Written By: Melissa St. Hilaire
I always remember my mother and I driving from Massachusetts to Florida. We had planned to stop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to eat; however, as we drove past the long fields hemmed by tall trees, I got an uneasy feeling.
The vista was charming, but the atmosphere was unpleasant. I didn’t want to stop there. I turned to my mom, trying to figure out how to explain myself. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the wheel. I asked, “Is it OK if we don’t stop here?” Her fingers relaxed. “Oh, thank God, I know you’re hungry, but I didn’t want to stop here either. I know it’s beautiful, but…”
She glanced at me. She didn’t have to finish her sentence. I nodded. I knew what she meant. I couldn’t put the feeling into words then, but the energy was heavy. I could sense death all around us. I could see shimmering glimpses of phantom figures crossing the road, their ghoulish eyes haunted. Was I imagining it? With her validation, I was not. Or we were both imagining it independently of each other before voicing our shared thoughts.
Regardless, I was relieved that I wasn’t the only one who felt the energy. My mom was never a particularly New Age person. She’d sometimes go to psychics, but she never talked about ghosts or auras. However, she did buy me my first tarot deck. I, on the other hand, have always been fascinated by the unseen. I’ve always been sensitive to energy, whether it comes from a living person, animal, spirit, object, or even a place. This sensitivity propelled me into a career as a paranormal investigator, medium, and researcher of esoteric topics, as well as a writer.
Everyone I’ve met who’s also visited Gettysburg has felt the same bad vibes I did, believers and sceptics alike. Battlefields carry the dense energy of massive loss of life. Could it be that merely knowing many people died plants the feeling, and our minds create associated sensations when we visit these locations? Perhaps. But in the case of Gettysburg, I know I hadn’t consciously realized we crossed over into the battlefield until I felt it first. The despair hit like a wave pulling me under, and then it dawned on me where we were.
Sites of natural disasters, like Pompeii in Italy, have a similar feeling to battlefields, most likely due to the comparable human loss. However, not all who visit Pompeii walk away with heaviness. When my mom went, she had a moment of knowing how much the inhabitants loved the area before the volcano erupted. Some locations perceived as haunted are not as negative as one might think based on their reputations. One such place that comes to mind is the William Westerfeld House in San Francisco, where I had the pleasure of co-hosting a live-streamed ghost hunt with the Spirit Realm Network. Having been the home of the infamous occult leader, Anton LaVey, everyone expected a heavy aura, but instead, the house felt happy and vibrant. Later, the owner regaled us with stories of how he had the house blessed by Buddhist monks. Discovering that fact after having felt the positive vibes gave credence to the concept of cleansing spaces of harmful energy.
At one point, we used a voice recorder to capture an EVP (electronic voice phenomena) of a male voice that identified itself as Anton. When we asked if he had a message for us, he replied, “Nothing but energy”. Paranormal investigators over the years have used EMF (electromagnetic field) detectors and other devices to measure activity, validating what people feel. At Newgrange in Ireland, I sensed a vibration in the walls. I shared that with the tour guide, and she revealed that many people had felt them as well. As a result, they hired seismologists to take readings. While they were able to measure the frequencies, they couldn’t find any obvious geological explanation for them.
Some have speculated that places like this are on ley lines. They believe these lines to be energetic pathways connecting various charged locations, such as Stonehenge, Avebury, or Sedona. However, there is no scientific evidence to support their existence. Yet, many, myself included, have felt the vortex-like energy in these spaces.
All of which has led me to believe that places retain the energy of the events that occurred there, for good, bad, or even neutral reasons. Some of these places appear to have been intentionally designed that way, such as Newgrange, while others are accidental, like Pompeii. However, all share a commonality: an overwhelming supernatural feeling that many people experience while visiting, whether they believe in it or not.
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