AMERICAN HAUNTINGS -- JOIN US FOR THIS YEAR'S GREAT EVENTS!
The list of great events for 2011 from American Hauntings just keeps growing -- AND they keep selling out. As many of you have found out, it doesn't pay to wait too long to get signed up. We do sell out in advance so if you have your eye on a particular event, it's best to grab your spot before it's gone. Would you like to come face-to-to face with a ghost? We may not be able to guarantee it, but your chances are better with American Hauntings -- America's Original Overnight Ghost Tour Company -- than with anybody else!
AMERICAN HAUNTINGS 2011 SCHEDULE (SO FAR!)
McConnelsville, Ohio -- Return with us to one of Ohio's most haunted sites!
Eldred, Illinois -- Join us for our first ghost hunting event of the year at one of our most popular Illinois locations!
Decatur, Illinois -- A Friday the 13th overnight ghost hunt at one of the most terrifying places in America!
July 16: Night at the Old Funeral Home
Jacksonville, Illinois -- This former funeral home has become one of the most popular locations for our ghost hunts in Illinois!
August 5-6: Bell Witch Weekend Adams, Tennessee -- A favorite weekend of the summer is back! Join us in the heart of Bell Witch country for a history and hauntings weekend, optional canoe trip, tours, after dark exploration of the Bell Witch Cave and more
! Only 1 Room (couple) left for Canoe Trip! Only 4 rooms for the History & Hauntings Weekend!
November 11-12, 2011: Haunted Weekend in San Antonio Join us for a new American Hauntings trip to Texas, with a two-night stay at the haunted Menger Hotel, ghost hunts, haunted tours and much more!
Located on the far western edge of Maryland is the Antietam Battlefield, which can be found just outside of the small town of Sharpsburg. This former battlefield is perhaps the best preserved of all of the areas that have been turned into National Park Battlefields, looking much as it did at the time of the battle in 1862.
On a clear day, when the crisp wind is blowing across the grass, you can almost imagine yourself in another time. You feel that if you looked up, you might actually catch a glimpse of a weary soldier, trudging on toward either death or victory. Of course, some people claim to have done more than just imagined this....
| The Battle of Antietam Creek took place in September 1862, during some of the most brutal days of the Civil War. The Union Army had been badly beaten at Manassas and was in the midst of turmoil as President Lincoln fired ineffectual general after general. At this point, it still looked as though the Confederacy might actually win the war. |  |
The battle was fought on September 17 and marked the first of two attempts by Robert E. Lee to take the war onto northern soil. It would become known as the bloodiest single day of the entire war with combined casualties of 23,100 wounded, missing and dead. The battle itself was considered a draw but the effect on both sides was staggering.
It became known as the single bloodiest day of the war and losses were heavy on both sides. The Union had 12,401 casualties with 2,108 dead. Confederate casualties were 10,318 with 1,546 dead. More Americans died on September 17, 1862, than on any other day in the nation's military history. The loss of American lives was tremendous, as were the stories of heroism and valor. There are many tales of Antietam that linger on the battlefield and many believe that some of the soldiers – and the deeds committed here – may linger, too.
The battle shifted several times on the morning of the battle and by mid-day was an open assault on the center of the Confederate line. Fighting erupted along a country road that divided the fields of two local farmers. The sunken wagon track now served as a sheltered rifle pit for two Confederate brigades. General Lee ordered the center of the line to be held at all costs and this task fell to Colonel John B. Gordon, the commander of the 6th Alabama. Gordon allowed the initial attack to approach within yards of the road before he gave the order to fire. Lines of Union men fell under the explosive fire from the sunken road. The troops wavered and then retreated.
The second attack, raw recruits under command of Colonel Dwight Morris, were also hit with heavy fire but managed to beat back a counterattack by the Alabama Brigade under Robert Rodes. A third attack, under Brigadier General Nathan Kimball, included three veteran regiments, but they also collapsed under fired from the sunken road. William French’s Union division suffered 1,750 casualties in less than an hour.
