GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG Part 2
In case you are not a regular follower of this blog, I ask you to view my original post about the Ghosts of Gettysburg, as that will anchor you into my tale and prepare for for Ghosts of Gettysburg Part 2. The experiences I had with my daughter and a friend were as real as the experience I have now as I type. Of course, some of our experiences were solely personal and could not be documented. Other experiences were captured on film and digital recorders and I included some of that “evidence” in my last post, which you can find here – Ghosts of Gettysburg.
If you’ve already read that first post, you should know a lot has happened since then. I’ve had the chance to listen to more recordings and view more images and have discovered more images – some in the photos I’ve already posted. Debunking some evidence has been easy in some cases and rather difficult in others. I have some recordings that sound intriguing but after hearing the same moment from my daughter’s or friend’s recordings, we realize there is nothing paranormal about them. Despite the evidence we feel is indisputable, disregarding or disproving any of it is a disappointment. Alas… as is the saying, “When in doubt, toss it out.”
For the evidence we believe to be accurate – we can start by having a look at the photo below. It’s from an early morning trek into Reynolds Woods. Originally, I saw two ghostly images in it – one on the path walking toward me, the other crouched in the brush toward the front left. It wasn’t until I looked at the image with a fresh eye, that I saw yet a third ghostly image in the same photo.
Here is the original picture with the two images indicated:
Now here is that same image with the discovery of the third ghostly apparition:
In my last post, I mentioned our experiences with temperature fluctuations in The Wheatfields. Well, I’d left my camera in the car so I don’t have photos from there but I do have an interesting recording. I didn’t hear voices while I was there, but on playback, I heard what sounds like mumbling as we speak and then through the silence, I hear something sad – a man whispering, possibly praying… using the words: “Help me.” “Take me.” “Hey.” Each plea is made a few seconds apart with “Help me” at :18, “Take me” at :21 and “Hey” at :26.
Can you hear them? (For a fuller experience, you might want to use headphones)
Voices in the Wheatfields
To move on with our experiences… after all of the experiences we had throughout the audio/auto tour of the battlefield, which I described in my last post, we went back to an area we had been the night before during a commercial ghost tour. This was a small field behind the Jennie Wade House. Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. She was baking bread for the troops when a stray bullet ripped through the door and pierced her heart. She died instantly. There are ghost tales about her and her home, but I’ll skip all of that and tell you about the field behind the house since that is where we had several personal – and intense – experiences.
According to our enthusiastic, intriguing and lovely tour guide, Kendra Belgrad, some Confederate soldiers who were outnumbered in this spot by Union soldiers, chose to play dead rather than fight. On retreat, the Confederate soldiers who did fight ‘captured’ these men, called them cowards and said they would never have a hero’s burial but would instead remain in the spot where they failed to fight. The fighting Confederate soldiers then murdered the ‘cowardly’ soldiers and buried them in that field. It is said ghostly images are constantly captured in that field. There are images of orbs, of heads peeking around trees and of men leaning against the trees and holding their muskets.
These are the images we hoped to capture the evening after our auto tour. And we did capture them. Almost immediately.
Once on the field, I turned my camera toward the tree where a lot of activity has been reported. I took a few shots and noticed a red ‘glare’ in them. I’m a photographer’s wife, so I considered the first flare to be simple reflection of tail lights from cars parked in the lot beyond the tree. However, in each photo, the red glare was in a different position. First next to the tree “peeking”, then just around the tree’s edge and then more toward the center of the tree. I looked at each digital image as I shot it and on the fourth or fifth shot, I was stunned. So stunned, that when I glanced at my daughter, the expression on my face scared her into insisting I not tell her what I saw.
What I saw in that startling image was what looked like a soldier who had just been shot and had slammed back against the tree. His hat looks like it tipped down over his face as he slumped back and the red glare is on his shoulder – perhaps where the bullet hit.
Admittedly, the image is dark. I did not use flash and the area was back-lit by the hotel and streetlights. Still… if you look closely, you should be able to see what I saw here:
Here is the shot immediately after the one above – notice the soldier image is no longer there:
Perhaps they’ll both be easier to see here:
He’s here –
but not here (in the very next shot):
A few minutes later, in a different spot of the field, my daughter’s K2 readings went wild. K2 meters register high magnetic fields. The meter flickered throughout this experience but registered noticeably seconds before our friend said she felt as if someone was standing right between her and my daughter. I fired off three shots and the first one shows a soldier standing precisely where she said she felt a presence. The other two shots show nothing.
I’m pretty sure this one will be very easy to see:
In case you can’t see him, here he is:
Of course, we captured a lot of orbs and other questionable images during our time there. I don’t know enough about orbs to say whether what we caught were spirits, bugs or some other natural phenomena. But… here are a couple of our orb photos and a couple of possible ghost images:
Odd mist in only one of four images:
Orbs:
Outline of man in mirror (Jennie Wade House):
Here’s that last one cropped and indicated:
Don’t think this is it. We captured more voices and suspicious – or should I say “curious” – images and sounds. Here we were walking along Cemetery Ridge when we came upon some black walnuts lying on the ground. As we discussed them, there’s a long labored sigh then a very clear – stern – male voice seems to say, “Open!”. Not sure why he said that but, from his tone, he expected his order to be obeyed. Listen here…the ‘sigh’ happens as we’re walking at :08 and the ‘Open!” is at :15 ,right after I ask, “Are they edible?”
