On September 17th 155 years ago in the year 1862, near Antietam Creek, Frederick County, Maryland, the bloodiest day of the civil war took place. In an epic battle Union major General George McClellan fought Confederate General Robert E. Lee in order to halt Lee’s advance into the Union state of Maryland. On the Union side 12,410 soldiers were either killed, wounded, or went missing. Out of the Confederate forces 10,316 people were killed, wounded, or lost in action. With a total of 22,726 souls being lost or injured in some way, creating the single bloodiest day in American history, the Antietam battlefield has most assuredly left behind an echo of the despair and pain felt by those who suffered on the old land. Some of the most sinister areas of the hallowed ground are located at Bloody Lane, the old Pry House, and Burnside Bridge.

Bloody Lane, a sunken country road that separated two farms, had now become part of the theater for bloodiest day of the Civil War. Confederate soldiers, order by their general to hold the line at all costs, defended the sunken road and used it as a rifling position. Drove after dove of Union soldiers fell trying to take the road with each charge being driven back by the Confederate rifle fire. It wasn’t until the Union soldiers were able to flank the road and gain a vantage point over their enemy that the skirmish became truly bloody. Turning the sunken road into a slaughter house the Union soldiers butchered the Confederate line leaving in their wake a now erie road, haunted by the lost souls of the outmaneuvered Confederates. Those who visit Bloody Lane say they can sometimes hear the battle cries and desperate screams of the soldiers still echoing across the road all the while smelling the gunpowder that was lit all those decades ago.

Across the battlefield there also lies the Burnside Bridge and Pry House. The Burnside Bridge, now haunted by the lives lost there, was the site of recurrent skirmishes between the two factions during the battle. Many valiant men fighting for what they believed in died at the bridge but were not given a proper burial. In an effort to move quickly both armies buried the dead in that area around the bridge and thus these souls found no solace in death. It is said that those who cross the bridge at night can see balls of light floating through the air while they hear the beat of marching drums. The Pry House, on the other hand, was not actually the site of any major battle. It was where the Union side of the battle was orchestrated from with General George McClellan using the old farmhouse as his headquarters. This house was not only where the deadly marching orders of the Union originated from it is also where one of the Union generals, Israel B. Richardson, came to die after he had been wounded, his wife staying with him until his bitter end. Those who walk by the old house today say they can see the ghostly apparition of the general’s wife staring out across the field from the windows while hearing the footsteps of long dead worried generals pace up and down the stairs.

While Frederick county may be home to some eerie areas and hallowed grounds none can be called scarier than the Antietam Battlefield. Having hosted the bloodiest day in the Civil War and deadliest day in American history this old battlefield is home to more than one lost soul. For those of you looking for a spooky thrill this Halloween visit this field and be prepared to see a supernatural spectacle, and that goes for all who wish to visit these ghostly grounds.