Antietam Battlefield – Haunting Encounters

Along the Antietam Creek in Maryland, there is preserved land that has witnessed so much pain, suffering, brutality and blood that it hurts the heart just to hear about it.

The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, was the bloodiest day in United States history, with over 22 thousand casualties in a single day. One single day…

This major Civil War battle took place on September 17, 1862 near Sharpsburg MD and the Antietam Creek. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, headed by General Robert E. Lee and the Union Army of the Potomac, led by General George McClellan clashed in what was the deadliest, bloodiest day ever witnessed.

Learning about this battle now, there is one main thing that is very clear – both sides were in dire need of a victory and willing to do what it took to get that victory.

We recently traveled, during a beautiful spring weekend, to visit this site and witness first hand the history it holds.

The Cornfield

The first shot of the battle was fired at dawn on September 17, 1862 by The Union I Corps under the command of Joseph Hooker. It all began with an attack down the Hagerstown Turnpike in an attempt to reach the plateau where Dunker Church was – basically the high ground.

Hooker marched his men through the cornfield only to be met with heavy Confederate artillery fire. For the men that made it past that barrage, they were met by Confederate soldiers with bayonets ready. Unfortunately, because they were crossing a cornfield, they were unable to see the enemy ducked down in a lane until it was too late….

They say the fighting was brutal and at times hand to hand. Bodies were stacked high with blood flowing freely in this lane.

This area is now called bloody lane.

They say one soldier became a casualty every second of this bloody battle.

There was more fighting this day and more casualties added but this area of the battlefield truly impacted me the most on our visit.

BLOODY LANE

I fully admit I hesitated to even walk up to the open space that was the bloody lane – the energy was intense and overwhelming. But I couldn’t stop myself, completely drawn into the energy. We not only approached the bloody lane but decided to take a walk down in the lane. Immediately I was physically impacted by what I felt – the anxiety, fear, determination, fear, pain, and incredible sadness. And the anger. All of these feelings and emotions surrounded me and the residual scenes and sounds I heard were almost equally as painful.

You can see the pain on my face in this picture, taken on our walk down bloody lane.

A few minutes into our walk I felt something reach up and grab my ankle – startling me quite badly. I stopped and grabbed my ankle. Suddenly, I was incredibly overwhelmed with energy and I became dizzy, sick and disoriented. The world began spinning and I began to lose focus as darkness overcame my vision. Recognizing that something was seriously wrong, my husband grabbed me and pulled me out of the lane.

It was then that we noticed the monument indicating that a General would have lost his life in this exact spot.

It took quite a bit to shake off the energy that almost so fully engulfed me as well as the emotions that are still so very real for the Spirits that remain here.

BURNSIDE BRIDGE

The remaining areas of the battlefield that we visited, while sobering and emotional, were almost peaceful. Although a great portion of the dead, resulting from this day, spent way too long laying in shallow graves – unrecognized for their sacrifices – I could feel the healing beginning to happen.

An amazing example of this is the Burnside Bridge. Although there was intense fighting here and casualties were initially buried right alongside the bridge, you can feel the healing energy of the land now, even in the pictures.

 

Antietam Battlefield is a National Park and they do an amazing job of preserving this historic site and providing educational information and artifacts from the Civil War.  While our actual paranormal investigating was limited at this historic battlefield during this jaunt, from what I did experience, I have little doubt that the history is still alive and making itself known in haunting encounters.

Following our some more pictures from our haunted history travels to the Antietam Battlefield – including a preserved farm that is quite amazing.

Shortly, I will detail the incredibly scary night we spent in an over 200 year old home, built right over Antietam Creek.   We rented this place because of the history, completely unprepared for the paranormal activity and the haunting that almost had us – seasoned investigators – leaving for the night.  The Springhouse blog to come.

I’ll also share the amazing spot we found for some great food, good music and of course – top notch Craft Beer.