Sigh and “OPEN” at Cemetery Ridge
In my last post, I mentioned how each of us felt uncomfortable at Culp’s Hill. I posted audio of what sounds like the hammer of a rifle/musket and a voice saying, “Whisper!” as my daughter speaks. There are a lot more sounds – some clearly voices – from that spot and I’ll post another one here. It happened as we walked along an unsteady incline on our way further into the woods. Listen as my friend says she hears something and feels like she’s being watched. You’ll first hear my, “Ooo!” as I slip on an wobbly rock, then you’ll hear the drawn out whispered voice talking over us at :04 –
Culp’s Hill
What do you think it says? We hear the words, “Get home!”
I’ll wrap up with two more experiences – in my next post. 🙂
One experience is something I cannot prove. I can only say all three of us endured it at the same moment, sharing our perceptions in real time and noting how each of us knew what the other was going to say before it was said. The experience was that vivid to us all. The other is one that just might make a believer out of the most skeptical among us. It made a believer out of my husband… and since he’s a photographer and our ‘proof’ is on video… that’s saying a lot.
Until next time…
Find Part 3 of my Ghosts of Gettysburg series HERE
Very cool, Debbie. I can’t really see a lot of the images, but it’s because of my laptop screen. I’m going to see if my husband will let me use his large screen monitor. How silly are we? A couple of grown women ghost hunting.
Thank you for posting these. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your experiences.
Hey Catie, I’m disappointed you can’t see the images. I really need a program that allows me to enhance the images without altering them. You’d think a photographer’s wife would have that, wouldn’t you? :-/
And, I don’t know about you, but I ONLY went ghost hunting as a gift to my teen daughter.
😉
Love it!! The voices and sounds are actually pretty freaky. Yet exciting too! I definitely want to bring a digital recorder if we go there.
Again, an excellent and intriguing read!!
Definitely bring a digital recorder – and allow several seconds on silence at a time. That’s when we captured most of the sounds – including what we believe are musket rounds and cannon fire. Of course, our ‘hunting’ wasn’t done in a controlled environment, so we can’t be certain what those sounds actually were. But these voices… yowza. Definitely freaky.
Wow, what an exciting trip! I have to admit, I couldn’t see the ghosts, but I’m not usually good at picking out very fine details. Thanks for sharing – looking forward to your next post!
I’m disappointed about the images. I’ve been looking at them so much that can’t NOT see them, you know? I hope to enhance the pictures somehow – to bring out what’s there naturally, not to add anything. If that happens, I’ll repost the pictures.
Thanks for coming by!
Very interesting post, Debora! I admit to being a skeptic, though not a denier. I can’t explain some things, so who knows? I’ll definitely be watching for the next post.
Hi Julie! I’m still a skeptic. lol. Actually, I’m very surprised that I’m not freaked out by all of this. Honestly, hearing these voices on playback and finding ‘ghostly images’ in the photos means we were surrounded by paranormal activity. And yet… here I am, calmly uploading my findings and chatting about them as if disembodied voices and apparitions were part of a normal day. 😆
I hope when you see the next post, you’ll feel a little of the excitement we felt. It may not make you less of a skeptic but I think it will make for an interesting read. 🙂
Love these posts! My sisters and I went on the night ghost tour, but our only chilling experience was when we took pictures. The orbs didn’t show up until after we went back to my house, which seemed really strange.
I’m having trouble seeing most of the ghostly images on my computer screen also. I couldn’t get the audio to play, unfortunately.
Now I’ll have to go back to Gettysburg and take the audio tour. I’ll have to talk my hubby into it. 🙂
Hi Cate – thanks for coming by.
That is very strange about the orbs not showing up until later. But then, this whole thing is very strange, isn’t it?
About the images here – I find them difficult to see, too. They are much clearer on my little camera display or on my computer with the lights out. It’s taken people a while of maneuvering the angle of the screen before they see them, but once they do, they are shocked – and SHOCKED is the right word because these images are truly amazing.
The audio should either play here on this page or open in a separate Quicktime window – maybe you have a pop-up blocker preventing quicktime to load?
I saw the original pix. These are a little harder to see because of the graininess but they still send chills up my spine!
It’s so disappointing that the images can’t be seen as well this way. I want to tweak them a bit in photoshop but don’t want to ruin the integrity of them by doing it that way. Still… the audio is there. Hopefully everyone (or most) can hear the voices on them.
Thanks for coming by, Gwen! Happy I could spook you. 😆
Thanks for linking to my blog, Haunting Investigations!
http://www.haunting-investigations.com/