Haunted Andersonville Prison

Andersonville was a Confederate prisoner of war camp opened in 1863 during the Civil War.

Located in Sumter County Georgia, this camp was initially called Fort Sumter. The site was picked for it was near the Southwestern Railroad line, which meant moving prisoners and supplies would not be a problem.

Henry Wirz

The original camp was 16.5 acres and was designed to hold 10,000 Union prisoners. Henry Wirz, a southern captain, was made the commander of the prison.

The Deadline.

A fence 15 to 20 feet tall made of pine logs enclosed this stockade. Twenty feet within this perimeter was a light fence the prisoners nicknamed the “deadline,” for if anyone crossed it, they were immediately shot.

The fort was renamed Andersonville because it was confused with South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, located in Charleston Harbor, where the first shots of the war had taken place.

It wasn’t long before the stockade held 20,000 then 30,000 prisoners—it was expanded by a mere 10 acres. Between 1863 and 1865, over 49,000 Unions prisoners were held captive within its walls.

The south unable to feed its own, had no supplies to spare for this camp. The living conditions were horrendous. The prisoners were housed in wooden huts and tents that afforded no protection from the elements.

Drawing rations.

Between March and August of 1864, typhoid, typhus, infected wounds and starvation took the lives of 3,000 men each month. In all, close to 14,000 prisoners died while held captive at Andersonville.

Those prisoners that survived suffered from hunger, thirst, lice, and scurvy.

A brief respite came in August of 1864, after a rainy period. A natural spring bubbled up within the stockade and supplied desperately needed water.

The captain waiting for execution.

When the war ended the North was horrified at the conditions of this prison. Captain Henry Wirz was tried for war crimes and convicted. He was hanged on November 10, 1865.

His ghost is one of many Civil War ghosts that are seen around the stockade today. He is often spotted walking along the road that leads to the old prison.

Andersonville prison and the cemetery was opened as a National Historic site in 1970.

Many visitors to Andersonville have gotten more than they bargained for. Witnesses have reported hearing and seeing strange sights, especially on foggy summer nights. These sightings have been reported for over a century.

According to Jeff Belanger’s book, Ghosts of War: Restless Spirits of Soldiers, Spies, And Saboteurs, a female visitor at the site, talked to a ghost.

She was walking through the grounds when she stopped in the middle of a hill. She closed her eyes to take in what she was feeling and heard a voice. She looked around, but no one was there.

She closed her eyes once more.

She thought, “Were you a prisoner here?” The voice replied, “Yes.” She then asked, “Did you die here?” Again she heard, “Yes.”

Before she left, she asked the man his name. Later she gave this name to one staff member. He looked it up, and sure enough, the soldier’s unusual name popped up on the prisoner list.

Belanger also notes another ghost is often seen. Motorists that pass the stockade’s cemetery on Highway 49, state they have seen a Catholic priest standing near a curve in the road on rainy days.

This ghost is believed to be Father Peter Whelan. He was a Confederate chaplain who was liked by all—including the prisoners.

Another ghost is seen in Andersonville’s cemetery. There are 13, 714 Union soldiers buried here. Multiple witnesses have described this ghost precisely the same way.

He has only one leg and is seen hobbling around using a crude crutch. People state that he does not walk on the ground but instead several feet above it.

Cemetery before wooden markers were replaced.

One paranormal group had a fairly intense night within the stockade. All their equipment’s batteries drained—which happens a lot at this site—they then heard a massive group of men talking. They saw no one.

They heard an individual voice with a pronounced southern drawl demand, “Who goes there?”

One starved prisoner.

As the night went on, they heard what sounded like a pan being hit with a spoon, and a man’s voice pleading for “mercy.” They also heard the sound of a horse galloping across the field in the area where the original prison stood.

A fog settled over the field, and they saw a campfire and men moving around it. They then smelled the aroma of food cooking.

The next morning as one of the investigators woke up in his hotel room he spotted the ghost of a man in a Confederate uniform staring at him. He watched as this figure walked through his shut and locked door.

