Ghosts of Gettysburg

Gettysburg, Pa., is best known as the site of the bloody Civil War battle that took place here from July 1 to July 3, 1863. More than 163,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were involved in the Battle of Gettysburg, and more than 51,000 of them were dead, wounded or missing by the time the fighting ended. Given the rich history of the town and its surrounding area, it should probably come as no surprise that so many hauntings and ghost sightings have been reported.

In one famous story, two women stopped to look through the window of a craft shop in the town late one evening after the stores had closed. Instead of crafts, they saw a woman dressed in black, sitting in a rocking chair, apparently keeping vigil over the body of a man on a cot. The room was otherwise empty. The next day, the two tourists returned to the shop to find it filled with crafts. They asked the shopkeeper if perhaps there had been wax figures on display in the store the night before. Of course, there were not, and the shopkeeper was surprised when the women described a door visible in the previous night's scene that was entirely hidden behind a pegboard in the modern-day store. As it turned out, the shop was in the historic George House, where the body of Union Major General John F. Reynolds was held after he was killed on the battlefield on July 1, 1863.

Hundreds of ghost sightings have also been reported on the historic battlefields just outside of town. In an area known as Devil's Den, where Confederate sharpshooters took refuge in an outcrop of large boulders, visitors have reported encounters with a ragged-looking man who has come to be known as the "Phantom of Devil's Den." In multiple accounts, he appears out of nowhere, saying, "What you're looking for is over there." He vanishes the moment tourists turn their heads to look in the direction of his outstretched arm.