Transcript

10.31.25 · History Hour

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. This is Radioized History Show and I
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am your host and reader for today, Joseph Bolt. Happy
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to be with you. And before we begin today's program,
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we need to remind you that RADIOI is listener driven
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Radio I is a reading service intended for people who
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are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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to read into material. I'll cite the sources as we
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go along today. And since we're getting close to Halloween,
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I thought maybe I would pick out a subject that's
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apropos for that particular holiday, and in particular is the
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subject of ghost So let's read about some ghosts that
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have been reportedly hanging around the White House for several centuries.
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Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, of
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course from eighteen sixty one to eighteen sixty five, is
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remembered for his vital role as a leader in preserving
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the Union, during the Civil War and beginning the process
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that led to the end of slavery in the United States.
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He's remembered, as you know, for his character, his speeches
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and letters, and as a man of humble origins whose
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determination and perseverance led him to the nation's highest office.
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He's also remembered, of course, for his untimely death and
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his supposed after life in the White House. For years, presidents,
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first ladies, guests, and members of the White House staff
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have claimed to have either seen Lincoln or felt his presence.
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The melancholy bearing of Lincoln himself and the several instances
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of eerie feelings maybe only add to the legends of
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the Great Emancipator's ghost. By the time of his eighteen
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sixty four re election, deep lines etched Lincoln's face and
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heavy black circles underlined his eyes. During his years as
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commander in chief, he had slept very little and taken
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no vacations. There may have been more to his sadness
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than even he would admit. Lincoln dreamed of his own death.
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Ward hill Lamon, a close friend of the president's, wrote
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down what Lincoln told him on an evening and early
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eighteen sixty five. So here is Lincoln's quote about ten
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days ago. I retired very late, the President told Laman.
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I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a
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deathlike stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as
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if a number of people were weeping. I thought, I
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left my bed and wandered downstairs. I arrived at the
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East room, and before me was a coda fok on
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which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it
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were were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards. And
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there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon
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the corpse, whose face covered, others weeping pitifully. Who is
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dead in the White House? I demanded, as one of
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the soldiers said the president. He was killed by an assassin.
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It was not the first time Lincoln saw his his
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own death, so to speak. Soon after his election in
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eighteen sixty, he'd seen a double image of his face
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reflected in a mirror in his Springfield, Illinois home. One
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was his real face and the other a pale imitation.
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Lincoln's superstitious wife, Mary Todd, did not see the mirror images,
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but was deeply troubled by her husband's account of the incident.
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She prophesied that the sharper image indicated that he would
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serve out his first term. The faint, ghostlike image was
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a sign, she said that he would be renominated for
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a second term, but would not live to complete it.
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Of course, we know that now. We know rather. On
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April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five, President Lincoln was shot by
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a Southern sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth in the back of
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the head as he watched our American cousin at Ford's Theater.
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We all know this. He died at seven twenty two
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the next morning, on April fifteenth, eighteen sixty five. It
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is true that tragedy had stalked Lincoln long before his
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first presidential term. His beloved mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died
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when her son was nine. When Lincoln's first love, Anne
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Rutledge died of typhoid fever, aapsed into a melancholy that
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may have led to his emotional breakdown a few years later.
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In eighteen forty two, at the age of thirty three,
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Lincoln married Mary Todd, but the union was not a
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particularly happy one. Mary had a mercurial temper and a
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strong belief in the supernatural. It was her influence that
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led to her husband's interest in spiritualism, though he always
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regarded it with some skepticism. Lincoln's had four sons, but
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only Robert Todd lived to adulthood. Edward died at age four,
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and young Willie succumbed to a fever during his father's
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first term as president. Tad died at eighteen. After his
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father's death, Lincoln was shattered by Willie's death and often
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visited the crypt where the child was buried. He would
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sit for hours weeping at Missus Lincoln's urging. Or seances
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were held at the White House with the hope of
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communicating with their dead sons. The results of these seances
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were not entirely satisfying, in its belief that Lincoln intended
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only two of them. Liz Carpenter, press secretary to Lady
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Bird Johnson, told author John Alexander that Missus Johnson believed
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that she felt Lincoln's presence. One spring evening, while watching
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a television program about his death, she noticed a plaque
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she'd never seen before hanging over the fireplace. It mentioned
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Lincoln's importance in that room in some way Missus Johnson
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admitted feeling a strange coldness and a decided sense of unease.
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This disquieting apprehension has been felt by others. Grace Coolidge,
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wife of Calvin Coolidge, the thirtieth President, was the first
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person to report having actually seen the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.
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She said he stood at a window at the Oval Office,
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hands clasped behind his back, gazing out over the Potomac,
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perhaps still seeing the bloody battlefields beyond. The ghost of
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Lincoln was seen frequently during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt,
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when the country went through a devastating depression then a
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World War. When Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was a
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guest at the White House during that period, she was
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awakened one night by a knock on her bedroom door.
