A solitary marker is the only thing to suggest something happened here, and indeed, the size of the marker belies its significance. The view, too, is deceiving; looking out over the gentle farm fields, one is more apt to gaze at the South Mountain or the nearby Peace Light Memorial. But make no mistake -- there was nothing peaceful about this spot on July 1, 1863, the day General Alfred Iverson's North Carolina brigade (5th, 12th, 20th & 23rd NC) was annihilated.On July 1, 1863, various elements of the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were arriving to join the escalating battle north of the town. On Oak Ridge, a brigade of infantry from Rhode's Division under the command of Alfred Iverson was advancing with the intention of attacking the Federal line on their right flank. Much debate has ensued over Iverson's actions and even state of sobriety that day, but the undeniable fact remains that sending his brigade forward on unfamiliar ground without skirmishers deployed eliminated any advance warning of a hidden enemy position -- they were sitting ducks!
Smoke from the surrounding fighting may have helped obscure the low stone wall and five Federal Regiments which lie behind it. The last thing most of these North Carolinians saw -- at least while their spirits occupied their bodies -- were the hundreds of Yankees rising up to fire, only 80 yards away. In a matter of seconds, Iverson's Brigade ceased to exist. Later that night, burial parties dug four long, shallow trenches where their comrades' bodies would remain until several years after the war, when they and thousands of others were finally disinterred and sent South.
As noted in the introduction to our Gettysburg section, Iverson's Pits is the source of the first stories of strange activity to be reported after the battle. It is a regular stop for many in our group, as despite its reputation, it does not draw the crowds the way Devils Den and Spanglers Spring do. Over the years there seems to be a singular spirit here who is interested in Kelly, and while this entity is not truly malevolent, it is hardy Casper the Friendly Ghost!
Strangely, it is in the small stretch of woods -- running along where the low stone wall once concealed the Federal Troops who lie in wait that bloody afternoon -- where her adversary seems to dwell. A sunny summer afternoon in the mid-1990's brought her first encounter with him. Kelly"s father had joined us and was following her through the woods from the parking area. I heard her cry out "Hey!", as she turned to accuse her Dad of pushing her in the shoulder. When his distance behind revealed only someone with 12 foot long arms could have reached her, the source of the push clearly had no rational explanation. She recalls that someone "wanted to talk to her", but she was clearly uneasy about attempting communication, given the way she was approached. Someone, it seems, does not like her being there, and has physically let it be known on many occasions.
In December 1999, one of Kelly's close friends asked if we could show her sister and brother in law some haunted places on the battlefield while they were visiting over the holidays. As they lived in North Carolina, we thought it appropriate to include the spot where so many from her husband's home state drew their last breath. While walking through the woods, "he" struck again, this time tripping Kelly and sending her to the ground with a scream that, uh, could wake the dead! (Imagine the poor first-time ghosthunters witnessing this.) "Someone tripped me! I had my flashlight and there was nothing on the ground!" Indeed, I checked myself and found the area in which she fell clear of any roots or other obstacles. After this, Kelly and the other girls beat a hasty, shaken retreat to the van.
Is she physically accosted every time we visit the spot? No.She does though, sense an overwhelming negativity here -- anger and hatred seem to be the "theme" and she describes seeing "bodies, and body parts strewn about", almost more like a hospital scene. Of course, there was no post-battle hospital on this spot, but is she perhaps sensing what those horribly wounded here experienced as their lives oozed away in misery? At times, I wish I had her ability to "see" things, but I don't think I want to see what she does here.
Kelly is not alone as a target for this antagonistic spirit. In March, 2001, she was escorting some ghosthunters on their first visit to the battlefield. One of them, fellow sensitive Al Brindza, was sharply pushed to the ground, breaking the expensive flash unit on the 35mm SLR camera he had borrowed from his brother. Had anyone been recording at the moment, perhaps some laughter may have been captured on EVP! On this same night, I took a photo of Kelly at the edge of the woods when she told me "someone" was following her. At first glance on the small screen, I thought it was a simple orb anomaly, but further enlargement and some lightening shows what appears to be an oblong, almost skeletal face. Eerie!
Battery drain, on cameras, camcorders and tape recorders, as anyone who has done this for a while knows, is one of the "occupational hazards" of ghosthunting. In our experience, Iverson's Pits causes more of this at Gettysburg than anywhere but the Devil's Den/Triangular Field area. In spite of this, it remains a place where much good evidence of the paranormal activity here has been captured by various researchers, particularly on video.
Despite her understandable aversion, Kelly will still choose to visit Iverson's Pits a few times a year. In May 2003, when walking through the parking lot, her large flashlight broke when flung out of her hand, a few steps from entering the woods! This was only the beginning of equipment problems we had that evening. Kelly had just put 4 new batteries in one of her recorders before we left the house. She was playing a tape of Southern tunes out in the field when it died -- only a couple songs played and that was it. A person from our group near this spot had the fully charged battery in her Nikon digital camera inexplicably drain rapidly almost as the music stopped. I was filming in IR with my camcorder, concentrating on the area around Kelly's recorder. Two noises -- plausible gunshots -- are heard over the music, which ends a few seconds later. In prompting EVP recordings that night, rather than just asking for a name and regiment, I instead concentrated in asking what happened here. What was it like for you boys? Was Iverson really drunk or hungover? Did you see the Yankees at all? Why did this happen? The chilling response heard soon after the gunshots and end of the music is remarkably clear: "We were unlucky!" (Click yellow text to hear EVP) Perhaps they were; perhaps the smoke and confusion of the battle's early stages led them to advance exposed and unaware within 80 yards of the Federal position, but the fact that skirmishers were not covering their movements is not a matter of luck. This is poor judgement of command, in my book, but like so many aspects of the battle, it can be debated forever. However, with persistence, we just might get some more answers from the "other side". (Adapted from an article by John Weaver that appeared in the Summer 03 issue of Paranormal PA and Beyond Magazine) Update Spring 06: The NPS has cleared the tree line along the stone wall that the Union troops hid behind to better replicate the 1863 appearance of the field.
