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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.