The small town in West Virginia of Harpers Ferry was the scene of a pre American Civil War fighting that led to the arrest and execution of famed slavery abolitionist John Brown. Numerous ghosts haunt the town
Harpers Ferry seems today like a small and sleepy place, but in the 19th century its Armory, arsenal and rifleworks gave it importance. Its location, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, also gave it strategic value. A train line linked Harpers Ferry to Washington DC which was 55 miles away.
Violence came to Harpers Ferry prior to the outbreak of the Civil War as tensions were building over slavery.
The radical abolitionist John Brown of Kansas stormed around the country inciting fighting. Brown was so impassioned in his opposition to slavery that even his supporters considered him a madman. In 1859, Brown conjured a scheme in which he and a band of followers would seize control of the Arsenal and Harpers Ferry. With their arsenal of arms they would arm themselves. Brown believed that slaves would flock to Harpers Ferry and join his army
On October 16th, Brown and 15 recruits, including his sons and four black men, staged a surprise attack on the Arsenal, taking control of it and several buildings. They took some hostages, including the great great nephew of George Washington. But instead of triumph, they met disaster.
Brown’s men killed the town’s baggage master, who was a freed slave.
Angry townspeople surrounded the Firehouse where Brown was encamped. In exchanges of gunfire, 1 of Brown’s men, named Dangerfield Newby, who was a former slave, was killed. He was either shot or stabbed in the throat and bled to death. His ears were cut off for souvenirs and his body was dumped in an alley where hogs were kept.
Colonel Robert E Lee, who later would become a general in the Confederate Army, sent militia to Harpers Ferry. The fight was over quickly. Nine of Brown’s men died, including two of his sons. Brown was wounded and arrested. He was tried and convicted of treason against the state of Virginia and for conspiracy to incite insurrection. And. December 2nd, 1859, he was hanged in Charles Town.
For a man of fiery temper. Brown had no final words on the gallows. He left only a note that said he was now “quite certain that the crimes of the guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood”.
According to lore, Brown’s eyes continued to shine with a wild light after he was dead, horrifying onlookers. Eventually candle wax was poured over them.
Harpers Ferry was still part of Virginia when the Civil War began in 1861. Virginia seceded and joined the Confederacy, establishing its capital in Richmond. Not all of the residents in Harper’s ferry and other western parts of Virginia were pleased by this. Many did not own slaves and felt no vested interest in defending slavery. Opposition to the Confederacy led to the formation of a new state West Virginia, which immediately applied to be part of the Union. The US Congress approved it, and West Virginia was ratified as a new state.
During the course of the war, the city changed hands between the Confederates and the unions several times, and the railroad bridge was destroyed and rebuilt nine times.
The Ghosts of Harpers Ferry
Many of the ghosts are related to the Civil War era fighting, but others are related to earlier legends and to folk beliefs brought by the immigrants who settled there.
Ghosts do lurk in the small inquaint’s quaint streets of Harpers Ferry. John Brown’s tall, thin ghost is reported to be seen at the sight of his raid, sometimes accompanied by a large black dog. They vanish through the closed Firehouse. door. According to lore, people sometimes see a man who resembles crown walking around the town during the daylight.
Dangerfield Newby showing a gashed throat and wearing the slouch hat and baggy trousers he wore the day he died, walks around Hog Alley, located between High and Potomac streets.
Ghostly Civil War soldiers light campfires in the mountains around Harpers Ferry, especially on the south side of the town. Other phenomena include smoke, the smell of sulfur and the sound of cannons exploding and bayonets clashing
The music, drumming and sounds of marching parades sometimes fill Ridge Street. The Haunting is believed to be that of troops stationed in Harpers Ferry in 1799 to await transport to France to assist in possible war there. The troops filled their time by marching up and down the streets to drums.
St Peter’s church, located above the town on a hill, is one of the city’s favorite haunted sites. The church survived the Civil War. By its quick thinking priest Father Costello, who raised a British fat flag whenever fighting broke out. Both armies avoided shelling the church in order to not create an international dispute. In the evenings, a ghostly priest wearing a black Friar’s hat can sometimes be seen leaving the rectory and walking towards the church, where he disappears through the walls. Another ghost is that of a wounded soldier taken to the churchyard for medical help. He slowly bled to death and was near his end when taken inside the church.
Those are just a few of. The ghost stories related to Harpers Ferry. Take a local tour and learn more.
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