Devil's Den

A boulder-strewn hill on the south end of Houck's Ridge at Gettysburg Battlefield, used by Confederate sharpshooters on the second day of the battle. The rocky terrain witnessed some of the most brutal close-quarters combat of the entire Civil War.

The Devil's Den is a cluster of massive boulders on the Gettysburg battlefield that served as a Confederate sniper's nest during the battle of July 2, 1863. The area witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting when the 1st Texas Regiment under Major General John Bell Hood attacked Union positions. The ragtag Texans—many barefoot with long hair and floppy hats—faced devastating casualties but managed to silence three of four Union artillery pieces and flush the remaining defenders from the rocks.

The ghost most frequently encountered here is a disheveled man with shoulder-length hair, bare feet, and a floppy hat—a perfect description of what Confederate soldiers from Texas looked like during the battle. One woman exploring the Devil's Den alone reported that a raggedy man in this distinctive attire suddenly appeared and pointed at her University of Texas sweatshirt. "First Texas," he exclaimed, before vanishing as quickly as he came. A park ranger recalled another tourist describing this exact apparition without knowing the history: "I can't believe she's describing exactly what a Texan looked like at the battle of Gettysburg. She wouldn't have known that as a tourist."

Visitors report speaking with the ghost who disappears when they try to photograph him. This hostility toward cameras may stem from a dark historical incident: battlefield photographer Alexander Gardner dragged a dead soldier's body 40 yards to pose him as a sharpshooter for a staged photograph. This disrespect for the dead has led paranormal researchers to believe the spirits here harbor particular animus toward photographers.

The Devil's Den is notorious for electronic equipment malfunctions—cameras refuse to function, photos turn out blank, batteries drain instantly. Watches stop working within the field. The area had an eerie reputation even before the battle; Native Americans avoided it, believing it was inhabited by supernatural entities.

Some visitors feel an invisible presence pushing them, while others report sudden, inexplicable chills. The concentration of ghostly activity at Devil's Den is considered the highest on the entire Gettysburg battlefield.