Many people report strange seeing sights sights on old battle fields. They claim that these places have some sort of power and that some of the dead think that the battle is still going on. The funny thing about ghost reports is that most seem to indicate that a ghost doesn't realize that time has indeed passed and sometimes much time. Whether its a ghost of a Roman soldier or southern gentlemen its usually the same,. they seem to be going about their business as if nothing has happened. We are assuming here that the reports are correct but as we know, much of this stuff is either created by fear or just plain bunk, created to attract a tourist trade. Having said this however, there certainly are some unexplained reports that defy logic.

Battle of Chickamauga

If ghosts do exist then looking into Civil War ghosts would be a good place to start. The reason for this is that it was one of the bloodiest wars in U.S. history and it was one of the most gut wrenching as people were forced to fight friends and family at times. The reason I picked the Chickamauga battlefield in Tennessee was that it was extremely bloody with over 37,000 casualties and because of the intriguing name of the battlefield, because Chickamauuga means 'River of Death' in ancient Cherokee. Many men had died at this site before the Civil War. The native Americans had fought many battles here among themselves, that was how the area got its name.

Many reports of women's voices and glowing light have been reported in the area at the present time. After the Civil War battle women went out to the battlefield with lanterns and examined the bodies for survivors. I imagine some were looking for husbands, brothers, fathers or other relatives or friends. When the war ended the dying didn't. A camp had been established in the area for training soldiers for the Spanish American War. Disease ran through the camp killing scores of men. So many men died in the camp that the total dead was greater than the total of men killed in the Spanish American War in Cuba. The area is now a park and in this park at least one death every year is reported. Is this area cursed, what do you think? Why has so much death taken place in such a limited site, its almost as if men are drawn there to fight and die or just to die.

Heading up the mountain

Visitors to the park seem to be fine in the daytime, its at night when the weird things happen. Even park rangers have reported strange happenings at night. These include men crying and moaning. Shooting can be heard but no one is there, horses are heard galloping all over the field but no horses are present. A strange tale by a park ranger tells of his sighting a soldier on horseback that rode past him. You say so what, what made him think this was a ghost? Good question, maybe it was the fact that the soldier had no head.

One famous ghost that has been sighted by many people on many different occasions over the years since the war is the lady in white. It is said that this lady was the wife or lover of a soldier that died in the battle and she comes out at night, walking the battlefield looking for him. Another ghost that is well known is 'old green eyes', which has appeared to people since 1863. Old green eyes was a confederate soldier who was hit by cannon fire. His body was blown into a million pieces and only his head was left which was buried. It is said he now comes out almost every night and searches the battlefield for his body. He has also been seen by many people and park rangers over the years. Some people have reported seeing just green eyes heading toward them then disappearing. Its funny but true, a park ranger once said "wherever there has been great suffering, people are always seeing strange things". This does seem to be very true. I am not saying that ghosts exist in places of former suffering, but that is where most reports of strange phenomena come from.

In 1876 some men were riding home through the battlefield to their homes. All except one were in a wagon, the lone man was on a horse. All of a sudden they all saw something in the field, it looked like a woman but she was very tall. The man on horseback rode up to it and hit it. A sound like a baby crying was heard. The ghost, that was what it was discovered to be, said please leave me alone and disappeared to the surprise of the men. It is believed that many of the deceased soldiers were buried in the battlefield, but the exact locations are unknown. Several times people have encountered soldiers that disappeared into thin air in a flash.

And finally a group of re-inactors were camped in the woods so that tourists could see how soldiers lived. During the day they took a break and noticed a neighboring camp. They went over to it and spoke to the occupants for a couple of hours before returning to their camp. In the morning they went back to the other camp only to discover no one was there. Not only that but there was no sign of the campfire from the night before or any sign that anyone had been there. The land was completely undisturbed.