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The ghost of Lincoln was seen frequent frequently during the
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administration when the country went through the devastating depression in
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World War. Queen Wilhelmina, thinking that knock might be an
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important message, she got up and opened the door. The
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top hatted figure of President Lincoln stood in the hallway,
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and the Queen fainted. When she came to She was
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lying on the floor. The apparition had vanished. Elinor Rose
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use Lincoln's bedroom as her study sometimes. Although she denied
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seeing the former president's ghosts, she admitted to feeling his
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presence whenever she worked late at night. She thought he
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was standing behind her, peering over her shoulder. Stories of
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a ghostly President Lincoln wandering the corridors and rooms of
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the White House persist, but are not officially acknowledged. The
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gangly prairie lawyer with the black stove pipe hat and
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the long sad face was the kind of man around
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whom legends naturally collect. If one were to believe in ghosts,
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one would have to believe that the benevolent spirit of
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Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest presidents, still watches over
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the nation he fought so gallantly to preserve. That story
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came from history dot com, The Lingering Legend of Abe
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Lincoln's Ghost, written by the History dot Com editors in
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March of twenty twenty five. Now let's move on to
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another story. The Battle of Gettigsburg, fought from July first
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to July third, eighteen sixty three, marked a turning point
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in the Civil War and stands as one of the
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deadliest battles in American history. By the end of the conflict,
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over fifty thousand soldiers had been killed, wounded, or reported missing.
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Nearly one million people visit Gettigsburg each year, but they're
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not coming just for the sake of history. Many are
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also drawn to the tales of lingering spirits that add
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a master, serious, and chilling layer to this iconic Pennsylvania town.
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For decades, stories of wandering spirits across the Gettigsburg battlefield,
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local buildings, and nearby woods have captivated visitors and residents alike.
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People claim to hear phantom footsteps, ghostly drumbeats, and echoes
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of musket fire and cannon blasts. Many believe these encounters
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are the restless souls of soldiers reliving their final moments
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of violence and fear. Today, Gettigsburg's history blends folklore, first
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hand accounts, and tragedy, solidifying its reputation as one of
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the most haunted places in the United States. Of course,
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Gettysburg was a pivotal clash between Union and Confederate forces.
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General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia faced off
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against General George Meade's Army of the Potomac in a
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brutal three day conflict. The battle ended, as we know,
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with the decisive Union victory, halting Lee's invasion of the
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North and marking the beginning of the Confederacy's decline. However,
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victory came at an enormous cost. Soldiers lay where they fell,
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and graves lined the once peaceful landscape. The devastation was overwhelming,
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turning Gedigsburg into a grim scene of loss and suffering.
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One anonymous New Jersey soldier described the horrific scene. He's
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quoted as saying, burial parties were sent out, and those
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who could get away from their commands went out to
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view the sea of carnage, and surely it was a
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scene never to be forgotten. Upon the open fields, like
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sheaves bound by the reaper, in crevices of the rocks,
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behind fences, trees and buildings, in thickets where they had
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crept for safety, only to die in agony by stream
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or wall or hedge, wherever the battle had raged, or
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their waking steps could carry them lay the dead. The
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emotional and physical scars left behind in Getdigsburg weren't felt
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only by those who survived. It's believed the sheer magnitude
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of suffering and death has left an imprint on the
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town that lingers even to this day. There are various
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theories as to why Gettigsburg is such a hub for
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alleged supernatural activity. According to Mark Nesbitt, a former National
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Park Service ranger, an historian at Gettigsburg, and author of
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several books on the region's ghost the battlefield may have
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been destined to be just that a battlefield. Years before
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the Battle of Gettigsburg, another battle, one even bigger, may
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have occurred about a mile from Big round Top. Nesbit says.
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Maps show that two Native American tribes had territories delineating
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through Adams County, suggesting it could have been a turf
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war between them. Emmanuel Bushman, a writer from Gettgsburg, wrote
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in eighteen eighty seven about quote many unnatural and supernatural
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sights and sounds experienced in the area of the Roundtops
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that he called the Indian Fields. Nesbit, who also runs
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a ghost tour company in Gettigsburg, mentions additional theories, like
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the stone tape theory, which suggests that energy released at
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the moment of death becomes trapped in the area's abundant
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granite and quartz. While intriguing, these theories are speculative at best.
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There are those individuals like Jeff B. Langer, an author
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and folklore researcher who has studied the history of Gettingsburg,
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who simply accept the haunting presence as part of the
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region's history. He says, Gettysburg is haunted because it should
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be haunted. When you have tens of thousands dead, missing,
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or wounded in the span of three days, that leaves
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a stain that can never be washed away end quote.