Reinforcements began to arrive on both sides and by 10:30 a.m., Robert E. Lee sent his final reserve division, under Major General Richard H. Anderson, to bolster the line and extend it to the right for an attack on French’s left flank. But at the same time, four thousand men of Major General Israel B. Richardson’s division arrived on French’s left. This was the last of Sumner’s divisions, which had been held up in the rear by McClellan as he organized his reserve forces. Richardson’s fresh troops attacked the Confederate line at the sunken road.
Leading the fourth attack of the day was the 69th New York, the “Irish Brigade” of Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher. The Brigade had been reformed in New York after the fighting at Manassas cost the lives of many of the men and many others were captured. They formed again under the command of Meagher, an Irish immigrant and a campaigner for Irish freedom. The Brigade was among the most colorful of the Union troops and brawling was common, as was heavy drinking. They brought along their own priest to war and he conducted mass for them on the Sabbath and on the eve of battles.
In 1862, the 69th came to Virginia and were designated the Second Brigade of Israel B. Richardson’s First Division, Edwin V. Sumner’s II Corps. They saw action at Fair Oaks, Gaine’s Mill, Salvage Station and a number of other places before meeting their destiny at Antietam.
As they advanced, their emerald banner snapped in the wind. The Irish Brigade announced their arrival with the sounds of drums and volleys of fire as they attacked the Confederate position. They launched their assault, cheering loudly, while their priest, Father William Corby, rode among the men offering prayers and absolution. As they charged, the brigade screamed loudly and shouted a battle cry that sounded like "Fah-ah-bah-lah," (spelled Faugh-a-Balaugh) which is Gaelic for "Clear the Way!"
The thunderous sound of weaponry filled the air and men fell on both sides. Father Corby, who seemed to be oblivious to the gunfire, dodged across the field, administering last rites to fallen Irishmen. Colonel Meagher fought alongside his men and when he saw the emerald banner fall, he ordered it to be raised again. The 69th lost eight color bearers at Antietam and once, the firing was so intense that the flagstaff was shattered in a man’s hands.
Meagher’s horse was shot out from under him as the fighting intensified. The brigade fought fiercely and fell in huge numbers. They fired all of the ammunition they had and then collected what they could from the dead and wounded and fired that, too. Eventually their cries of "Faugh-a-Balaugh" became fainter and the Irish Brigade lost more than sixty percent of its men that day -- and wrote its name in the bloody pages of American history.
As the fierce fighting continued, General Richardson personally dispatched the brigade of Brigadier general John C. Caldwell (after being told that Caldwell was in rear, hiding behind a haystack), and finally, the tide turned. A number of key Confederate leaders were lost in the fighting that followed, including George B. Anderson, Colonel Charles Tew, and Colonel John B. Gordon, who was wounded four times. He was shot once in the cheek and fell, unconscious, with his face in his hat. He later told friends that he would have drowned in his own blood, except for the fact that a Yankee bullet had earlier shot a hole in it, which allowed the blood to drain. Robert Rodes was shot in the thigh, but remained on the field. However, the losses of the Confederate officers added to the confusion of the events that followed.
As Caldwell’s brigade advanced around the right flank of the Confederates, Colonel Francis Barlow and three hundred and fifty New York men saw a weak point in the line and seized a knoll that commanded the sunken road, turning it into a deadly trap. From their vantage point, the Union troops fired down on the road’s defenders. The once impregnable position had become an abattoir. A sergeant from the 61st New York later wrote, “We were shooting them like sheep in a pen. If a bullet missed the mark at first it was liable to strike the further bank, angle back, and take them secondarily.” The road, soon to be known as “Bloody Lane,” rapidly filled with bodies, piled two and three feet deep.
| "Bloody Lane" in the wake of the battle. | The New York men continued to fire into the sunken lane and then poured into the roadway, kneeling on the slain Confederates to fire at the retreating survivors. “A frenzy seized each man,” one soldier recalled. He remembered tossing aside his own empty rifle to pull loaded ones from the hands of the dead to continue firing. Confederates moved in to meet the threat by the Union troops but a command from Rodes was misunderstood by Lieutenant Colonel James N. Lightfoot, who had taken over the command of John Gordon. |
Lightfoot mistakenly ordered his men to withdraw, an order that all five regiments of the brigade thought also applied to them. Confederates hurried toward Sharpsburg, their line broken.
