Ghosts of Gettysburg - Photographic Proof!

bmattock said:
The spirit orbs don't like it when you mock them. Now all your socks will come up mismatched in the dresser drawer. Well done, unbeliever!

Pah, don't tell me about socks! I don't need no bl**dy ghosts to mess up my socks. When I find a matching pair, one has a hole.
 
bmattock said:
The spirits will not be mocked!

However, they can be purchased at a reasonable price at our Offishul Gettysburg Civil War / War Between the States Tourism Booth. Get out your plastic and move along, citizen.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

PS - Nice monster under the bed. We have three, and two dogzillas.


Bill,
BION there was no"War between the States.". It was the War of the Rebellion according to the US Supreme Court in White v. Texas. Still is.
Johne
 
johne said:
Bill,
BION there was no"War between the States.". It was the War of the Rebellion according to the US Supreme Court in White v. Texas. Still is.
Johne

How does that play in Kentucky? Around here, it will get you slapped upside the punkin haid.

In any case, the US Park Service in Gettysburg treats the entire issue with some sensitivity and understanding of both sides of the issues involved. They do call it the 'Civil War' though.

In any case, if you go around saying "The War of Rebellion" no one will know what you're talking about except maybe some law fellers in Texas.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
bmattock said:
I doubt the Confederates would hang anyone on their side - they needed men! However, who knows. Besides, when I was in Gettysburg taking that photo, do you know what was behind me? The HOUSE OF BENDER! How weird is that?

http://www.gettysburg.com/gca/gcvbbook/shopping/hofbend.htm

Pretty damn weird considering that exactly 2 months ago we were discussing whether or not it was safe to take pictures in New Orleans' cemeteries! 😱
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9811&page=2&pp=20

R.J.
 
bmattock said:
What a shame! Oh well, we had a great time and learned a lot anyway. Next time, though, I'll let you know ahead of time - we do intend to go back someday. My own illustrious progenitor, Major Charles Porter Mattocks of the 17th Maine (teacher at Bowdoin College and looked up to his mentor, Chamberlain of the 20th Maine) was in the Wheatfield during the battle. He won a CMH later in the war and wrote 'Unspoiled Heart' afterwards about the experience. Best Regards, Bill Mattocks

Bill, all of my known ancestors - at least a dozen - wore gray and served in the Confederate Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery. One was in an artillery unit along the Jerusalem Church Road when the mine was blown under the Confederate positions at Petersburg, creating the infamous "Crater". The First Nelson Light Artillery was equiped with Coehorn mortars and they did the Devil's work that day. That particular ancestor was at Appomattox Court House when Lee surrendered on 9 April, 1865. Lee's forces numbered only 28,000 by then.

Your ancestor sounds like a brave man. Many CMH's were awarded for capturing the enemy's colors. I have a copy of the 128 volume "The Official Record of the War of the Rebellion" - known better as the "Official Record" or "OR" - on CD and will see what I can find about your ancestor. As a winner of the CMH, he'll be mentioned in official documents, no doubt. I'll let you know what I find.

Walker
 
Visited Gettysburg in the mid 1980s--95 degrees and 80 percent humidity in early July -- just like at the time of the battles. Dead silent--sound didn't seem to carry more than a few feet in the heavy air. You really did get the feeling there were some spirits hanging around there. Gettysburg is the definition of "hallowed ground."

One branch of our family from Iowa sent the father and five sons off to war. One son survived. The rest were either killed in combat or died of disease while serving in the Union Army -- one of them on the second day at Gettysburg.
 
bmattock said:
How does that play in Kentucky? Around here, it will get you slapped upside the punkin haid.

In any case, the US Park Service in Gettysburg treats the entire issue with some sensitivity and understanding of both sides of the issues involved. They do call it the 'Civil War' though.

