It’s said when there’s great suffering and violence at death, a soul’s spirit cannot rest. This may be noticeably apparent on the grounds of Andersonville prison. Many stories are told by visitors who walk the current National Historic Site only to see, hear and feel the ghostly remnants of Andersonville’s tragic existence.
Andersonville prison as we know, was infamous for the horrible living conditions imposed on Union prisoners of war held there. Officially known as Camp Sumter, it was located in the southwest part of Georgia. It opened in February 1864 to house the ever growing prison population that increased once the prisoner exchange system broke down between the north and south.
There are numerous accounts of the atrocious living conditions endured by the prisoners. Andersonville was built to house 10,000 men but at its peak 33,000 men were jammed inside its walls. Barracks were not erected for prisoners. The men built their own huts and tents out of scrap pieces of wood, tree limbs and whatever cloth they could find. These flimsy structures could not give relief from the intense summer heat of the Georgia sun, the cold winter nights or pounding rain.
Inside the prison a “deadline” marked by a thin rail fence kept prisoners from climbing the stockade walls. Guards were ordered to shoot any soldier who touched the fence let alone cross it. Many prisoners who could no longer exist in such conditions committed suicide by crossing the “deadline”.
The fresh water for prisoners was a small stream, a branch of Saltwater creek, that ran through the center of the camp. Unfortunately it had to be used for bathing as well. Soon this stream and the surrounding area grew putrid with the accumulation of human waste and filth. Furthering the spread of disease.
Food was scarce for the prisoners. Most died from starvation or malnutrition. Disease and infection ran rampant. Men were dying horrible, agonizing deaths at a rate of 100 a day.
Today a visitor can walk this historic Civil War site. The prison is outlined with white posts and two sections of stockade walls. The rebuilt stockade gives a hint of the original primitive prison. The adjoining cemetery holds the remains of more than 13,800 Union soldiers who died at Andersonville and in the surrounding region.
Many travelers to this historic site can attest to unusual and haunting experiences. Some have reported an erie feeling as they tour the grounds. There are decidedly “cold” spots in the blazing heat of a summer sun. One “cold spot” is the burial place for six of the “Raiders”. These “Raiders” as they were called, were Union prisoners who terrorized their fellow brethren. Stealing, beating and even murdering the weakened at Andersonville, the “Raiders” took food rations and whatever valuables other prisoners had. Another group of Union prisoners banded together and were able to capture the “Raiders” ring leaders. These men were convicted at trial and were hung. It’s thought their cold, evil spirits hover near their graves.
Many visitors experience a sad, very unnerving, melancholy feeling as they walk the grounds. A sensation they cannot shake. The heaviness of the area is an aura that seeps to the visitor’s bones.
Others have smelled a horrid, acrid, even sour odor. One Vietnam veteran compared it to the sickening smell of a war time field hospital. Yet visitors find nothing around them as a source for this retching odor.
Stalwart visitor’s have camped near the prison grounds at night. When fog begins to cover the prison grounds in the early evening, many campers report seeing soldier’s, both Union and Confederate in the midst of the fog. They hear the voices of a group of men talking, punctuated by moans and pleas for help. The sounds of musket fire often rips through the evening air. There’s even those who have seen a small fire on the prison property and smelled meat cooking, yet on further inspection in daylight there is no evidence of a fire.
One teenage visitor reported seeing two men dressed as Union soldiers standing off to the side of the grounds. When she approached them to ask to take their picture they vanished.
A woman left shortly after her tour of the grounds began. She noticed a distraught young woman, in period dress bent over one of the thousands of graves in the prison cemetery. Assuming the “widow” was a reenactor, the visitor approached the mourner only to have her evaporate before the tourist’s eyes.
Captain Wirz, the commandant of Andersonville, was the only person convicted and hung for war crimes after the Civil War. Many have seen Captain Wirz walking up today’s Highway 49 to the entrance of the prison. When cars slow to offer him a ride he simply disappears.
Still others produce numerous snap shots of the area with orbs and mists streaming through their images. Odd occurrences for photos taken on clear, sunny days. Are the orbs the spirits of those who died abruptly or in agony?
There are a lot of stories of ghosts and erie happenings in and around the 26 acres that once was Andersonville prison. There are many more than mentioned here. If the spirits of those who died violently or maliciously do haunt their last environs, then Andersonville prison is as overpopulated in death as it was in 1864.