The Gray Lady of Camp Chase

Camp Chase Cemetery

This small two-acre cemetery, located in Columbus, Ohio, contains the graves of 2,269 Confederate soldiers. 

The men buried here did not die in battle but instead were imprisoned at Camp Chase during the Civil War.

Camp Chase was used initially to train Union volunteers with a few political and military prisoners kept on the site. 

With the onset of the war, and Union battle victories, Confederate officers began to be taken as prisoners of war.

Camp Chase, run by volunteers in 1862, at first was a lenient prison. Confederate officers could mail letters and receive gifts of food and money. The officers were even allowed to walk the streets of Columbus.

However, this changed when the federal government took over the management of the camp. All officer privileges were now eliminated—visitors and mail were banned.

The prison.

The living standards at the camp declined as more and more Confederate soldiers were imprisoned on the site. The prisoners who were now both officers and enlisted men, slept two to a bed and were provided little protection from the elements.

By 1863, there were 8,000 prisoners held at the camp, twice the number it was designed for. Many lived in tents.

The men weakened by the cold, and the meager rations began to succumb to diseases. In February of 1864 alone, over 400 men contracted smallpox and died.

At this point, Camp Chase's cemetery was established.

This photo was taken at the cemetery before 1902.

At the end of the war, the buildings at the camp were torn down. Some of the wood from these structures was used to make markers for the dead. Soon all that remained at the site was a stone wall, the rotting wood markers, and the bodies.

By 1896, the first memorial service honoring the dead was held at the site. This came about mostly through the efforts of a former Union officer, William H. Knauss--who wanted to foster the spirit of reconciliation-- he had been left for dead at Fredericksburg.

2007 Memorial Service
Hilltop Historical Society

Over the years, these memorial services have attracted thousands of visitors. They are held annually in June.

In June of 1902, the state of Ohio placed a granite memorial arch—built with funds given by the public. In 1906, Congress replaced the cemetery’s wooden markers with marble tombstones.

During the annual memorial services The United Daughters of the Confederacy pays tribute by placing flowers on the graves.

Arch placed in 1902.

Two graves at Camp Chase are given special attention, at other times of the year. Flowers are found placed on these two tombstones, this would not be considered unusual, except for the fact it is a ghost that does this.

No one knows for sure the identity of this spirit—called the Gray Lady. Some sources state her last name was Briggs.

She is seen putting fresh flowers on the graves of Benjamin Allen, as well as the tomb of an unknown soldier.

Several local and regional paranormal groups have investigated Camp Chase Cemetery—but the Gray Lady has eluded them.

Frederick “Freddy” Jones is one of the many who attends the memorial service regularly. He travels to Ohio in June, for his pizza business in Houston, Texas.

He believes in the Gray Lady for as a boy growing up in Columbus, he saw her.

At the age of fourteen he and several other boys were invited to a sleepover, just a few blocks from Camp Chase.

He and the rest of the group had heard stories about the Gray Lady. Late that night they snuck out and rode their bikes to the cemetery. The gate was locked so they climbed over the fence.

Freddy remembers that the tombstones glowed in the dark and that he was overwhelmed with an eerie feeling, as the group searched for Benjamin Allen’s grave. When they found it, there were no flowers on it.

Disappointed and sleepy, the group moved to leave, but they stopped when they heard what sounded like someone crying inside the cemetery—it was loud choking sobs.

They spotted a figure shrouded in the darkness, moving through the tombstones. It was a female, and she carried a bouquet of flowers.

Freddy remembers that every inch of her body was covered in clothes—with a high collar and long pleated skirts. She drew close enough that he saw glistening tears on her cheeks.

He watched as she floated, instead of walked, and was surprised he felt no fear. She then floated right through two trees.

She bent down at one grave and was mouthing words the boys could not hear—it appeared she was praying.

She placed the bouquet on top of the tombstone, and then turned and floated back the way she had come. She passed right through the iron fence that surrounded the cemetery and faded away.