In any case, if you go around saying "The War of Rebellion" no one will know what you're talking about except maybe some law fellers in Texas.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Bill,
In Kentucky, we did not join the Confederacy until 1868 [after the war was over]. Officially, Kentucky was a loyal state but deeply divided. The Breckinridge brothers fought on opposite sides, both rising to a rank of general and actually fought each other. FYI. Johne BTW. Kentucky ratified XIII, XIV, and XV amendments in 1976.
 
bmattock said:
I doubt the Confederates would hang anyone on their side - they needed men! However, who knows. Besides, when I was in Gettysburg taking that photo, do you know what was behind me? The HOUSE OF BENDER! How weird is that?

http://www.gettysburg.com/gca/gcvbbook/shopping/hofbend.htm

Check out pages 191-192 of John Worsham's One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry

The whole division was ordered out one afternoon to witness the execution of three Confederate soldiers from another division, who were to die by being shot for some violation of the laws of the army. The division was formed on three sides of a hollow square, the fourth side being open. Three stakes were fixed in the ground about the center of this open side, and soon after our formation an officer and a guard with the prisoners appeared. The prisoners were made to kneel with their backs to the stakes, to which they were securely tied and a cloth was fastened over their eyes. Twelve men were ordered to take up the twelve guns lying on the ground in front of the prisoners. The guns had already been loaded, it is said six with and six without balls, so that no man would know that he killed one of the prisoners. The twelve men took their places about thirty feet in front of each man, the order to fire was given, and, at the report of the guns, two men were killed, the balls going through each; the third man, while shot, was not killed. One of the detail was ordered to place another gun against the man's breast and fire; this killed him instantly. This was the only execution I witnessed, and, if I live a thousand years, I will never be willing to see another.​
http://docsouth.unc.edu/worsham/worsham.html

R.J.
 
johne said:
Bill,
The Breckinridge brothers fought on opposite sides, both rising to a rank of general and actually fought each other.

The Confederate Commanding General at the Battle of New Market, VA, was former US Vice-President Breckinridge. Three of my 2nd Great Uncles were there with him, soldiers in the 51st VA Volunteer Infantry. They were the lead Regiment in the charge that broke the Union lines but it was the Cadets from VMI who garnered the glory that day.

"War of the Rebellion"? It wouldn't be the first time that the SCOTUS has gotten it wrong! 😀

Walker
 
hugivza said:
Interesting thread! I have just been reading about Henry Wirz the Confederate Commandant/Governor of Andersonville who was hung for war crimes (he starved and brutalised prisoners). Some of the photos, albeit not supernatural are a stark reminder of the horrors of war (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wirz/wirz.htm).

Colonel Wirz, a Dutchman, was made an example. Conditions at Andersonville were beyond any one man's control and Wirz simply didn't have the food to feed the prisoners nor the men and materials to provide adequate shelter.

There's no question that conditions at Andersonville were horrible by any standard but before condemning Wirz, first look at the Northern prisons such as Elmira, NY, Fort Delaware and Lookout Point, MD. Elmira, in particular, was as much a hell-hole as Andersonville. Also know that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton intentionally put ALL Confederate prisoners held by the Union on starvation rations. Stanton was guilty of starving prisoners when adequate food and supplies were readily available.

War is always savage and few can match civil wars for brutality regardless of which country it happens in.

Walker
 
doubs43 said:
Bill, all of my known ancestors - at least a dozen - wore gray and served in the Confederate Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery. One was in an artillery unit along the Jerusalem Church Road when the mine was blown under the Confederate positions at Petersburg, creating the infamous "Crater". The First Nelson Light Artillery was equiped with Coehorn mortars and they did the Devil's work that day. That particular ancestor was at Appomattox Court House when Lee surrendered on 9 April, 1865. Lee's forces numbered only 28,000 by then.

Your ancestor sounds like a brave man. Many CMH's were awarded for capturing the enemy's colors. I have a copy of the 128 volume "The Official Record of the War of the Rebellion" - known better as the "Official Record" or "OR" - on CD and will see what I can find about your ancestor. As a winner of the CMH, he'll be mentioned in official documents, no doubt. I'll let you know what I find.

