparents and great grandparents born not long after the Civil War, of stoic conservatism. These people, the Dutch, immigrated here because they saw opportunity in a new land. Likewise, English people also, then German, Irish, Italian, Jewish to NY. They all were thinking along very conservative lines. Most of them could not have cared less about slavery. This bigotry persisted big-time throughout New England to this day. But, it has softened somewhat. In fact, a lot, which is a good thing.

About 15 years ago, a Vermonter was interviewed on TV after winning the big one with the lottery. Millions. He was just like, just not excited. That is typical of many personality types up in the hills of New England of the really old families that have lived there for centuries. I'm somewhat the same way, my children also. With a big parcel of money, I'd just bequeath most of it to my kids and keep a little to spend a couple weeks on the coast of Maine, smelling that lovely salt air.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Yeah, find that photo if you can. Thanks to 1st Lieutenant and Anna Elizabeth. Good to know there are people who sense there are things other than what we ordinarily perceive. Me, btw, born at Jamaica Hospital, Queens, NYC. My Civil War ancestor is likely buried somewhere around there, maybe Brooklyn. He was shot twice. He was a Dockmaster there after the war. Died in his sixties around 1900 (served 1861-5, mustered out in DC). I have a a couple of ancestors who fought in the Civil war also War of 1812. C.C. Van Aken was one. I was privileged to see the ebony drumsticks of the man (actually, boy) who served in the War of 1812. They are in the possesion of the Buddington family of Somers, CT. I have direct lineage to him. His name was the same as mine. Peter Van Aken. Dutch, all of them Dutch Reformed Church and Methodist, settlers along the Hudson River, approx. 1670. I did not get a sense (about recent ancestors) that they were particularly religious, however. Just hill-folk, ordinary. Definitely just ordinary. But, to think of them, I recall they were very rich in personality, not distracted by society and just, well, good people. It has been said often that people that lived in the 19th century had simpler values. I believe that. There was also an element there, at least with my grandparents and great grandparents born not long after the Civil War, of stoic conservatism. These people, the Dutch, immigrated here because they saw opportunity in a new land. Likewise, English people also, then German, Irish, Italian, Jewish to NY. They all were thinking along very conservative lines. Most of them could not have cared less about slavery. This bigotry persisted big-time throughout New England to this day. But, it has softened somewhat. In fact, a lot, which is a good thing.

About 15 years ago, a Vermonter was interviewed on TV after winning the big one with the lottery. Millions. He was just like, just not excited. That is typical of many personality types up in the hills of New England of the really old families that have lived there for centuries. I'm somewhat the same way, my children also. With a big parcel of money, I'd just bequeath most of it to my kids and keep a little to spend a couple weeks on the coast of Maine, smelling that lovely salt air.

I was raised in Queens, shokan. If your ancestor was a Civil War and buried in Brooklyn he's most likely in Greenwood Cemetery.

I was able to find the photo. In the upper right corner you'll spot the orb. I had to attach as a file...I'm still learning how to use my Macbook interface :-/