We return to Pennsylvania Hall, scene of the unreal and accidental descent of two administrators late one night, into the Hades of a Civil War hospital somehow resurrected in the basement of the structure. Over the years there has been the recurring sighting of what some have called "the signalman" in the Cupola of Old Dorm. A student of Dr. Emmons recorded a strange occurrence one October evening that adds one more witness to whomever is doomed to stand guard eternally above the campus.

As a first year student, the young man had been an avowed skeptic. Like all the students, he had heard of the ghostly sentry who walks his eternal post above the campus late at night, following long forgotten orders and adhering to a duty with a supernatural compulsion. He laughed off the stories, because, of course, anyone who believes in ghosts must be crazy.

Then, one night, the student was walking across campus to relax after a particularly hard evening of studying. It was late, about 11:00 at night, when the student was strolling from the circle just to the north of Brua Hall toward towering Glatfelter. He noticed that night the beautiful full moon and as he walked he heard what he described as a "rustling" above and to his right. At first he thought it was a bird, but was compelled to look up at the cupola of Old Dorm. There, to his amazement, he saw the blurred shape of a human, half hidden by the lower rails of the cupola and the trees. The image was a foggy white color and wore a hat. The student could distinctly see what appeared to be a dark rifle upon his right shoulder and a lantern being held in his left hand, and though misty in color he seemed to be solid. Blinking his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, the student observed the ghostly soldier scanning the surrounding area as if on the qui vive, as all good lookouts should be. Then, suddenly, he began to peer in the direction of the student.

An icy chill ran up the student's back. Was he now suddenly intruding upon the other world? Had he accidentally crossed that thin essence that separates us from them? Whatever the realization in his mind, he felt for the first time that he might become a victim of the dangerous-looking weapon the soldier carried. He turned and began to run as quickly as he could back to his dorm. In a few short minutes, with that brief glance across the great chasm, he was a skeptic no more.

His roommates reported that when he got back to the room he had broken into a cold sweat, was pale, shaking, and visibly upset. Convinced by his demeanor of the sincerity of his confession to what he had seen, they decided to call some friends and return to Old Dorm to investigate. Perhaps gaining courage from numbers, the brave young man decided to go with them, but only after he was assured by them that from their window in the dormitory, no one was visible in the cupola.

As they crossed campus his fear was contagious: All were beginning to feel something strange under that full moon. They stood gazing up at the cupola when a security guard approached them to ask what was wrong. The young man told him of his experience and the officer recorded the information in his report book, seemingly finding the tale amusing.

Then, as they all stood there, growing louder and louder in the deathlike silence of that evening, a horrifying, cold, unearthly wail cut through the moon-flooded night. They later described it as "high pitched, agonizing, and distinctly male," and lasting at least five long, blood-chilling seconds. On the battlefield where the rebel yell, keen like the shriek of a banshee, once echoed among granite stained crimson, again it came to them across the centuries.

They all instinctively looked toward the cupola. They were convinced the horrible sound came from within the walls of Pennsylvania Hall. Amused no more, and convinced that what he heard signalled something completely out of the ordinary, the security guard called the Gettysburg Police Department for backup. When the other officer arrived, they searched the building together. The doors and windows were all locked. The entrance to the cupola was bolted shut. No one could have left the building without leaving a ground-floor door or window unlocked or without being seen by the several people gathered near Old Dorm.

The researcher verified all the facts later with the security office's records and was told one other interesting thing by the chief of security and his assistant: This wasn't the first time something of this nature had happened.

One doubts that it will be the last.