None of the boys have ever forgotten this amazing sight. Their friendship was cemented that night because they shared this experience.

Freddy specifically states, he will never forget the wrenching sounds of the Gray Lady’s sobs.

The group always attends the annual Camp Chase memorial services.

Maryland: Ghosts of Antietam

This Civil War battle was the result of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North in September of 1862.

One day of intense fighting turned the Antietam battle into one of the bloodiest of the war—second only to Gettysburg in devastation.

Bodies after the battle.

Lee’s troops met the Union army at Antietam Creek * on the 17^th near the small town of Sharpsburg in Maryland. A staggering 23,100 men were wounded, killed or were missing in action after these two armies collided in cornfields and farmlands.

* In 1933, the National Park Service took over this site making it a National Park.

In just four hours alone, along a sunken road that separated two farms 5,000 men died.

Lee’s troops had reached this road and stayed, thinking at first it provided some protection. Soldiers on both sides fired continuously as the Union soldiers tried to take the position.

Finally, the Confederate soldiers were overrun—bodies fell on top of bodies along this bloody road.

Part of the Sunken Road now
known as Bloody Lane.

Today this road is called Bloody Lane. People who visit it claim it leaves an eerie impression. For no matter how many visitors roam this old road on any given day—it remains deathly quiet.

Many modern-day visitors have experienced strange activity along Bloody Lane. The sounds of gunfire and the smell of gunpowder are reported when no one is around.

One male visitor to Antietam National Battlefield spotted several men wearing Confederate uniforms as he walked Bloody Lane. At first, he thought they were war re-enactors but then he saw them vanish.

Another strange encounter occurred when a group of Baltimore schoolboys visited the lane. They heard singing out in the fields. They described it as a chant or the Christmas song Deck the Halls.

They heard Fa-la-la-la-la sung repeatedly.

Observation tower along Sunken Road.

Their encounter is telling in that during the battle an Irish brigade charged the Confederates near the observation tower located along Sunken Road. These Irish soldiers battle cry was in Gaelic and sounded like a Christmas carol.

Burnside bridge

Another active area on the battlefield is Burnside’s Bridge. It was here that General Ambrose Burnside finally pushed the Confederate troops back after several previous attempts.

Many soldiers were buried quickly near this bridge in unmarked graves.

At night, visitors near this bridge report seeing a strange glowing blue light moving around the area. Others report hearing the cadence of a drum playing—this sound fades away into the distance.

Ghostly mist captured by
one canon. Photo by
Belinda Franks

Today five upside down canon barrels mark the spots where five generals died during the battle. Photographs taken in these areas sometimes have strange mists or light anomalies in them.

It appears some of the soldiers who perished during the Antietam Battle are more than just a memory.

Two houses-- the Pry House and the Piper House both stand on the battlefield. These structures are haunted as well.

Witnesses report hearing footsteps on the stairs and seeing apparitions.

The Pry House was where Union Maj. General George B. McClellan made his headquarters. A woman seen in this house is believed to be Francis the wife of General Richardson.

Pry House as it appeared during battle.

Richardson was wounded during this battle and Francis nursed him on his deathbed.

Another structure near the battlefield in Sharpsburg is the St. Paul Episcopal Church. This building was used as a Confederate hospital following the battle.

Members of this church have heard screams, which they believe to be the southern soldiers who were wounded and dying in this makeshift hospital.

Other witnesses have seen lights flickering on and off in St. Paul’s tower.

Excerpts used in this post are from an article written by Rickie Longfellow a member of the West Licking Historical Society.

Here is a stark collection of Then and Now photos taken at Antietam. Warning: many are graphic in nature. 

Gettysburg: Farnsworth House

Farnsworth House

Brigadier General Alton J. Farnsworth who died during the Gettysburg battle built this farmhouse located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1810.

Today this building is run as a nine-room B&B and is known to have many restless spirits.

