Chasing Gettysburg's ghosts

By Joe Martin

My wife Candy and I recently returned from a trip to some eastern states in lieu of dragging my aging derriere out to Escondido, Calif., to attend my 40th high school reunion. My rationale was that, either way, I'd be visiting historic sites and relics anyway.

Therefore, our rather tenuous trip plans were generally to spend a few days in Louisville, Ky., skip to Harpers Ferry, W.Va., wander down through Virginia via the Shenandoah Valley, then head back toward home through Tennessee. Not a bad little trek, considering our lack of planning. The trouble (or blessing) was that things didn't quite develop as expected.

Fate prevailed late one night, as things weren't looking too good for Harpers Ferry or even Hagerstown, Md., a reasonably close alternative stop. Tired and frustrated, we found ourselves at an RV campground near Gettysburg, Pa., at 4 a.m. I stopped there, promising Candy we'd stay only a day or two, even though I've loved reading about Gettysburg since I was a child. This was also my third visit to the battlefield in 30 years. Something about this place has always beckoned me. Well, we spent nine days at Gettysburg and never saw Virginia or Tennessee. But was this unintended diversion worth it? You bet.

Strangely enough, only my second trip to Gettysburg was planned -- to impress my then fiancee Candy by dragging her around to all the major Civil War battlefields I could think of. My first visit, however, was about 30 years ago because of a lucky fluke. I was serving in the U.S. Coast Guard at the time, and my ship ran aground in Miami, which resulted in our being towed to Baltimore, Md., for repairs. A crewmate just happened to be going to Pennsylvania on leave and, aware of my interest in Gettysburg, offered to drop me there for a few days to explore. And boy, did I.

The National Park Service maintains about 25 square miles of the Gettysburg battlefield, and I set out on foot to cover nearly every mile, including a long trot across the valley where Pickett's charge occurred, from the Confederate lines on Seminary Ridge to the Angle, the focal point of the charge in the center of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge.

Wow, what a rush. Although, I also experienced the most calm, serene feeling at the same time. After all, the entire battlefield is hallowed ground and a national shrine. Now, by a dose of fate, I again got to embrace very similar experiences as 30 years ago with, obviously, a little less stamina. Even so, Candy and I tried an entirely different twist on this third visit.

Do you believe in ghosts? Well, I'm somewhat of a skeptic in that department. Yet I do believe in the Holy Ghost, and I believe that the earth is temporarily Satan's domain for his evil spirits and demons until God cleanses it with fire, probably with some of that global warming hype we keep hearing about. So why not keep an open mind?

Candy and I enjoy reading ghost stories of the battlefields while we're visiting them. We also, just for grins, tried something different at some of the areas many paranormal experts say are arguably the most haunted sites of Gettysburg, if not the world, like the Bloody Wheatfield, Triangular Field adjacent to the famed Devils Den, and the Valley of Death where Plum ("Bloody") Run flows. All of these sites are near hills called Little and Big Round Tops, at the extreme left of the Union line during the battle.

The Confederates knew if they could take Little Round Top, they could roll up the entire Union line, including their massive logistics (wagon) trains, and advance directly on Washington, D.C. So one should easily appreciate the extremely deadly struggle that ensued in this area.

I might add that, in the mere three days of the Gettysburg battle, thousands more died than we have lost during about four years in one of the theaters of our war of Islamic terror, in Iraq.

Anyway, we tried something I haven't heard tried before at these sites.

I outfitted Candy in a period dress, hoops and all, and for three nights placed her in the middle of the sites mentioned above, then asked her to read verses from the Bible. I took a lot of pictures both when she was reading and silent. Activity that showed up on my digital camera was rather haunting. While she was reading, the orbs that paranormal ghost hunters talk about so much swirled around Candy like bubbles in a freshly poured glass of champagne.

Ghosts or not, just having the chance to stand where great Americans made history is ever so gratifying enough. God willing, I will return for the gratification and to pay respect once again.

Oddly enough, this wonderful experience was somewhat challenged by a haunting of failed government schools when a teenager asked his parents, "Was there fighting in the Civil War?" The parents couldn't answer. How sad.

Joe Martin resides in Jackson.