Union Ghost Soldier Appears Twice In One Night!

Monday, February 16, 2009, Midnight to 5:30 a.m.

This was related to me by my co-worker and fellow night auditor, Courtney:

Courtney was in the middle breakfast prep room gathering non-perishable items for the morning's breakfast service.  The door to the attic is located in this small room, which is between the manager's office and the laundry room. 

Courtney heard a noise coming from the attic above her.  She opened the attic door, turned on the light, and looked up the staircase.  Directly  under the overhead light in the attic, Courtney saw a figure, clothed in dark blue, which appeared to be about three feet back from the top of the stairs.

Courtney described him as solid in appearance, then he began to shimmer until he faded totally away.  She said that the "Union soldier" was visible for approximately 10 seconds before disappearing.

When I asked Courtney to describe what the Union soldier looked like, she said:  "He had no head and no legs, just a torso and arms."

This account describes and corroborates exactly what I saw on January 12th at 3:35 a.m. in the lobby of the hotel.

6:15 a.m. - Courtney was in the laundry room standing in front of the deep freezer assembling items for breakfast.  The deep freezer sits under a window and we often use the top of the freezer to organize items. 

At the time, the blind on the window was up and it was still dark outside.  Courtney felt as if someone was standing behind her and looked up to see her reflection in the window.  In the reflection of the window, Courtney saw herself and a figure standing just over her left shoulder dressed in blue.

Courtney immediately turned around and there was no one there.  When I asked her again to describe the figure, Courtney said it was the same figure she saw just 45 minutes before - no head, just a torso and arms.

Needless to say, I was very excited to hear that Courtney has seen the same Union soldier that I saw just a few weeks ago.  It appears to me that he is desperately trying to get our attention and trying to communicate in some way with us.  I also feel that the way he is appearing is, apparently, very important to him.  I speculated before that perhaps he is trying to tell us that he did die by artillery barrage.

Given the fact that one wing of our hotel sits where four out of six artillery pieces were situated, it would make sense.  For it was on the afternoon of July 1, 1863, that Lt. James Stewart's Battery "B" of the 4th U.S. Regular Artillery (Union) was heavily engaged and barely escaped capture.  The opposing artillery normally aims for other artillery pieces, so this area would have been taking heavy artillery hits.

In addition, remnants from the 11th PA Infantry Regiment, the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, the 147th NY Infantry Regiment, and several other NY infantry regiments also passed over the property on their retreat during the artillery barrage that Battery "B" was engaged in.  So, our soldier in blue could be from any one of these regiments as well.

I found this written account from survivors of Battery "B" which describes those who participated in the artillery action on our property, and it could just as well accurately describe any of the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg: 

"The term 'boys' is literally true, because of our gun detachment alone, consisting of a Sergeant, two Corporals, seven Cannoneers, and six Drivers, only four had hair on their faces, while the other 12 were beardless boys whose ages would not average 19 years, and who at any other period of our history, would have been at school!"