Richardson’s men were in pursuit of the fleeing men when massed artillery hastily assembled by General Longstreet drove them back. A counterattack, led by D.H. Hill, flanked the Federal line beside the sunken road but they were driven back by a fierce charge by the 5th New Hampshire.
Unfortunately, this caused the Union center to collapse and Richardson was forced to order his division back to the other side of the sunken road. His division lost nearly one thousand men. Colonel Barlow was wounded and Richardson later died from his wounds. The Federal advance had been stalled and the battle at the center of the line died out.
Over the years, Bloody Lane has come to be known as the most eerie spot on the Antietam battlefield. Visitors have had many strange encounters here and even some former skeptics have come to believe that the events of the past are still very present in this place. Reports that have been collected over the years tell of phantom gunfire echoing along the old road and the smell of smoke and gunpowder that seems to come from nowhere. Other reports have included the apparitions of men in Confederate uniforms, which were believed to be re-enactors – until they vanished without a trace.
Perhaps the most famous story of the Bloody Lane involves a group of boys from the McDonough School in Baltimore. They toured the battlefield and ended the day at Bloody Lane. The boys were allowed to wander about and think about what they had learned that day. They were asked to record their impressions for a history assignment and some wrote brief remarks and poems. But the comments that got the most attention from the teacher were written by several boys who walked down the road to the observation tower, which is located where the Irish Brigade charged the Confederate line.
The boys described hearing strange noises that became shouts, coming from the field near the tower. Some of them said that it sounded like a chant and others described the voices as though someone were singing a Christmas song, which sounded a lot like "Deck the Halls."
Most specifically, they described the words as sounding like the part of the song that goes "Fa-la-la-la-la." The singing came strongly and then faded away. But what if the singing had not been a Christmas song at all, but the sounds of the famous Irish Brigade "clearing the way"?
Faugh-a-Balaugh.
So, if you're out lifting a pint somewhere this St. Patrick's Day, remember the men of the Irish Brigade, who gave their lives for the Union cause. Slainte!
MARCH 2011
March 26: Night at Nemacolin Castle -- Brownsville, Pennsylvania -- Exclusive, private ghost hunt at one of the most haunted locations in the state. SOLD OUT!
March 26: Night at the Twin City Opera House -- McConnellsville, Ohio -- Private ghost hunt at what has been considered one of the most haunted locations in Ohio!
Reservations!
APRIL 2011
April 9: Night at the Mansfield Reformatory -- Mansfield, Ohio -- Search for the ghosts at one of America's most haunted prisons! SOLD OUT!
April 10: Night at the Lemp Mansion -- St. Louis, Missouri -- Exclusive all-night ghost hunt at one of the most haunted houses in America! SOLD OUT!
April 16: Night at the Eldred House -- Eldred, Illinois -- Join us for a ghost hunt at one of our most popular Illinois locations!
Reservations!
April 29-30: Haunted Weekend in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania -- Come back for another of our guest's favorite trips as we explore of the country's most haunted locations! SOLD OUT!
April 30: Night at the Hannah House -- Indianapolis, Indiana -- Join us for a night at one of America's most haunted houses!
Reservations!
MAY 2011
May 7: Weird & Haunted Illinois with Author Troy Taylor -- Lecture and Booksigning at the Rockford Public Library in Rockford, Illinois -- 2:00 PM
May 7: Night at the Villisca Ax Murder House -- Villisca, Iowa -- Private all-night ghost hunt at the site of an unsolved mass murder and one of the most haunted houses in America -- SOLD OUT!
May 13: Night at the Lincoln Theater -- Decatur, Illinois -- Overnight ghost hunt at one of America's most haunted and terrifying places!
Reservations!
May 14: Night at the Hockenhull Building -- Jacksonville, Illinois -- Private ghost hunt at the haunted scene of a deadly 1966 fire!
Reservations!
May 21: Night at the Squirrel Cage Jail -- Council Bluffs, Iowa -- Private ghost hunt at one of the most unusual -- and haunted -- jails in the country! SOLD OUT!
May 28: Night at the Brumder Mansion -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- Private ghost hunt at the most haunted house in Milwaukee!
Reservations!
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