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Intelligent Hauntings and Post-Mortem PTSD in Civil War
Soldiers
The Civil War was perhaps the most traumatic conflict to have
happened on American soil. In a struggle to fight for conflicting views of
slavery and the boundaries of land, Union and Confederate soldiers, and
even slaves, fought side by side with their neighbors for the causes of
freedom, civil rights, and territory. Many times the enemy sighted in at the
long end of a rifle barrel was a blood relative or someone the soldier had
known in some way. This created a huge and damaging rift between the
people of this country which undoubtedly caused massive heartbreak and
created some very tough internal conflict of killing someone you know or
love. What made conditions exponentially worse were the extreme
environmental conditions of bad weather, disease, and the ever-present
stench of death from the
decaying bodies left sprawled
out on the battlefield. Death
typically came in two forms –
either you slowly suffered
through an agonizing torture of
an incurable illness (diarrhea
was incredibly common), or you
were shot dead, never knowing
where the fatal bullet was fired.
In both instances the stage is set for some unbelievably intense paranormal
activity.
If a soldier didn’t die, or wasn’t stabbed or shot to death on the battlefield,
then they became prisoners of war. One of the most well-known prisons in
my local area is located in Alton, Illinois. Here, Confederate soldiers were
housed in a Union prison which was named back then the Illinois State
Penitentiary. It opened in 1833 with 33 cells and, by the height of its
capacity in 1862, housed over 1,600 soldiers. The living conditions here
were horrible, and they involved starvation, no shelter from the harsh
weather conditions, the lack of sleeping quarters, poor sanitation facilities,
and rampant diseases. Some soldiers even acquired mouth cancer, which
slowly ate away their face and made eating and drinking nearly impossible.
The most common disease was smallpox and, because it was so contagious,
spread to the Union guards and killed them as well. Nearly all of the 1,300+
soldiers who died in this prison are buried in the North Alton Confederate
Cemetery, a few miles away from the prison site. In 1865 the prison was
closed down after all the prisoners were released or sent to St. Louis. The
limestone blocks which were used to build it were excavated and used as
building material throughout the town. These same blocks can be found in
churches, houses, businesses, and even retaining walls all over the Alton
area.
As for the soldiers who died in this penitentiary, their bodies were
buried in graves marked only with wooden sticks. Over time their gravesites
were lost, never to be recovered. In an effort to represent them in some
way, a Soldiers Monument has been erected on the top of a hill in the
cemetery’s northeast corner. Despite efforts of providing proper burials and
erecting a 58-foot granite obelisk, many of the spirits of these soldiers are
still in a state of unrest. Paranormal investigations happening in this
cemetery and in nearby Alton National Cemetery confirm this unrest and
lack of closure. Our active investigation of the Alton National Cemetery, the
final resting place for many Civil War soldiers, proved to be surprisingly
successful and yielded some great results.
Our team was equipped with some very simple investigation tools. We
had a digital camera, a set of dowsing rods, and some extra batteries
(entities will quickly drain any available power to them). Our exploration of
the grounds was a part of a larger group who were also a part of an Alton
Ghost Tour. In the tour group was a “Troll”, as they call themselves. This is
a person who takes up the tail end of the group, making sure that no one
ventures away from the group lost or gets left behind. We had a brief
conversation with her and she gave us some interesting information about
the cemetery.
While we were trailing the rest of the group along the gravel pathway,
we kept getting the feeling that someone was following us. Every now and
then we would hear gravel scuffle and it wasn’t from our feet or from the
“Troll’s” feet either. She saw us looking back on the trail and came up to us.
We told her we thought someone was behind us, and she promptly agreed.
There was someone following us.
There are many Civil War soldiers who still roam the grounds. She
confirmed our suspicions and told us that having the feeling that someone is
following you happens all the time, as the soldiers who roam these grounds
are curious about who the people are that pass through the cemetery. She
also informed us that if you watch the trees closely, you will see dark
shadows peering out from behind them. The key is to watch for movement,
generally by using your peripheral vision. They run behind and out from the
tombstones as well. Sure enough, while we watched behind several
different trees and tombstones, we were about to see a few of these soldiers
peeking at us. One even ran through the trees and hid behind another tree.
