My husband took us to Gettysburg on a summer vacation in 2001, as a side trip on the way to
Virginia Beach.
Holy Cow!....
We stayed at a Holiday Inn, right in the heart of the city, at Baltimore Pike and Steinwehr, in fact. Just outside of our hotel was the bus station for the doubledecker bus tours of the Battlefield, which we took. Across the street, was the Hall of Presidents, and next to that, the National Cemetery.
Down the street, was the college and we were very much in walking distance to the main thoroughfare,
the Farnsworth House, and the College.
Our room was on the second floor, in the back. I woke up about 4 or 5 in the morning, it wasn't light out yet. My husband leaves the bathroom light on and the door slightly ajar, so no one gets
disoriented in the night.
Standing over by the wall, backlighted by the bathroom light, was a man in uniform.
I stared at him for a minute, wondering if I was really awake. I shook my head, keeping my
eyes on him. He stood with one gloved hand on his hip, the other on the hilt of his
long sword. His head was tilted to one side, and he leaned against the wall, braced by
his upper arm.
I could not see through him. I thought for a moment, we were going to be robbed.
But there was no sense of urgency, or malice coming from him.
Just curiosity, mild interest.
He had a hat in his hand, the one on his hip, and in the darkness, I could barely make out
a colored band going across his chest. His jacket was dark, his pants were dark and his
tall knee length boots were faintly shiny. I raised my head off the pillow, and he moved. My heart thumped.
He lowered the hand on his hip, straightened up and tilted his head at me, ever so slightly,
then disappeared.
?!?!!
We went through the National Cemetery, and admired the outside of the Hall of Presidents. They said they had the 'talking heads' and that just weirds me out, so that was a no-go.
But we did take the Greyhound Battlefield Tour, complete with headphones and a
peculiarly sad ghost experience I share only
with close friends and those I love.
Why?
Because it was unnerving and
it made me cry. I am not comfortable
putting it in the public forum.
We took a Ghost Walk sponsored by the Farnsworth
House. It took us behind the College and through
an alley, that had a diagononal section
running through it. The guide said it
corresponded to a bridge that about eight wounded men crawled under, to escape the fighting. Unfortunately, the water was rising and several of the men could not pull themselves out of it.
They drowned and haunt this section of town now.
