Mailbag: The Kennesaw Mountain Ghost Rider

"I saw the link about seeing anything strange...well, earlier this year, I think I did."

"I've got a bad back and haven't worked in over a year so I spend a lot of time in bed. Earlier this year, late spring or early summer, I was in a half-awake state and I noticed the hazy form of what appeared to be someone in civil war clothing on a horse standing in my bedroom. It was there for only a second and kind of dematerialized. I remember it being a kind of a yellowish color."

"I wasn't scared and thought it was probably not so much a ghost but the energy of something that happened here during the Civil War. I am 3 miles from the epicenter of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain park and probably less then a mile from the cavalry battleground at Mud Creek."

"On Twitter, there is an Alabama paranormal group that I think started following me first. I told them that the area I live in is supposed to be haunted and they should check it out sometime. I kind of forgot about the thing I saw in my bedroom. The Marietta Square is about 5 miles from my house and they have a company doing ghost tours. Anyway, I did a Google search to send them some links and I found the posting below. The fence mentioned is probably 1-2 miles from my house. I haven't seen anything in this house before or since, but sometimes I hear things in my bedroom that come from that side of the room. I have heard that for awhile. It may be explainable since I have a fan over there and it may be blowing stuff around on my disorganized desk. Anyway, thought you might enjoy that story."

Bill

NOTE: I received the email this weekend. Below is the story Bill referred to...Lon
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From 11/1/2007

Ghost Rider at Kennesaw Mountain?


11alive - A Cobb County, GA man tells 11Alive News that he had a brush with what may have been a real ghost near Kennesaw Mountain earlier this month.

The man, who doesn't want to be identified, says he and his teenage son were driving through Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield the night of October 8 when they spotted something about to cross the road in front of their car. Both Civil War buffs, they say the rider appeared to be a Union Army cavalry officer complete with a sabre in his hand.

"I quickly locked down on my brakes as the horse proceeded to come right in front of us", the driver says. He says the rider then headed straight through a fence as though it didn't exist and faded into thin air. "My son and I were in a state of almost sheer panic," the man says, "but we managed to maintain and get on the way home very quickly."

The driver also told his story to Kevin Fike, a professional ghost hunter who helps run a ghost tour in Marietta. Fike, who founded Historic Ghost Watch and Investigations, says the sighting sounds like what's known in the paranormal field as a "residual haunting". He explains it as sort of a historical video clip that's lost in time and replays itself occasionally.

Fike says such sightings are more common in historic areas. "The most common type of a haunting would be a residual haunting," according to Fike, "then you add to that the emotion and the trauma associated with battlefields or hospitals."

True story or not? All this reporter can tell you is that he knows the two people involved and they are not given to fancy. They want to remain anonymous because of what people might think of them. After all, if you thought you saw something like this, would you want to be quoted by name?

Have you had a close encounter or witnessed something unusual? Send us an email