Some haunt this house because they died in the bloodiest battle of the Civil War—the Battle of Gettysburg-- others died during different points in time—regardless they all died tragically.

During the Civil War, Confederate sharpshooters used the house to strike down Union soldiers. They shot the enemy through the home’s windows. Later the house was used as a makeshift hospital.

Several of these fallen soldiers, haunt five of the rooms plus the attic in the modern-day Farnsworth Inn.

These sharpshooters are often heard moving about the attic. Juice harp music is heard playing, and a soldier’s footsteps are heard as he carries a dying comrade downstairs to the basement. He is heard softly singing in an attempt to comfort this wounded man.

Especially at night, shadowy figures are seen throughout the house. They are often spotted in the dining room. One soldier is heard pacing up and down the main hallway.

Other ghosts observed at the house that have no connection to this famous battle include a youngster named Jeremy, who one afternoon was playing tag outside with his friends, he was tragically trampled to death by a passing buggy.

His ghost is seen being carried in a blanket by his sobbing father, who brought him into the house after the accident.

Jeremy’s apparition is seen roaming throughout the house. He is known to steal items, leaving his toys in their place. His ghost is seen at nearby homes and a shop as well.

A former resident of the house, a midwife, named Mary died in the Sarah Black room in the Inn. She is often seen in the Catherine Sweeney room. Several guests have observed her sitting on the edge of their beds.

Catherine Sweeney Room

She likes to mess with people’s personal belongings and to touch their hair. One guest who was ill with a cold saw Mary several times—this makes sense since while alive, she often tended to the sick.

The Inn gives ghost tours, and Mary’s ghost is sometimes seen accompanying these tours.

Yet another ghost at the Inn is spotted in the kitchen. This spirit appears first like a black mist and then slowly changes into an older woman, she likes to check out the modern gadgets in this room.

She wears 19^th Century clothing and she vanishes when approached. It is thought this lady must have been employed as a cook in the house at one time.

The Farnsworth Inn also experiences a lot of poltergeist activity. Employees are often touched, their aprons are tugged on, and trays overturn on their own.

One recent incident involving the Civil War ghosts in the house happened on Halloween.

A local radio station was about to broadcast live from the Inn—the crew was all dressed in blue jeans and blue shirts. When one of them called the station to check on their feeds, he addressed a person on the other end who was nicknamed, “Captain.”

A psychic who was part of this broadcast, later that day, reported that the ghosts of the soldiers were in an uproar. Hearing people dressed in blue, reporting to their Captain had given them the idea that they had been discovered by Union troops.

They were convinced they had a spy in their midst.

The psychic tried to convince them the war was over, but they didn’t believe her.

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

In June of 1864 in Cobb County, Georgia Gen. Joseph E. Johnson withdrew his army to a new defensive position astride Kennesaw Mountain during the Civil War.

This location was just north and west of Marietta. Johnson chose this position to protect his main supply line to Atlanta--the Western & Atlantic Railroad.

Confederate earthworks on Kennesaw Mountain

Before taking this position Johnson wisely had pioneers working through the night digging trenches and erecting fortifications, which turned Kennesaw into a formable fortress.

Meanwhile, the Union commander, William T. Sherman had defeated Gen. John B. Hood’s troops at Kolb’s Farm on the 22^nd nearby felt Johnson had stretched his line too thin.

So Sherman decided a frontal attack was the best course of action against the Confederate bastion.

After an intense artillery bombardment, Sherman sent his troops forward at 9:00 a.m. on June 27^th.

Determined Union troops came within yards of the Confederate trenches but were unable to break the Southern line. By 11:30 a.m. the frontal attack had failed.

Sherman who later called Kennesaw “the hardest fight of the campaign to date,” lost 3,000 men. The Confederates lost close to 1,000.

Almost as soon as this battle was over the ghost stories began.

People who traveled through the area reported seeing soldiers on the battlefield and hearing the sounds of gunshots and cannon fire.

