Bloody Angle - Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield VA
N 38° 13.591 W 077° 35.903
18S E 272553 N 4234140
The Bloody Angle of the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield was left littered with bodies during the Civil War. Their tormented souls still wander the battlefield and warn away the unwary with their wailing.
Waymark Code: WM96DX
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 07/05/2010
Views: 10
The Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia has been named by Haunted American Tours as one of the
Top 10 Haunted Battlefields. The Park encompasses four major Civil War battlefields - Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House.
One of the more popular spots for ghosts and ghost hunters is the Bloody Angle at the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield. Named for the section of the Muleshoe Salient, a bulge in the Confederate earthworks, that saw the bloodiest and longest sustained hand-to-hand combat on May 12, 1864, it is only to be expected many restless souls still wander the ground. The Bloody Angle was located on the Landram Farm. The fields of grain ran red with blood and became littered with corpses.
The Washington Post reported on one ghost hunting expedition in 2006. According to the article, "If spirits were likely to appear anywhere, the ghost hunters said, this was the spot."
Although that particular night would prove to be fruitless and spiritless for the ghost hunters followed by the Post, Mark and Trista Young, founders of Tri-Mar Paranormal Research and Tri-Mar Press, had an encounter of a different kind. According to their report:
"The Spotsylvania Battlefield offers a [walking] tour of the area surrounding the Bloody Angle. Between walking tour stop 4 (where the Federal troops gathered along a tree line and dug trenches parallel to the dirt road) and the remains of the Landrum house, the dowsing rods began to spin counter clockwise at a steady pace. As we walked along the dirt road to the Landrum house (used as a field hospital and headquarters for General Hancock) 500 yards away the dowsing rods continued to spin. At this time a strange wailing noise could be heard from the nearby woods where the Union troops massed for their attack on May 12.
When we arrived at the Landrum house ruins the dowsing rods became very active and the wailing noise intensified. Trista began to feel very uncomfortable and wanted to leave immediately. I snapped several photos and captured one orb on film. The woods seemed to be beckoning and at the same time warning you to stay away, which we did. Once we returned to the main walking tour the wailing noise stopped suddenly.
As we were returning to our car we spotted a park ranger and asked him about the noise in the woods. The conversation went like this. I said “We were back by the Landrum house ruins and” then he finished the sentence for me. The ranger said “YOU HEARD THE NOISE”. I continued, “Yes, we didn’t know what was making the sound. It sounded like a mix of cows and people moaning. The ranger continued on saying “I don’t know what it is, it could be almost anything but I’ll take a look”. We thought it was very strange that the ranger finished the sentence for me and knew what I was going to say. It was obvious that other people have heard the noise also and had mentioned it to him. Could it be the moans of agony from the slaughtered soldiers or just the wind in the trees?"
The posted coordinates are to the location of Tour Stop 4 on the
Bloody Angle Trail, referenced by the Tri-Mar report. Detour off the loop trail and turn right. Continue carefully on the dirt road to the
Landram homesite. Be wary of the treeline to the left. Union soldiers burst from these woods on the attack and their ghosts may still be hovering. The ruins of two chimneys are the only tangible evidence that remains of the house, but who knows what spirits and tortured souls also remain? Listen closely. Do YOU HEAR THE NOISE?