Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 21:10:58 -0700 (PDT)
To: stories@ghosts.org
yourname John
email jb792@webtv.com
I recently transferred to the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I had known the general history of the three-day battle here in 1863, but it was only after I moved here that I learned that Gettysburg is considered one of the most haunted towns in the country.
I often visit the battlefield, and have a deep admiration and respect for those who fought and died here over 130 years ago; during many of my visits I will pick up trash, cigarette butts, etc., left by other visitors to the park. After one of these trips this past winter, I returned home, opened a book (non-fiction, not a mystery or horror novel) and read until late in the evening. As I walked into the kitchen area my television in the den turned itself on, and the first words I heard were “Listen to the voices of the dead” (apparently an add for a program on HBO). My tv has a cable box which means I must press four buttons before it will turn on, and I was nowhere near the television or the remote control. I’m actually a bit freaked out right now; right after I typed the “Listen to the voices of the dead” line, my webtv terminal disconnected, saying that I had an incoming telephone call, but the phone never rang! I certainly hope this was a bizarre coincidence.
Another incident occurred last May. A girlfriend was visiting me from back home, and during her brief stay we toured the battlefield; walking the site of Pickett’s Charge,etc. When she tried to pass through the metal detector at the Baltimore-Washington airport on her way home she kept setting off the alarm. They finally used a hand-held detector to find the source, which turned out to be the canvas sneakers she was wearing, which were also the same shoes she had worn walking the battlefield with me the day before. There is certainly a scientific explanation for these events, but at Gettysburg one never knows!