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Location:
This hotbed of ghostly activity can
be found in Southeastern Montana, in a place called Crow Agency, which
is 15 miles outside of Hardin on I -90.
Description:
The Battle of Little Bighorn is where
General Custer and his men were brutally and totally defeated by Sioux
and Cheyenne warriors, under the direction of Crazy Horse and Sitting
Bull, took place on the grassy plains of the Bighorn River Valley and
bluffs that exist around and along the Bighorn River. Also, about 5 miles
from the main battleground, Reno Crossing is also part of the monument,
as a bloody skirmish took place there as well.
This massacre could've been prevented if only General Custer would've listened to his scouts who told him that they had been seen by hostile Indian scouts, and that his usual tactics should be changed. Custer had too big an ego and too much confidence to listen, and as a result many died needlessly.
Tom and I visited The Battle of Little Bighorn. It was a sobering experience, sickening to see and the vibes were strong. Every place where a soldier died, there is a marker with the soldier's name on it. The markers told the story of the battles which took place. Indian warriors were also remembered with a marker. We saw all the battlefields, starting with Last Stand Hill. We walked down the path provided, seeing how the soldiers were killed in groups as they retreated. We weren't allowed to go down to Reno's Crossing, but we saw it from the top of the hill.
Manifestations:
Spirits / ghosts of both Indians and
soldiers have been seen and heard by the living both on the outside areas
and in the various buildings located on the monument grounds.
A) The Outside Battleground Area
1) Many people have heard frightening
screams of men undergoing a grisly death, while touring the battle fields.
Some with psychic abilities have even witnessed some of the battle.
2) Park Ranger, Mardell Plainfeather,
is a Crow Indian who had a sweat lodge located next to the Bighorn River.
After an elder had used it, she went into the lodge to pour water over
the hot stones. After she came outside, she looked up, and saw about
60 or 70 yards up on the bluff above her, two warriors on horseback,
looking down at her. They had feathers and shields as well. One got
off his horse, to get a better look at her. The moon and stars were
bright, so she knew that what she saw was clearly true. She left quickly.
When she came back the next morning, she climbed up the bluff, and saw
no evidence of horses being there last night. There were no trees or
anything there that could've been mistaken for Indians on horses. She
did feel strong presences there, who were either Sioux or Cheyenne spirits,
keeping her company. She got the feeling that they were friendly, and
meant her no harm. Mardell prayed for the dead, and left an offering
of sage and sweet tobacco for all the spirits who haunt Little Bighorn
Battlefield National Monument.
3) On Last Stand Hill and near the
battlefield cemetery, many visitors have been overcome by a sense of
deep sorrow and loss.
4) People have seen the apparition
of 2nd Lt. Benjamin Hodgson reliving his terrifying, horrible death
at Reno's Crossing. His story is explained below. It seems he sometimes
visits the living as well.
Still Haunted?
Yes indeed!
B) On-Site Apartments near the Cemetery/
Battlefield
1) During the summer of 1983 a Miss
Hope was working at the national park as a student intern, whose duties
included tours and talks with visitors, which she really enjoyed. She
was staying in a small, comfortable apartment, built at the edge of
the battleground cemetery. One evening, after a tiring day, she inadvertently
fell asleep on her living room couch. Around midnight, she awoke, having
an overwhelming sense of dread. Much to her alarm , she looked across
her dark living room to see a man sitting, frozen in her easy chair
directly across from her.
This figure could be seen plainly in detail,
because light from an uncurtained window bathed him in light. The man
ignored her presence, and seemed oblivious to his current surroundings.
Though he was wearing modern clothes, something about his face seemed
familiar. He had a haircut that was similar to soldiers who fought at
the Battle of Little Bighorn, as she had closely studied many pictures
of such soldiers. He had a light beard and a handlebar mustache. His
eyes were wide with terror. He disappeared within a few minutes.
Photo Taken from Brucedale.com/BigHorn
Later the next day, Miss Hope and
Ranger Tim explored Reno's Crossing, a place of death and terror, located
deep in the Little Bighorn Valley. After Custer and his troops were
completely wiped out, in the infamous battle, Major Marcas A. Reno and
his defeated troops, carrying many wounded, were forced to retreat there
under the cover of trees, with advancing warriors on their tails.
His
terrified troops panicked and plunged into the river, where most were
killed or badly wounded, turning the water blood red. Their screams
echoed against the river's bluffs. Those few who managed to draw their
wounded bodies up the opposite bank, were cut down at the top by warriors.
As Tim and Miss Hope retraced the path taken by Reno's men, Miss Hope
spied a marker by the water's edge, that marked the place where 2d Lt.
Benjamin H. Hodgson had died.
Back at the visitor's center, Hodgson's
picture was found in a book that had the histories and pictures of the
men killed at Reno's Crossing. Hope identified Hodgson as the apparition
who sat in her living room.
2) Employee Apartments: A &
D - Throughout the years, it has been reported that shimmering forms
have stood at the foot of various employees' beds.
C) Two Story Stone House - Located
in the Middle of the Battleground
Introduction: One of the most haunted
places on the battleground sight is the 1894 Stone House, built for
the cemetery caretaker in the center of the battlefield where Custer
and his men lost to the Indians. The job of the cemetery caretaker was
first thought to be of a ghost herder by the local Indians, who kept
the ghosts from going beyond the monument fence. In recent years, the
Stone House has been turned into two apartments, one upstairs, and one
downstairs.
1) Ranger Jacobson and his wife
moved into the bottom apartment, after being warned by the local people.
They experienced doorknobs twisting, opening doors, with no one living
there, and unexplained footsteps, heard overhead on the second floor
apartment, when no one was living there. However, the most strange incident
happened when his wife took a frozen chicken out of the freezer. They
suddenly heard a high-pitched whine which pierced the entire apartment.
When she put the chicken down, the whining stopped. When she picked
it up again, the whining sound started again. The wife promptly threw
the chicken away, and the whining stopped once again. Jackson wonders
if the ghosts were being protective, and had prevented his family from
eating a bad chicken.
2) In 1983, the Massies lived in
a fourplex near the Stone House, when Mr. Massie served as Park Interpreter.
That year, the Stone House was empty of living tenants. Late one night
Mardell Plainfeather, already mentioned above, who lived in one of the
other fourplexes, noticed that the lights on the second floor of the
Stone House were blazing away as she drove by it. Knowing that the lights
had a habit of turning themselves off and on at will, she decided to
have Mr. Massie check it out. Massie searched both floors, finding nothing.
After he switched off the lights, he saw his terrified wife running
toward him. She had been watching T.V., when the screen went blank,
and she heard a strange voice, which said, "The second floor of
the Stone House." There was no rational explanation for the strange
voice.
3) Apparitions have actually appeared
in front of other tenants of the Stone House.
Still Haunted?
Yes indeed!!
D) The Visitor's Center
1) The apparition of a soldier, dressed
in a brown shirt, wearing a black cartridge belt across his chest has
been seen there.
2) General Custer himself has been
seen roaming around the center late at night, making one last inspection
before going to wherever ghosts go to retire.
Are These Places Described Above Still
Haunted?
LIke many other battlefields, (Gettysburg), there are many restless spirits
and much psychic energy swirling around the place. Many artifacts taken
from the battlefield have told many stories to people who have the ability
to read and interpret the psychic energy radiating from these objects.
Photos by Tom Carr, Brucedale.com/BigHorn and from nps.gov
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