Reenactors at Kennesaw

Recently, whole groups of people have seen groups of Civil War soldiers and thought they were watching a Civil War reenactment only to discover no such event was taking place.

On the anniversary of this battle, many have reported seeing smoke over the various battlefields.

Often the smell of death and blood is noted.

Housing subdivisions have been built on part of this battlefield. People have reported seeing Civil War soldiers in their houses and yards. In another post, a vivid account of an active ghost in one of these homes entitled The Tatum Haunting can be found here.

Today the area is Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. A ghostly sighting in the area happened to a father and teenage son who were driving through this park.

They received the fright of their lives when a man in uniform riding a horse suddenly crossed in front of their car. The two realized what they were seeing was not a man but a ghost.

The father hit the brakes as the apparition continued to move toward them. The image of the soldier was so clear that the father and son were able to make out the Union uniform he wore and the saber he carried.

After the soldier crossed the road, he just vanished through a fence.

The father shared this story with Kevin Fike, a ghost hunter. He told the father it was most likely a residual haunting. Residual hauntings often occur on battlefields--due to the fact strong emotions linger at these locations.

As mentioned in other posts on this blog a residual haunting is when the activity does not interact with the living. This kind of ghost is actually unaware of the living. Instead, these scenes play out over and over again as if they are on a film loop.

Colonial Yorktown: Nelson House

It was at Yorktown where the siege that ended the Revolutionary War was fought it was also here were many Yankee and Rebel soldiers died in agony during the Civil War.

One large 3-story Georgian brick house that sits on a hill overlooking the York River played a definitive role in both these wars. This house is a beloved landmark today in the small community of Yorktown, Virginia.

Nelson House

The Nelson family built the house located on Main Street in Yorktown, in the 1730s. By the outbreak of the Revolutionary war Thomas Nelson Jr. was living in the home with his wife and 3 children.

Thomas Nelson Jr. was a member of the Continental Congress, Commander of the Virginia militia, a governor of the state of Virginia and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Nelson Jr.

Nelson House became famous when Nelson himself directed General George Washington during the Revolutionary War to attack the house for it was suspected to be General George Cornwallis’s headquarters.

Washington during siege.

On the morning of October 9, 1781, Washington’s men and allies bombarded the Nelson house with cannon shells. One of these shells hit a secret stairway hidden behind a panel in the dining room hall heading to a garret.

A well-known legend states a young British soldier was hiding here and was killed in the blast. It is said his sad, restless spirit remains in the house.

The Nelson family owned the house until 1907 when Captain George Preston Blow purchased it. The spirit of the British soldier made his presence known during a luncheon hosted by Mrs. Blow.

One guest asked Mrs. Blow if the house was haunted? She replied, “Goodness, no.” As soon as she said this the secret door behind the panel flew open and knocked against the sideboard with such force that dishes crashed to the floor.

During the Civil War, Nelson House was used as a hospital for Confederate and then Union soldiers. The most grievously wounded soldiers were kept on the third floor.

It is said that the heat and the smell of rotting flesh--gangrene--was so overpowering the windows were kept open 24/7.

Yorktown in late 1863, Union gunboats can be seen
patrolling York River. Nelson House can be seen
at center. Virginia Historical Society.

After the war apparitions of the young British Revolutionary soldier and Civil War soldiers were seen wandering the home.

Today smells of rotting flesh are still noted. Gusts of wind whip through the 3^rd floor hall when there is no wind outside. The sound of a woman weeping is heard in the upper halls.

Voices are heard coming from the 3^rd floor windows.

Because of all this activity the house has attracted young thrill-seekers. One recent group of teens visited the home on a moonlit night on Halloween. This group was not disappointed.

As the group walked to the back of the house one member, a girl looked toward the 3^rd floor. She was surprised to see one window open since it was after hours for the museum.

She and the rest of the group froze as they heard the sounds of moans and voices coming from this open window.

They then saw a male face appear. This man looked down at them with an angry expression. The teens quickly left--running down the middle of Yorktown’s main street.

