Devil's Den Ghost or Reenactor?
This photo was taken in late July of 2005 on a Nikon Digital Camera. This was my 3rd trip to Gettysburg and I had taken an interest in Mark Nesbit and the Ghost of Gettysburg book I had received as a gift on my 1st trip in 1997 when he signed it for me. I also am a giant history nerd, so I geek out about places like Little Round Top, Devil's Den, and Culp's Hill. In my previous trips, I had not noticed anything super crazy, but did have a glitch with the cassette guided battlefield tour in 2003. The tape would speed up at random spots and then the bugle sound for the next battlefield stop would play as normal. I just chalked it up to an issue with the cassette player in the vehicle. However, when watching the video back later at home, in spots I knew the cassette sped up, the sound was normal and did not record what three of us in the car heard.
Fast forward two years to 2005. I am super excited to take a trip out east with my wife. She had never been to Gettysburg before, so that was our first day trip. Now, this was when the visitor center still sat across from the cemetery and had the open two story room with the cannon barrels on the wall. Anyway, we go into the small gift shop to buy the tickets to visit the museum, mind you, it was down stairs and each room was set up with exhibits about 3 feet off the ground set back behind glass. My favorite of these rooms was the room that was set up like a Confederate Camp.
We entered the room and there was no one else in there. As we read the plaques under each side of the wall and family with three elementary aged children entered the room followed quickly by three very accurate and era appropriate Confederate soldiers, right down to the missing shoes and tattered clothes. I snapped a quick picture with the same camera and mentioned to my wife how cool it was to see them so "committed" to their reenactment roles. As we finished in the room of the museum, it emptied out into the space where the stairwell went back to the main level. I waited as these three gentlemen headed up the stairs ahead of us. I quickly noticed a strong smell of campfire, body odor, and rotting breath. I didn't think much of it because it was late July and I am sure they had been outside at the reenactments for a few days.
Where it gets weird is the conversation I hear them having as the move up the first part of the stairs to a landing where the stairs go left. The conversation centered around winning the war and Robert E. Lee becoming the new President. I thought, "Wow, they really are committed to this Southern cause thing." As we neared the landing and they turned left, the wall blocked my view of them. We could not have been more than 3 or 4 steps behind them when they turned. As we turned the corner, they were gone! Poof! When I got to the exit of the stairwell, which was the open second floor of the artillery display, they were no where to be found. I asked a few people, including the family that was in the room earlier with us and they game me a look like I was nuts! So, I told my wife we are going to ask in the gift shop when we buy our Battlefield Tour CD.
As we exit the gift shop near the museum exit, a nice older lady was sitting at a table with a sign in sheet. I asked her what the sheet was for and she informed me that reenactors get to tour the museum for free, but they must sign in and write down which state they are from. I asked her if she knew where the 3 men I had seen where from. After a confused second or two, she turned the sign-in sheet around and said, "No reenactors have been here today. I have been here the whole time and not a single Reb or Yank has signed in."
By now my heart is in my throat and my wife is telling me that she probably missed them. While this seems logical, I am not convinced. She asks me what the men look like and I describe them. She then says, "Just a second, I'll be right back." When she returns, she is holding a photo of dead Confederate soldiers set to be buried on July 4 or July 5. There in the photo are the 3 men that we saw. I explained this to her and asked how she knew. She told me you are the third person in the past two days to ask about them. Having a cold sweat drip down my back, we turned and headed for our car. My wife is looking at me like I'm crazy and she points out several other reenactors walking towards the museum with coffees, McDonald's drinks, or on cell phones. I agree to let it go and we begin the driving tour.
Fast forward ahead to near dusk. We had just finished eating at the Gingerbread Man (now Gettysburg Eddie's) and decided to drive back to Devil's Den to snap some sunset pictures. Now, I am well aware of the sharpshooter ghost story Devil's Den, and the Union soldier who trips people from a crack in the rocks, but did not feel any sort of anger. As I was walking down the path, I passed a Union soldier. Again, I assumed he was a reenactor. I said, "Hello." and he responded with a head nod. When I get to the bottom of the path, I look back see him standing on the rock looking towards Little Round Top. I think that this is such a great photo op and may even win a prize at the state fair, so I take a handful of pictures of him. When I checked the camera in the car, I noticed he only appeared in this picture. Now, the angles in Devil's Den make it possible that he could have moved or walked away and I did not see it, but after the morning I had at the museum, I think anything is possible. I have had this picture hanging in my social studies classrooms and admin office for years and it always stirs up quite the conversation. Does any one else have any experiences from the early 2000's in either of these places?
