What causes the unexplained phenomena that occurs at civil war battlefield and other haunted sites? Noone can ever know for sure, but there are many things which are likely to cause a persons spirit to become restless and haunt the earth as a ghost. Experiencing a sudden difficult transition into the afterlife, or witnessing the desecration of a grve or improper burialof ones body are both high on the list. It would seem that almost every soldier who died at Gettysburg would fit into one category or another, but then most Confederates would probably fit into both. Maybe this is why Confederate haunts like the Triangular field and Seminary ridge seem to generate more paranormal activity than places like the Soldiers National Cemetery. Gettysburg itself is considered by some locals to be a Confederate haunt, and if there is one thing that we know Confederates had to endure at Gettysburg that Union soldiers didn’t it was being buried by the enemy.. Let’s look at the facts..
After the battle of Gettysburg the task of cleaning up the battlefield fell mostly to two groups, black farm hands and farmers.. These were the two groups most negatively affected by the confederate army during the invasion.. so karma, poetic justice, or whatever you want to call it was at work. Many diaries and old newspaper articles from the time period talked about the fleecing of the Confederate dead at Gettysburg. This was mostly done by farmers seeking retribution for damages to their property (damages that were inflicted during the battle).. Some Confederate bodies were even held for ransom, so that the soldiers family would be forced to pay damages before his body could be taken home. Furthermore in the interest of stopping the spread of disease many confederates were put on fire along with animals. Those that weren’t burned were stacked together like sardines in shallow gravs that were often uprooted and scavenging by wild hogs. A public outrage over these things eventually was the impetus for the creation of the Soldierns National Cemetery, however it was NOT to include the Confederates who were clearly seen as traitors and criminals.
Even today the battlefield still contain the remains of countless unidentified southerners, which are often still found scattered on or near the surface of the ground. Believe it or not the last civil war soldier found dead at Gettysburg was as recent as 1996, When the century old hand of a Mississippi man was seen protruding from the soil of a railroad embankment northwest of town. Considering the religious and superstitious beliefs of people in the victorian era, is it any wonder that these souls did not find peace in the afterlife??
While there is no way to know what causes strange phenomena like malfunctioning of cameras, strange shadows, orbs, mists or apparitions to appear, one thing is for certain… strange and unexplained phenomena is the rule in Gettysburg and it cannot all be attributed to the wild imaginations of visitors seeking to learn more about their Confederate ancestors.