Author: Gordon Laws
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From North Carolina Planter to Iverson’s Pits: The Life and Death of Oliver Evans Mercer
The command disaster on Oak Hill that led to the infamous Iverson’s Pits cost the Army of Northern Virginia some of its most seasoned, hard-fighting men. Many of these had fought at Chancellorsville and a half-dozen other engagements, which surely made their destruction even more terrible for Robert E. Lee’s army. Not only were they…
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The Hotel Gettysburg: Its History and Hauntings
The Hotel Gettysburg stands at 1 Lincoln Square. Gettysburg’s Lincoln Square has been anchored for over two centuries by the inn that has worn many hats – from a humble 18th-century tavern to a Civil War hospital, from a Gilded Age grand hotel to a modern haunt for ghost-story seekers. The Gettysburg Hotel (once known…
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Thirsty Soldiers and the Mysterious Woman in White at Spangler’s Spring
In the years shortly before the war and shortly after, Spangler’s Spring was a gathering spot for the town. Newspaper notices often carried announcements of Fourth of July celebrations or political gatherings at the site. Likewise, it was a center point for visitors at Culp’s Hill. In the first several decades after the war, Culp’s…
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The Daniel Lady Farm: Bloody Floors, Carvings, and Ghosts
The Daniel Lady Farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is known both for its pivotal Civil War history and for ghostly legends. John Forney, owner of the land of Iverson’s pits, could relate well to the Ladys. But more than just the dead in the fields, the house and barn have permanent reminders of the war (similar…
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The Ghosts at Iverson’s Pits: Why Workers on the John Forney Farm Avoided this Burial Site
On certain foggy evenings at Gettysburg, witnesses claim to hear faint moaning voices and see pale lights floating above a quiet ridge. This unassuming patch of farmland—known as Iverson’s Pits—hides a grim legacy. Here on July 1, 1863, nearly an entire North Carolina brigade was cut down in minutes during the Battle of Gettysburg. In…
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Is the Basement Really Haunted at Pennsylvania Hall?
People trying to explain the inexplicable at Pennsylvania Hall often suggest that hugely traumatic events leave an energy or an imprint on a place and that the imprint will then sometimes “play,” like an old record on a record player if someone cranks it up. My father was a rational man who practiced law and…
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It’s Called ‘Devil’s Den,’ So It’s Haunted, Right?
On the afternoon of 2 July 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the jumble of pink granite boulders at the southern end of the battlefield became the scene of intense fighting. Known today as Devil’s Den, the rocky defile marked the left flank of General Dan Sickles’s extension of the Union line, and its capture…
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Sachs Covered Bridge: History, Ghosts, and the Truth Behind Pennsylvania’s Most Storied Covered Bridge
Sachs Covered Bridge—also known as Sauck’s or Waterworks Bridge—spans Marsh Creek just southwest of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The wooden span is often touted as one of the state’s most haunted places. Local guides tell of Confederate deserters or spies hanged from its rafters and of ghostly lanterns drifting between the lattice beams. Photographers capture wisps of fog…
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The Farnsworth House Inn: Bullet Holes, Fine Dining, an Attic Full of Ghosts
I once brought a group of managers and leaders to Gettysburg for leadership training. The battlefield leadership decisions offer endless fodder for analysis and modern-day applications. On one of our evenings, we had dinner at the Farnsworth House Inn’s Meade and Lee Fine Dining restaurant, and we had the managers present on the history of…
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The True History and Ghost History of the Jennie Wade House
Jennie and her mother lived on Breckenridge Street, but during the battle they moved to the duplex at 548 Baltimore Street—home of her married sister Georgia Wade McClellan—to help Georgia recover from childbirth and to escape the heavy shelling. Georgia’s husband John Louis McClellan, a wheelwright, was away on service with the Union army. The duplex’s north…