Gettysburg interactive panorama: Devil's Den

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From tourists to soldiers to ghost hunters, visitors to Gettysburg are drawn to Devil's Den, scene of intense fighting on July 2, 1863. I shot the interactive image above of the iconic spot during an early April visit ... 

... early photographers at the site posed "dead" soldiers on the massive boulders, perhaps eager that such scenes would lead to a spike in sales. This image was taken in Devil's Den on Nov. 11, 1863 by Peter Weaver, a Hanover, Pa., photographer, according to research by William Frassanito. (Hat tip: John Cummings of Spotsylvania Civil War blog) ... 

... an enlargement of the photograph, which is available on the Library of Congress web site, shows three"dead" men and their muskets ... 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

... and these 8th Connecticut veterans and their families visited Devil's Den on Oct. 9, 1894 en route to Antietam, where the regiment nearly broke through the Rebel lines on Sept. 17, 1862. This image is in the Connecticut State Libary archives ...

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

... years later, these soldiers in Company C of the 303rd U.S. Army Tank Corps posed in Devil's Den before they sailed for Europe to fight the Germans during World War I.  This photograph appeared in the Hartford Courant on Aug. 11, 1918. ...


... of course, no visit to Gettysburg is complete without a ghost tour or a little paranormal activity. In April 2008, I met Stewart Cornelius of the Mason Dixon Paranormal Society in Devil's Den, where he was conducting an "investigation." Before I departed, Stewart played a recording of an EVP -- Electronic Voice Phenomena for the uninitiated -- that his group recorded of a Civil War soldier in Gettysburg. "Help me," the "soldier" pleads in a low voice. Real or nutty? Judge for yourself by clicking on the video above.