The “Troll” informed us that these men believe that the Civil War is still
going on. They are hiding and running just like they would have done when
they were fighting for their lives back in the 1860’s. We found this to be
quite fascinating, yet peculiar at the same time. How could it be possible
for a spirit to firmly believe the Civil War was still raging on 150
years after this conflict ended?
For a spirit to have such a limited mindset on his surrounding and to
have kept it for over a century, there has to be some very strong reasons
behind this seeming aberration. One would think the soldier would be
aware that either he has not died or that he is still alive, but just existing in
another realm. Many times, with sudden or long agonizing deaths, the
person who has passed does not realize that they have crossed over death’s
doorstep. In their confusion they exist as lost spirits, constantly striving for
some explanation. The soldiers in the Alton National Cemetery do interact
with investigators, and, as such are considered intelligent hauntings. This is
different from residual hauntings, which are essentially historic events that
repeat themselves over and over again. With the soldiers and the intelligent
interactions, there must be more to the mystery than just a simple lack of
realization that they are dead. Some other factors must come into play
here. What could they be?
Recently my wife and I were watching the movie “American Sniper”.
In it the main character Chris Kyle experiences some of the most severe
forms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a soldier can endure. After
doing 4 tours in Iraq, he came back to his wife and kids an empty shell.
Vans resembling those in the Middle East fired off his PTSD, causing
nervous suspicion. Any kind of a conflict, like a dog playing too rough with a
child, would set off his “kill or be killed” impulse. To quote his wife, “You
are here physically, but mentally you’re somewhere else.” This gave me
some ideas. Could it be possible that the Civil War soldiers were
experiencing a severe form of PTSD, which kept their minds trapped in the
throes of war, while their spirits had moved on to the next level of
existence? Might this be considered post-mortem PTSD?
Although we, as of yet, cannot really know the reasons why spirits
remain trapped on this physical plane, there are some good assumptions
why this is true. These hypothesis form the basis for the “other factors” in
the question that was asked earlier. When a spirit has unfinished business
here they remain as an attempt to finish the task and bring closure. In the
case of a PTSD Civil War soldier, the unfinished business would obviously
be to finish the war and ensure that their side won. With Chris Kyle, he was
always beating himself up for the Marines who were killed whom he could
not save. This drove him to continuously return to Iraq, even when he
wasn’t physically there. In the case of a Union soldier, the same result
would be achieved whereby the incredible intensity of the war would
continuously drive the soldier to fight on. Psychologically he would be
locked into this state of mind and, in the process of crossing over the
spiritual veil, this mentality would continue to endure and keep him locked
on the battlefield. Just like Chris, the soldier’s mind would be in one place
while his spirit is in another. This is one possible way that Civil War soldiers
still believe it is the 1860s.
Fear of what lies on the other side will also drive a spirit to remain
here on our plane of existence. If a soldier believes that in crossing over
death’s doorstep he will meet his personal hell, especially the guilt of being
held accountable for killing a fellow brother, then clearly that fear can drive
him to continue fighting the war. Better to be here in the more predictable
world, than to face the consequences of what lies on the other side.
Sometimes, as well, people just simply don’t know how to find the light to
make the transition. They will roam properties like the North Alton
Cemetery and the Alton National Cemetery looking for answers they will
never find. Many times paranormal investigators can attempt to facilitate
the process of final closure, by guiding them in the right direction and
praying for their souls to come to rest.
For some spirits, like the Alton Civil War soldiers, that closure will
never come. They live out their day to day lives on the lookout for the
enemy and continuously suspicious about anyone who enters the cemetery.
Perhaps they see us as ghosts just as we experience them in the forms of
shadows, light anomalies, and sounds. They probably no more understand
our world than we understand theirs. For these intelligent hauntings, the
battle must be won at all costs because their minds have been completely
consumed with the most damaging psychological condition known to
humankind. Post-mortem PTSD.