BATTLE OF ANTIETAM

Battle of Antietams Haunted Buildings

Overlooking the battlefield is Pry House, a brick farmhouse that was commandeered by General George McClellan to use as his headquarters, and as a field hospital during the battle. General Israel B. Richardson, who had been shot, was brought to the house, unfortunately he would never recover from his wounds, and he died at Pry House six months later it was a slow painful death. His wife Frances was there with him during his final days, she never recovered from his death. It is thought to be Frances's spirit that haunts the property. Pry house today is owned and maintained by the National Park Service.

Frances's ghost has been seen walking out of an upstairs office and disappearing through the wall, this is thought to the room in which General Richardson died. During a meeting of park personnel, the wife of one of the men at the meeting met a woman in old-fashioned clothing coming down the staircase. She later asked her husband who the lady in the long dress was but he had no idea who she was taking about.

During a fire at the house in the 1970s, firefighters reported seeing a woman in a second floor window, after the second floor had collapsed. After the fire was extinguished firefighter's spent hours searching the debris for the woman they had seen, no remains were ever found.

When the building was being renovated all the doors in the house were opened to air it. Suddenly all the doors slammed shut, from the front to the back of the house in the space of several seconds. All the doors were reopened and again each door slammed shut, this time from the back of the house to the front.

Another piece of reported phenomena is that of phantom footsteps that have been heard going up and down the staircase.

The Otto House stands on a knoll along the Burnside Bridge Road it overlooks the Sherrick Farm. The Otto House was used as a field hospital during the Battle of Antietam. One night two Antietam park rangers were doing their rounds, when they reached the Otto house they were horrified to see a blue translucent figure in the open doorway of house. The ghostly figure looked like a Southern belle she was dressed in a hoop skirt standing in doorway of the house looking toward town.

St. Paul Episcopal Church was used as a Confederate field hospital during the battle; it was heavily damaged during the fighting and was later rebuilt. Those who have lived close to the building claim they have heard the screams of the dying and injured coming from the inside of the church. They have also seen unexplained lights flickering from the church's tower.