Walker

He's not really my ancestor, I guess I misused 'progenitor', beg pardon. We share last names and are related in some manner, but I don't know how exactly. Charles was adopted into the Mattocks family in Vermont, and there is a family line there that predates mine in the USA. He was born in the US in 1840, and I was always told that my family emigrated from Ireland during the potato famine (1845-1849). However, I am told that all with the name "Mattocks" spelled that way are related in some manner, but not by blood since he was adopted. So perhaps a cousin or uncle.

He won the CMH for action at Sailor's Creek. He was later captured and spent the rest of the war at Danville - coincidentally the same town name as his hometown.

They say that family history is not a good predictor of future behavior - and I'm just as glad - look into what Charles Manson's birth name was sometime.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
johne said:
Bill,
In Kentucky, we did not join the Confederacy until 1868 [after the war was over]. Officially, Kentucky was a loyal state but deeply divided. The Breckinridge brothers fought on opposite sides, both rising to a rank of general and actually fought each other. FYI. Johne BTW. Kentucky ratified XIII, XIV, and XV amendments in 1976.

My branch of the family was from Gasconade County, Missouri. No records on either side that I can find, although there were Mattocks names on the rolls as Union and Confederate troops from Missouri. My ancestor was Franklin R. "Barney" Mattocks and his son John Daniel "Jack" Mattocks - both would have been the approximate right age during the Civil war, but neither show up on the rolls. My own grandfather, William Bryan Mattocks (I am named for him, hence a "II" instead of a "Jr"), was born in 1906 in Gasconade County, MO. There was a John W. Mattocks from MO who was a Private in the Confederate Army, in the 2nd Regiment Missouri Infantry.

That's all I know!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
bmattock said:
So perhaps a cousin or uncle. He won the CMH for action at Sailor's Creek. He was later captured and spent the rest of the war at Danville - coincidentally the same town name as his hometown. Best Regards, Bill Mattocks

Bill, I'll send whatever research I do on your ancestor - whatever the relationship - via email as this is waaaaay OT by now and I don't want to upset anyone.

Interestingly enough, my GGGrandfather had a farm at a place called Cascade, just outside of Danville, VA........ that's in Pittsylvania County right on the NC/VA border. When he went into the Confederate Army, he left behind five young children and a wife pregnant with twins to work the farm. One of the twins died at birth and the other 7 months later. My GGrandfather was also one of a pair of twins.

Walker
 
More ghosts?

More ghosts?

I found my scan from Ft. Barrancas. I was using a Rolleiflex SL35M (reincarnated Zeiss Icarex) on a tripod with a 28mm Rolleinar inside the scarp gallery using a long exposure. I was taking a Sunpak 555 flash out of my bag during the exposure and it accidentally went off. I guess it still had some juice in the capacitor. The flash is the large white area in the upper right corner.
Do you see anything unusual in the center of the photo?

R.J.
 
RJBender said:
I found my scan from Ft. Barrancas. I was using a Rolleiflex SL35M (reincarnated Zeiss Icarex) on a tripod with a 28mm Rolleinar inside the scarp gallery using a long exposure. I was taking a Sunpak 555 flash out of my bag during the exposure and it accidentally went off. I guess it still had some juice in the capacitor. The flash is the large white area in the upper right corner.
Do you see anything unusual in the center of the photo?

R.J.

Spooky! Looks like the Hamburglar crouching low over a biscuit.
 
bmattock said:
Spooky! Looks like the Hamburglar crouching low over a biscuit.

No, Bill, it was after 10:30 AM and McDonalds had already stopped serving biscuits. 😛
I'll try another scan. In the printed image, it looks like a person wearing a Confederate kepi hat looking to the left.
I'm not saying it's an image of a ghost, just a strange effect that I got with a film camera in a place park rangers say is haunted.

R.J.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom