Watch Your Back

On one especially pleasant day, Rebecca, who lives near Gettysburg and frequents the battlefield, while traveling alone, decided to visit the Devil’s Den area. As she drove onto the battlefield in the early morning, Rebecca looked at the serene scene surrounding her. She thought to herself, how could such a peaceful place have been such a violent and tragic field of suffering and death. After she parked in the visitor’s parking area in front of Devil’s Den, Rebecca just sat a few minutes, again thinking about the terrible battle that took place there. She tried to envision Confederate General Longstreet’s soldiers as they valiantly charged into the sizable force of General Sickles. First at the Peach Orchard, then, after a vicious fight, continued their onslaught through the Wheatfield making their way to Plum Run, where she now stood.

When Rebecca exited her car, she walked some, at time stopping to enjoy the scenery, but the whole time thinking about the battle. As Rebecca slowly walked up to, then on the small footbridge crossing Plum Run, she stopped and again continued thinking about the terrible battle that took place on that very site. She envisioned the whole area of Plum Run littered with the bodies of soldiers, North and South, already dead or dying an agonizing death. She imagined the blackened sky full of flying lead and exploding shells, accompanied by sounds of screams and moans. She then remembered why they so aptly nicknamed Plum Run Bloody Run - because the water flowed red with the vast amount of blood from the wounded and dead.

As Rebecca stood there pondering about the bloodshed, she began to get strange feelings, no longer did she just think about the battle, she now detected a sensation of someone around her. She knew when she walked up to the bridge, she had not seen a single other person, but she looked around and again, found herself alone. All of a sudden, she sensed a sort of chill, still feeling she was not alone, and not understanding what was occurring, decided it was definitely time to leave.

Moments later, as Rebecca stood on the footbridge, she suddenly felt hands forcefully grabbing her from behind and in an instant was violently thrown off the bridge, landing hard, receiving scratches and bruises. As the dazed woman regained her senses, she impulsively looked all around for the perpetrator, but to her absolute shock, there was no one to be found. Rebecca quickly picked herself up and ran to her car, leaving the battlefield as fast as she could.

Rebecca located a Park Ranger to report the incident, showing her bruises, but the skeptical Ranger shrugged it off, telling her she must have slipped and she had an over-active imagination. What do you think actually happened? Did she indeed have an over-active imagination – or was she accosted by an angry specter still fighting the battle near Plum Run?