Nelson House today.

In 1968, the National Park Service acquired Nelson House and restored it to its original Colonial splendor. The house is open to the public. The tour guides are careful not to mention the ghosts--even though the house is considered to be Yorktown’s most haunted.

The Phantoms of Edgehill

The Battle of Edgehill was the first battle fought during the English Civil War. Arriving at an impasse with the Parliamentarian government, King Charles l declared war and led his soldiers against the Parliamentarian army.

Parliamentarian cavalry break
through lines of the Royalist army.
Illustration by Ron Embleton

The King's troops were marching from Shrewsbury toward London when the Parliamentarian or Roundhead forces lead by the Earl of Essex intercepted them at Edgehill midway between Banbury and Warwick.

Over 30,000 troops clashed in this 3-hour battle on October 23, 1642. A thousand men were killed, and neither side was able to declare victory. The dead bodies were looted for their clothes and money, and the wounded were left to die where they lay.

Three months later these corpses were still strewn across this battlefield. Just before Christmas of 1642, a group of shepherds saw a strange sight. They watched, as the Battle of Edgehill was re-enacted in the sky above them.

They heard the cries of men as they died and horses’ screams. They also heard the clash of armor. They described to the local priest what they had seen and heard. He told them that he had also seen these phantom fighting soldiers.

After this, there were so many reported sightings of this unusual battle, a pamphlet by the Kineton villagers, detailing the sightings entitled, A Great Wonder in Heaven was published in January of 1643.

News of this ghostly activity reached King Charles’ ears. He sent a Royal Commission to investigate. These men also witnessed this phantom battle. They even reported recognizing some of the deceased soldiers' voices.

Fight for the standard.

One voice they recognized was that of the king’s standard bearer, Sir Edmund Verney. He had been captured during the battle and refused to give up the standard, so the Roundheads cut off his hand to take it. When the Royalists recaptured this standard, it is said that Verney’s hand was still attached to it.

The ghostly activity became so pronounced at Edgehill that the villagers decided they best give the fallen soldiers a Christian burial. When this was done, the sightings appeared to stop.

However, even today, people still report odd sounds and sights at Edgehill. Witnesses have heard the sounds of screams, battle cries, cannon fire, and the thunder of horses’ hooves. Apparitions are still seen.

It is stated these sights and sounds become more pronounced on the anniversary of this battle.

Monument at battlefield today.

Haunted St. Joseph College

Daughters of Charity
at St. Joseph.

Elizabeth Ann Seton--better known as Mother Seton-- established the American Sisters of Charity. She founded what was to become St. Joseph College in Emmitsburg, Maryland in 1809. Initially, it was a charitable Catholic women’s academy. Mother Seton was later made a saint.

This Catholic academy evolved into a liberal arts college for women. St. Joseph’s College was closed down in 1973. The U.S. Government then bought the property to house the National Emergency Training Center.

This old campus is haunted, most believe because it was used as a Civil War field hospital. Field hospitals during this war were crude at best. Most severe wounds to the limbs became infected with gangrene, and the only treatment was to amputate.

St. Joseph's College, 1923.

The one shining light of hope at St. Joseph during this war were Mother Seton’s Daughters of Charity who earned the nickname, “angels of the battlefield” for nursing both wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.

During the years the campus was still St. Joseph’s College numerous strange encounters were reported by the students--including both sights and sounds.

Numerous students state they heard the screams and moans of the wounded Civil War soldiers as they crossed campus. Some accounts even mention witnesses who saw the old field hospital with its open-air surgeries--while walking across the school at night.

Another account mentions several female witnesses who saw a nurse carry out a bucket of amputated legs and arms. Students also reported the putrid smell of blood throughout the area.

One apparition observed at night was a friendly Civil War soldier that stayed close by, as female students walked across the campus.

Another ghost seen was Mother Seton. Reports state students spotted her on campus, she would smile at them and then rush off. It is believed she was in a hurry because she needed to tend to injured Civil War soldiers.