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Bilanger points to the infamous words of President Lincoln in
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his Gettysburg Address when Lincoln said, we cannot dedicate, we
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cannot consecrate, We cannot hallow this ground. The brave men,
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living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far
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above our poor power to add or detract. The world
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will little note nor long remember what we say here,
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but it can never forget what they did here end quote.
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In his research, the first ghost story that Nesbit found
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specifically tied to the battle happened on the night of
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July first and into the early hours of July second,
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eighteen sixty three. He says during that night, as the
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Union Armies Fifth Corps marched into Gettysburg, they spotted a
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mysterious horseman in the darkness ahead. He goes on to
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say the figure would appear and then disappear, but it
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was obvious from their accounts he was wearing a uniform
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from the Revolutionary War. Many believed it was the ghost
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of George Washington. The battlefield is considered a hotspot for
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paranormal activity, particularly a Devil's Den, a rocky outcrop known
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for intense fighting. Confederate sharpshooters used the rocks for cover,
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resulting in many casualties. Visitors frequently report strange occurrences, cameras malfunctioning,
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mysterious figures appear in photographs, and some claim to hear
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distant gunfire and screams echoing through the rocks. Others claim
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to have seen a bare foot, disheveled man dressed in
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ragged clothing who reportedly says, quote what you're looking for
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is over there, before he vanishes into thrin air. Confederate
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soldiers often wore their own clothes during the Civil War,
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or since standard uniforms were not consistently issued. This lack
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of regulation led to a variety of attire on the battlefield,
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making their appearances less uniform compared to Union forces. Triangular Field,
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located northwest of Devil's Den, is also notorious for ghostly activity.
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Visitors report shadowy figures crossing the field, feelings of being touched,
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and an unsettling presence around them. Similar phenomenon have been
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reported at Little Round Top, where Colonel Joshua Chamberlain's twentieth
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Maine Regiment secured a crucial Union victory. Many claimed to
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see soldiers in uniform or hear musket fire, are encountering figures,
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encounter figures rather from the past, who vanish without a trace.
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Just outside the battle lines, Hospital Woods served as a
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temporary field hospital. Mark Nesbit recalled speaking to a woman
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who sensed two men approaching her in the woods. She
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later identified them as soldiers from the forty second Mississippi Regiment,
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even providing their names in company details. Nesbit later confirmed
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that these soldiers have been wounded nearby and treated in
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the same spot. To come up with two names, a
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unit number, and the fact that these men were treated
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here is almost impossible. Nesbit remarked, almost every old building
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in Gettigsburg has its own haunted story, but a few
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places stand out, including the Genny Wade House. Genny Wade,
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twenty years of age, was the only Savillian killed during
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the battle, after being struck by a stray bullet while
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baking bread in her sister's kitchen. Her death was an
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unfortunate accident, but it left a lasting mark on the house.
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Visitors and staff report doors that open and close on
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their own, disembodied voices, and a feeling of being watched.
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Some believe Jenny's spirit still lingers trapped in that place.
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The Gettigsburg College was used as a hospital and command
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post during the battle. One of the most famous tales
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involves two administrators who, while riding the elevator in Pennsylvania Hall,
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were transported to what seemed like a Civil War era
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hospital scene. They claimed to have witnessed wounded soldiers in
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blood covered doctors in frantic nurses, and when the elevator
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doors closed and reopened, the haunting vision disappeared, leaving them
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startled and shaken by the experience. The Farnsworth House Inn,
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once a strong hook hold for Confederate sharpshooters, is still
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marked by bullet holes from the battle. Spirits are said
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to linger there too, with guests reporting apparitions of soldiers,
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disembodied footsteps, and cold spots. Other haunted locations include the
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Tilly Pierce House, the Daniel Lady Farm, and Sacks Covered Bridge.
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Gettysburg holds a special place in American history, a place
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where the past feels remarkably close for those who visit
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these hollowed grounds. The stories of haunted houses, restless spirits,
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and strange encounters serve as reminders of the human cost
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of war and the lingering horrorless ghosts are hiss demanding
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to be remembered, said b. Langer. Though the notion of
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haunted battlefield may offend some who believe the definition of
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a ghost is some earth bound spirit doomed to never
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pass on. I think a ghost is a movie that
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plays over and over again because we have yet to
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reconcile the lessons of the past. That story came from
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history dot com Getigsburg Ghost Stories from the Civil War
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Battlefield Risks, written by Crystal Ponte in May of twenty
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twenty five. Well, that about does it for today's radio
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eye history. I hope you enjoyed today's program, Thank you
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for listening and giving me your time. I'm your host,
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Joseph Bolt, and I'll be back once again for another
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chapter of RADIOI history. Until then, happy trails to you.