How many books and magazines cover Civil War ghosts and hauntings?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
Has anyone made a data base of what books and magazines cover Civil War ghosts and hauntings? I know I have several books that cover the subject. I have also seen articles in several magazine about the subject. Here is a magazine that has a Gettysburg ghosts article. I did not pay the $13.99 but picked it up at a friends of the libary store for 10 cents
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There are several books on the Ghosts of Gettysburg and you can check EBay for books and titles on Civil War Ghosts. We always enjoyed the Ghost Tours in Gettysburg even catching a picture of unusual light activity at the Farnsworth House (copied from 35mm negative). Ghosts, spirits, camera malfunction, don't know.

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Has anyone made a data base of what books and magazines cover Civil War ghosts and hauntings?

Have made an Accel database of my books and magazines which contains many Civil War Ghost titles but do not have one devoted specifically to ghost book titles, magazines, or articles. Thought those Blue & Gray October Magazines, '13 Haunted Places of the Civil War' I & II were very interesting! Were there such a database I would find it of interest.

Saw around a dozen on Amazon specific to Civil War Ghosts.

As I've had four distinct "paranormal encounters" for lack of a better descriptor in my life I find this subject matter intriguing. Sometimes hard to distinguish between those with legitimate intent versus those who do this as entertainment and out to make a buck.
 
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I posted this on the Civil War Books, Stories and Media Forum, but it may get more eyes over here.

For those who like ghost stories, Arcadia Publishing has a bunch of local history ghost stories and legends E-books on the Hoopla digital service available through many libraries (all you need is your library card). Most are fairly short, so I added some to my "Favorites" list to read later.

Haunted Vicksburg
Civil War Ghosts of Atlanta
Civil War Ghosts of Sharpsburg
Civil War Ghosts of North Georgia


There are more titles that would qualify or at least parts of them would probably include Civil War ghosts.

There are about 300 titles in total. Have fun browsing!
 
Whenever possible, I try to pick up Civil War haunting books at a used bookstore that seems to carry them. I then go through them to use in the Haunting Forum. The problem now for me is trying to find UNIQUE stories that haven’t already been covered!

@Lincoln56 are you willing to discuss your experiences? I know we would find them interesting!
 
That is a lot of books. Perhaps Civil War hauntings are more popular that I thought.
Just to be clear @major bill , not all of them are strictly Civil War hauntings. There are some books that are and some books that probably have at least one Civil War story in them, but others probably have no Civil War stories at all (i.e., Haunted Universal Studios).
 
My grandfather purchased a cemetery plot next to a friend who was a Civil War veteran. My grandfather may have even bought the plot for this old Civil War veteran who had no family and few friends. Sadly the veteran has no marker. My grandmother didn't care for the veteran and publicly stated she would roll over in her grave and haunt the family if she was ever buried near that "dirty old soldier". She wanted to be buried in another area next to her mother and her daughter. My grandmother was the family fortune teller and some people believed she could haunt the family if her wishes were ignored. Well she got buried next to the soldier.

I have to go twice each year and realign her grave stone. This is complicated because her grave always has poison ivy around the twisted grave stone. I have not found any physical reason for her headstone to twist. None of the other family stones in that area ever need realigning and as far as I know there is no other spots in the cemetery where poison ivy grows.
 
Whenever possible, I try to pick up Civil War haunting books at a used bookstore that seems to carry them. I then go through them to use in the Haunting Forum. The problem now for me is trying to find UNIQUE stories that haven’t already been covered!

@Lincoln56 are you willing to discuss your experiences? I know we would find them interesting!
The only two I have as physical books are:

Ghosts of Lincoln: Discovering his Paranormal Legacy by Adam Selzer. This is in my "Read Me" pile despite Publishers Weekly's less than stellar review. I think it may still have points of interest.


Spirits of the Civil War: A Guide to the Ghosts and Hauntings of America's Bloodiest Conflict by Troy Taylor. There were some interesting stories, but it's not a book I'm looking to keep. It's in the box for my Civil War Round Table's book sale for battlefield preservation. I agree with the reader in the link below that better editing/proofreading would have been helpful.

 
Whenever possible, I try to pick up Civil War haunting books at a used bookstore that seems to carry them. I then go through them to use in the Haunting Forum. The problem now for me is trying to find UNIQUE stories that haven’t already been covered!

@Lincoln56 are you willing to discuss your experiences? I know we would find them interesting!
Certainly! Four in total, 2 at Shiloh, 2 at my home; apologies for being long winded but feel providing context is important.

Visiting Shiloh in June 1992 and standing in the cemetery with my wife and son. She had a 35mm camera around her neck held by a strap and the lens cover was on. I was looking at her directly at the time and distinctly heard the click of the camera as though a photo was taken. Her hands were nowhere near the camera at the time, nor was there any clothing or purse which might have struck the mechanism to explain why a picture was taken. When the roll was developed there was a completely black image (of course due to the lens cap being on).

At Shiloh on the same visit driving a Jeep Cherokee; the air conditioning and heating was controlled by a sliding bar; far left was cold, far right was heat. As we were exiting the park, the slider, which was sitting on the cold side as it was a warm June day quickly slid to the far right to output maximum heat. My hands were on the wheel and my wife's were nowhere near these controls. We never experienced this type of "malfunction" before or after with this vehicle.

In my family home. I was 10 or 11. My grandmother had passed and we came into possession of her things, one of which was her favorite rocking chair. It was placed in our attic guest room. My bedroom was directly below this area - when someone was walking up there we heard floor creaks. There was no air conditioning in the house nor fans up there and no pets allowed up there either. about 6 months to a year after she passed, one night I heard a creaking sound from upstairs and went to investigate as there was nobody up there. What I saw was the rocking chair slowly rocking back and forth with no occupant. I saw no obvious explanation as to how this could be though to be honest I did not tarry long. Shortly thereafter I was sent to military school and consequently I did not experience this again.

In my family home. We had converted our attic to a guest room and there were several wood framed pictures hanging on the wall of the stairs. They had been there undisturbed for 10 years or more. One night, again after my grandmother had passed, I was watching TV when I heard a 'bang bang bang' sound. coming from the attic area. The dog was going nuts barking. When I opened the door, I found one of the pictures at the bottom of the stairs. Again, these pictures had been hanging for years in this same location; there was no new air circulation in the area to explain it. The actual retaining wire for the picture was unbroken so this wasn't the cause.

I've always felt these were unusual events with no logical explanations coming to mind though, of course, there may be one and that will be fine. Until then however I choose to believe these were paranormal encounters.
 
Shortly thereafter I was sent to military school and consequently I did not experience this again.
Sorry, this made me laugh - like you were punished for seeing the rocking chair so they sent you to military school, like somewhere in… Alaska, maybe?

Actually, your experiences are totally believable and I believe them. Thank you for sharing them.
 
Sorry, this made me laugh - like you were punished for seeing the rocking chair so they sent you to military school, like somewhere in… Alaska, maybe?

Actually, your experiences are totally believable and I believe them. Thank you for sharing them.
:unsure: I actually thought this too after I posted it.... school was in Indiana.... no towns for miles, the flattest land allowing tons of snow to gather around campus buildings and cold snowy winters so while not Alaska very cold and uncomfortable in winter. :D
 
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