Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield

The site of a bloody Civil War battle in June 1864 where more than 4,000 men perished, mostly Union soldiers. The national battlefield park preserves the grounds where General Sherman faced Confederate General Johnston.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park preserves the site of one of the Civil War's bloodiest engagements. The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, fought June 18 to July 2, 1864, saw over 4,000 casualties as Union forces under General William T. Sherman clashed with Confederate defenders. The name "Kennesaw" itself comes from a Cherokee word meaning "graveyard" or "cemetery."

Almost immediately after the battle ended, reports of ghostly soldiers began. More than 160 years later, the hauntings have only intensified. Visitors hear phantom gunshots and cannon fire echoing across the peaceful park. The smell of blood and gunpowder lingers where no battle has been fought in over a century.

In October 2007, a father and son were driving across a battlefield road when a horse and rider appeared in their headlights. A Union cavalry officer in full uniform, saber raised, crossed in front of their car before passing through a fence and vanishing into the darkness. Another resident who lived near the battlefield awoke to find a soldier on horseback - hazy and yellow - standing in his bedroom, surveying an invisible battle before disappearing.

Shimmering apparitions of Confederate soldiers walk through the park, staring blankly into nothingness as they march into a battle that never ends. In housing developments built on former battlefield land, soldiers visit residents in the darkness of night. One homeowner reported a mischievous ghost slamming doors and dropping coins on the floor. A woman taking out her trash came face-to-face with a ghostly soldier in an old-fashioned uniform. Not knowing how to react, she dropped the trash bag at his feet and ran.

Ghostly deer have also been reported - they run toward witnesses and vanish just before impact, as if trapped in a moment of panic from 1864.